Lectures: Monday, Wednesday 2:10-3:00 pm in Room 106 Wellman Hall

Discussions: CRN#98272: 1:10-2:00 pm Thursdays (119 Wellman)

CRN#98276: 2:10-3:00 pm Thursdays (107 Wellman)

CRN#98278: 1:10-2:00 pm Fridays (107 Wellman)

CRN#98279: 2:10-3:00 pm Fridays (1020 Wickson)

Grading: Pop quizzes in discussion sections (10%); 3 during the quarter

Problem sets (15%); 4 during the quarter

Weekly writing summaries (20%); 9 during quarter

Midterm (25%)

Comprehensive Final (30%)

Required Text: The Nature of the Environment, by A. Goudie (3rd edition)

Course Goal: To examine the interplay among climate, hydrology, vegetation distribution, soil processes, and biogeochemical cycles in diverse landscapes. Emphasis on physical, chemical, and biological processes shaping ecosystems.

Prerequisites: High school algebra and biology or chemistry.

Requirements: You are responsible for all of the material covered in the assigned readings, hand outs, weekly discussions, and lecture material.

Exam Schedule: The midterm is scheduled for 10 February from 2:10-3:00 pm. The comprehensive final exam is scheduled for March 18 from 8:00-10:00 am. Both exams will be given in 106 Wellman. Make-up exams are only allowed because of illness (a doctor's note is required).

Exam Format: The comprehensive final exam will emphasize the material covered since the midterm. The exams are closed book.

WWS: The one page (500 word maximum) weekly writing summaries (WWS) are due by 12:00 noon each Thursday. WWS must be submitted to the TA (ashartshorn@ucdavis.edu) by email either as plain text or a uuencoded word-processed attachment. Hardcopy submissions will NOT be accepted. See attached WWS guidelines for additional instructions and required format. Late WWS will NOT be accepted. The WWS must be written in your own words. If students hand in virtually identical homework, credit will not be given to any of those involved.

* The assigned readings are from The Nature of the Environment by A. Goudie (3rd edition)

Weekly Writing Summary Guidelines

• Content & Collaboration: The WWS should summarize the assigned readings for the week. Although students are encouraged to discuss assigned readings, every student must submit an individual WWS. You may choose to tackle one dimension of the readings (highlighted, for example, in a recent New York Times ëScience Timesí article) or you may opt to review a range of related topics. Your summary should be well-written (spell-checked, logically-structured, coherent, concise, and include proper citations), critical, and imaginative. Your answer should make some progress toward explaining questions such as, for example, (i) ìWhy should anyone in the Central Valley care about X?î where X could be El NiÒo, desertification, or thermal erosion of permafrost or (ii) ìWhat assumptions were made in developing models of Y?î where Y is nitrogen cycling, erosion potential, or acid rain. Submissions must be 1 page in length, or fewer than 500 words. All word processing programs have utilities for generating word counts. Remember that special character formatting may be lost in the translation via email, so do not use equations, bullets, italics, and the like unless youíre confident the TA will receive it in a form similar to the one you sent it in.

• Submission Method: All WWS must be submitted electronically via email to the TA (ashartshorn@ucdavis.edu). All students will be expected to obtain email accounts (IT-CAP or otherwise) and to obtain a ëreturn receiptí for each weekís submission. Every student will be strongly encouraged to obtain the Eudora email package (free from IT-CAP in Shields Library); Eudora will dramatically ease the WWS submission and delivery confirmation process. The ëreceiptí every student will be required to obtain is an email message generated automatically from the server on which the TAís email account resides that will document the time and date of your message in case of any discrepancy.

• If the TA doesnít receive the WWS by the Thursday noon deadline: It is in your best interests to hit the ëreturn receiptí button each time you submit a WWS; the TA will notify you only if you are one of those students whose submissions were not received or received late. This notification will be by the Monday (before class) following the WWS submission deadline. The TA will also notify you if any transmission problems occurred with your submission. All students should check their email accounts for messages from the TA before class on Monday. If you submitted the WWS on time and the TA did not receive it, you will be required to forward the return receipt documenting your submission time and date as well as the original WWS.

• Email ëSign-iní: Every student will be required to email the TA and obtain a receipt for that email prior to the due date of the first WWS; this email must contain your complete name (and or preferred nickname) as well as your student ID number. This trouble-shooting exercise should ensure you typed the TAís email address in correctly, speed the actual submissions, and facilitate WWS-tracking by the TA. You should set up an alias or nickname for the TA (remember, ëflamingí may violate the Acceptable Use Policy you agreed to, see below!) to speed subsequent WWS submissions.

• Required Submission Format: All WWS must be in Microsoft Word 6.0 (or later versions) OR Novell/Corel WordPerfect OR plain email text. If WWS are sent as Word or WordPerfect attachments to an email, they MUST BE UUENCODED. WWS must be emailed to the TA by 12 noon of the Thursday designated on the syllabus (e.g., the WWS 1 is due no later than 12 noon, Thursday, 9 January 1997). Submissions must include ëERS60: WWS <x> of 9í in the subject line as in the following example:

Date: Thur, 9 Jan 1997 11:59:15 -0500 (EST)

From: JANE DOE <jxdoe@ucdavis.edu>

Subject: ERS60: WWS 1 of 9

To: ashartshorn@ucdavis.edu

WWS 1 of 9: <Your Title Here>

<Your text here, e.g., Goudie (1993) introduces global climatic patternsÖ.etc.>

Acceptable Use Policy for Computers: Your use of a UC Davis computer account is governed by a computing code of ethics, to which you agreed when you signed up for the account (UC Davis Acceptable Use Policy for Computers and Computer Networks). If you need a refresher on what exactly you agreed to and what constitutes a violation of acceptable use policy, go to http://www.ucdavis.edu/AUP.html.

Problem Set Guidelines

• Required Submission Format: All problem sets (PS) must be submitted in hardcopy form to the ERS60 ëbiní in 151 Hoagland Hall. Because this office has controlled access and is usually locked at 5 pm, problem sets must be submitted before the door is locked!

• PS Deadlines: All four PS will be due the Thursday one week following the assignment date, no later than 5 pm.

• If the TA doesnít receive the PS by the Thursday 5 pm deadline: Problem sets will be penalized 50% if turned in late (after the Thursday 5 pm deadline). Problem sets will NOT be accepted after 5 pm on the Friday immediately following the due date (i.e., more than one day late). If you anticipate any kind of problem in completing your PS in a timely fashion, be sure to contact either of the instructors or the TA in advance.

• Collaboration: Students are encouraged to collaborate on the problem sets. However, every student must submit a problem set for grading purposes.

Created by R. Southard

Created on 06/03/98 6:41 PM

Last saved by Donald Greg 'Dig' McGahan

Last Saved on Wednesday, June 03, 1998