ENVR12002 - Applied Ecology

General Information

Unit Synopsis

Applied Ecology is the science of understanding and managing natural living resources. Over-harvesting of exploited species, habitat loss, and the spread of invasive species are among the world’s most pressing environmental issues. Solutions to these problems are complex, but firmly embedded in the fundamental tenets of ecological knowledge and theory. This unit will provide you with a broad perspective of the field of applied ecology by working across different ecological levels (ecosystem, community, population and species) and issues, in the process you will explore how ecological knowledge and theory is applied to the management of natural living resources.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 2
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Pre-requisites

ZOOL11005 Foundation Animal Biology and BOTN11004 Foundation Plant Biology or

BIOL11099 Living Systems and BIOL11100 Functional Biology or BIOL11102 and ENVR11014.

Anti-requisite

BIOL13031 - Ecology: Theory and Application


Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School Compulsory Residential School
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Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2025

Term 2 - 2026 Profile
Mixed Mode

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Online Quiz(zes) 40%
2. Practical Assessment 30%
3. Practical Assessment 30%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 2 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 9.09% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Self-reflection.
Feedback
Students require additional support with data analysis and the capacity to extract meaning, and therefore reach informed conclusions/decisions.
Recommendation
Provide more scaffolding and support for students in the areas of data analysis and the role of data in decision making.
Action Taken
A dedicated data analysis session was incorporated into the 2025 residential school.
Source: SUTE Unit Comments Report.
Feedback
Timetabling of the residential school in Week 10 does not allow students sufficient time to complete the assessment.
Recommendation
Consider reducing the magnitude of the residential school assessment.
Action Taken
The magnitude of residential school assessments was reduced in 2025,with some assessment elements being completed as face-to-face guided activities.
Source: SUTE Unit Comments Report.
Feedback
Spreading assessment across multiple smaller low risk items is highly beneficial.
Recommendation
Continue to use a low-risk assessment strategy within the unit.
Action Taken
Continue to employ multiple low-risk assessments.
Source: Self-reflection
Feedback
Explore alternative forms of assessment.
Recommendation
Introduce alternative forms of assessment beyond traditional quizzes/written report formats.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Self-reflection
Feedback
Change and update residential school activities.
Recommendation
Update residential school activities to align with alternative forms of assessment that measure understanding through practical application and reflection.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Describe how ecological principles are applied to the protection, management, and restoration of terrestrial and aquatic living resources and ecosystems
  2. Discuss the elements, concepts, and theories of population and community structure and dynamics
  3. Apply integrated knowledge of population, community and ecosystem ecology to real world situations using industry standard methods
  4. Develop and utilise the skills necessary to undertake ecological fieldwork successfully and to analyse ecological data/models.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Online Quiz(zes) • •
2 - Practical Assessment • • •
3 - Practical Assessment • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Communication • • •
2 - Problem Solving • • • •
3 - Critical Thinking • • •
4 - Information Literacy • •
5 - Team Work • •
6 - Information Technology Competence •
8 - Ethical practice •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 - Online Quiz(zes) • • •
2 - Practical Assessment • • • • •
3 - Practical Assessment • • • • •