Minor Overview

About this minor
The Ecology minor is designed specifically to introduce non-STEM students to core STEM skills that engage their interests and complement the skills they will obtain through their major. This minor includes a foundational unit in environmental science broadly introducing students to essential concepts in environmental chemistry, biology and physics. This is followed by a unit that delivers key knowledge on the interactions that will cause climate change to impact on biodiversity. Here emphasis is placed on giving students the skills required to understand links between conservation of biodiversity and ecology in the context of a changing climate. These two foundational units are followed by units in ecological science that give students a broad understanding of the biological and environmental factors that drive ecosystem development. This knowledge will lead to a deep understanding of ecological processes across a variety of systems. The minor will provide students with the knowledge and critical thinking skills to interrogate scientific information to access its strength and limitations, leading to stronger knowledge-based decisions. It will produce rounded graduates STEM-specific knowledge and skills to enhance their employability across a wider range of professions and multiple careers. The outcomes of the minor will be an increase in a student's ability to engage with STEM in the workplace. For students taking a minor which shares units with their other unit sets (majors or minors): in order for minors to be recognised on academic and graduation documents, students may only have a maximum of one unit overlapping between their unit sets.
Outcomes
Students are able to (1) critically assess and understand scientific information and its limitations. Students will learn to apply the scientific method to generate scientific information, assess its strength and limitations and communicate these ideas in a precise, concise and authoritative manner; (2) explain the ecological principles that guide ecosystem development; (3) apply ecological principles to real-life problems, such as climate change and land degradation; (4) understand ecological theory and processes and their global application; (5) critically assess contemporary and sometimes controversial topics related to ecological theory; and (6) engage and communicate across disciplines to develop an understanding of ecological interactions and impacts at a global level.
Incompatibility

MJD-BOTNY Botany;

MJD-ENVEM Environmental Science and Ecology;

MJD-PLBEM Plant Biology;

MJD-CONBI Conservation Biology;

MJD-WLCDM Wildlife Conservation

Units

Key to availability of units:
S1
Semester 1
S2
Semester 2
Take the following unit:

Availability Unit code Unit name Unit requirements
S1 ENVT1104 Environmental Science and Technology None
Take all units (12 points):

Availability Unit code Unit name Unit requirements
S2 ENVT2221 Global Climate Change and Biodiversity
Prerequisites
Successful completion of
one Unit(s) BIOL1130 Frontiers in Biology (ID 1254)
or Unit(s) BIOL1131 Plant and Animal Biology (ID 1244)
or Unit(s) EART1105 Dynamic Planet (ID 1247)
or Unit(s) ENVT1104 Environmental Science and Technology (ID 5950)
S1 ENVT2250 Ecology
Prerequisites
Successful completion of
BIOL1130 Frontiers in Biology
or BIOL1131 Plant and Animal Biology
or ENVT1104 Environmental Science and Technology
and
SCIE1104 Science, Society and Data Analysis
or STAT1400 Statistics for Science
or STAX1400 Statistics for Science
Take the following unit:

Availability Unit code Unit name Unit requirements
S2 ENVT3363 Ecological Processes
Prerequisites
Successful completion of
one Unit(s) ENVT2250 Ecology (ID 1228)
or Unit(s) ENVT2221 Global Climate Change and Biodiversity (ID 1293)
or Unit(s) SCIE2204 Marine Systems (ID 1524)