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SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
MIMORANDUM
To
.....SENATE
...................................................
.From
?
. ?
ON UNDERGRADUATE
STUDIES
NEW COURSE PROPOSAL - BIOLOGICAL
Subject. ?
ENcE....'.c.
?
.....'J;'}:E.
?
Date........
?
198•2.
- ENVIRONMENT - MICROCLIMATE AND SOIL.
Action taken by the Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies
at its meeting of June 29, 1982 gives rise to the following motion:
MOTION:
"That Senate approve and recommend approval to the Board
of Governors, as set forth in S.82-83, the proposed new
course BISC 330-3 - The Terrestrial Environment - Microclimate
and Soil"
Introduction of this course will result in the
discontinuation of BISC 300-3 - Physical and Chemical
Aspects of the Envirnoment.
.
0
 
rJ
SENATE COMMITTEE ON UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES
NEW
COURSE PROPOSAL FORM
1. Calendar Information
?
Department: Biological Sciences
Abbreviation Code:
BISC ?
Course Number: 330
?
Credit Hours:
3 ?
Vector: 2-0-4
Title of Course: The Terrestrial Environment - Microclimate and Soil
Calendar Description of Course: Analysis of the terrestrial environment as related
to biological systems. Large- and small-scale environmental processes:
radiation, CO2, 1120, and energy fluxes; modification of environmental parameters
near the ground surface. Measurement and evaluation of selected microclimatic
and soil factors.
Nature of Course Lectures, laboratories and field projects.
Prerequisites (or special instructions):
75 semester hours credit in Biological Sciences program
What course (courses), if any, is being dropped from the calendar if this course is
approved:
To replace BISC 300.
2. Scheduling
How
frequently will the course be offered? One semester/year (Fall semester)
Semester in which the course will first be offered? 1982-3
Which of your present faculty would be available to make the proposed offering
possible? ?
Drs. Lister and Brooke
3. Objectives of the Course
1)
To familiarize students with selected above- and below-ground environmental
processes.
2)
To introduce students to the study of the state and behaviour of the atmosphere
and environmental conditions at the air-earth interface and the interactions
between microclimates and biological systems.
3)
By laboratories and field projects to provide students with hands-on experience
with instrumentation, field techniques and protocol required to measure and
4)(See attached) evaluate modification of parameters near the ground surface.
4. Budgetary and Space Requirements (for information only)
What additional resources will be required in the following areas:
Faculty
?
NONE
Staff ?
NONE
Library
?
NONE
Audio Visual NONE
Space ?
NONE
Equipment ?
NONE
5. Approval
Date:
?
13'e
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nt
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Chairman, SCUS
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SCUS 73-34b:-- (When com
p letin
q
this f rut, for instructions see Memorandum
SCUS
73-34a.
 
Attached to
?
foimiii; p:irt Of l
l agc I New
Course Proposal BISC 330,
The Terrestrial Environment - Microclimate and Soil
3. Objectives of the Course (contd.)
4) To provide students with an appreciation of the processes coupling
an organism to the
terrestrial environment.
0
 
2
COURSE OUTLINE
Lectures
Introduction
Radiation: cosmic, solar, and terrestrial
- intensity quality: units, solar constant colour temperature, filters
emission, absorption and reflectance spectra
- modification of radiant energy spectrum by the atmosphere and vegetation cover
- Carbon dioxide and water vapour fluxes
- Environmental and Climatic change
- The plant-environment interface
The ground surface
- energy exchange processes
- modifications at the terrestrial surface influencing energy/heat balances
- energy/heat balances: bare soil, herbaceous cover, forest.
The below-surface environment: soil
- components and processes
- physical characteristics from rock to soil
- soil-water relationships
- soil chemical characteristics
- soil colloids and exchange reactions
- soil genesis and the soil environment
Laboratories and Field Projects
Calibration and use of instruments for determining and monitoring
microclimatic factors and their variability in space and time.
Monitoring mlcrometeoro]ogical stations in several distinct habitats
or environments (e.g., conifer and deciduous forest, grass, mulch,
greenhouse) to evaluate differences caused by the presence or
absence of particular canopy covers.
Student designed projects investigating particular above- or below-
ground environments, or environment/organism interaction.
Reports and seminar discussions are required of the projects and
results from monitoring niicrometeorological stations
Reserve Book List
Campbell, G.S. 19 . An introduction to environmental physics.
Springer-Verlag, N.Y.
Caulson, K.L. 1975. ?
Solar and terrestrial radiation. Academic Press, N.Y.
Gates, D.M. 1962.
?
Energy exchange in the biosphere. Harper and Row.
Gates, D.M. 1975.
?
Perspectives of biophysical ecology. Springer-
Verlag, N.Y.
Geiger, R. 1966. ?
The climate near the ground. Harvard Univ. Press.
Handbook of Meteorological Instruments. Part I.
Instruments for Surface Observation.
H.M. Stationery Office, London.
Lee, Richard 1978. ?
Forest microcilinatology. Columbia Univ. Press, N.Y.
Lowry, W.P. 1969.
?
Weather and Life. Academic Press, N.Y.
Montieth, J.L. 1973. Principles of environmental physics. Edward Arnold.
 
3
Reserve Book List (contd.)
Middleton, W.E.K. &
A.F.Spilhaus 1953.
?
Meteorological instruments. Univ. Toronto Press.
Munn, R.E. 1966.
?
Descriptive micrometeorology. Advances In
Geophysics, Suppl.1. Academic Press, N.Y.
Munn, R.E. 1970.
?
Biometeorological Methods. Academic Press, N.Y.
Platt, R. ?
Environmental measurement and interpretation.
Tanner, C.B. 1963.
?
Basic Instrumentation and instrumentation for plant
environment and micrometeorology.
Dept.Soils Bull. 6., Univ. Wisconsin.
Van Wijk, W.R.(ed.) 1963. Physics of the plant environment. Wiley, N.Y.
World Meteorol.
?
Guide to meteorological instruments and observing
Organiz. 1971.
?
practices. W.M.O., Geneva.
Canada Soil Survey
?
The Canadian system of soil classification.
Committee. 1978.
?
Agrlc. Canada, Ottawa.
[1
Millar, C.E., L.M.Turk, H.D.Foth, 1965. Fundamentals of Soil Science, Wiley, N.
Wilde, S.A.
?
Forest soils.
Russell, E.J. ?
Soil conditions and plant growth.
Selected Relevant Periodicals
Soil Science ?
Scientific American
Soil Science Society of America Proceedings
?
Nature
Agronomy Journal
?
J. of Ecology
Bull.Ain. Meteorological Scoeity
?
J. of Applied Ecology
Biometeorology ?
Can.J. Forestry
J. Applied Meteorology ?
Can.J. Botany
?
-
Ecology ?
Advances in Ecological Research
Ecological Monographs
?
Ann.Rev.Ecology & Systematics
Science
?
Ecological Studies
The BISC 300 course was first offered 1967
.
-1 during early development of the
Department of Biological Sciences program in order to cover aquatic and terres-
trial environmental factors as related to biological systems to a minimum level
on a theoretical, non-laboratory/practical basis. Practical experience with
instrumentation, field techniques and protocol required to measure and evaluate
environmental parameters was lacking, and it became obvious that this was
needed to form an integrated well-rounded course.
It also became apparent that a logical split in the course material, Terrestrial
and Aquatic, would provide a better vehicle for providing students with an in-
depth exposure to these areas. As a result, the fresh water aquatic material is
now covered in the BISC 4xx, Limnology course, and the marine aquatic material
is part of or has been integrated into several courses, such as BISC 424.,
MASC 430 and especially MASC 435.
The proposed replacement course therefore contains the modified and updated
material in the area of the Terrestrial environment and Incorporates a
laboratory with a practical project component.
The revised replacement course has been successfully taught three times as a
Special Topics and modified BISC 300 course in 1978-1, 1979-3, and 1980-3, with
enrolments of 21, 35, and 28 students. A desirable class size would be in the
range of 20 to 25 students.

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