Aquatic Environmental Analysis

Entry requirements

Biology 5 credits, Ecology for engineers 5 credits and Probability and Statistics 5 credits.

Learning outcomes

After completion of the course the student should be able to

• Apply the environmental analysis cycle and DPRSIR for studying effects of environmental problems in aquatic environments.
• Undertand the principles of Swedish evaluation criteria, environmental goals, and international agreements. UNECE, CLTRAP, HELCOM, EU WFD.
• Explain the three important environmental problems that affect aquatic ecosystems in Sweden (eutrification, acidification and environmental contaminants), how they affect society, and the debates regarding the handling of these problems.
• Use evaluation criteria, publically-available environmental data, and geographical information system methods in order to analyse environmental problems with a large areal distribution
• Explain basic principles for modelling expected results from measures against aquatic environmental problems

Content

This course consists of two main parts. The part Aquatic pollution deals primarily with the major chemical threats to aquatic ecosystems, i. e., acidification (of lakes), eutrophication of lakes and coastal waters, and contamination (metals and organic contaminants in primarily lakes, rivers and coastal waters). This is the basis for the second part dealing with the Swedish system for the ranking of environmental threats, evaluation criteria for lakes and streams, as well as related legislation and international agreements. The theoretical part of environmental analysis addresses the principles for assessing and responding to environmentally harmful substances in aquatic ecosystems, in the context of the environmental analysis cycle and the DPSIR model. The course uses various forms of environmental data, various models of environmentally harmful substances and different methods remediating problems, including aspects of politics and public debate. This course provides an introduction to the use of geographic information systems.

Instruction

Lectures and exercises.

Assessment

Report from the lab exercises (1 credit) and a written exam which is taken at the end of the course (4 credits).