Unit Synopsis
In Environmental Physiology of Animals, you will learn about the limits placed on organisms by their physiology in both aquatic and terrestrial habitats, how organisms respond to environmental challenges, and how organisms have evolved to and are adapted to their ecological niche. This unit will cover topics such as the central nervous system and sensory system design, metabolism, respiration and energy supply, locomotion and allometric scaling, stress and the effects of capture and release, conservation physiology and extreme habitats. There is a strong focus on experimental physiology and incorporating theory and hands-on experience into practical classes during the Residential School, where you will conduct your own experiments. A fundamental knowledge of statistical design and analyses is assumed.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 3 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
BIOL11100 or BIOL12112 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 View Unit Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Term 1 - 2026 Profile
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).
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. Presentation | 10% |
| 3. Practical Assessment | 50% |
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%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 18.18% 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: Personal reflection
Creating an industry relevant applied research project within the unit has been extremely effective, in particular the project has increased engagement, created a cooperative learning environment and students have developed a sense of project ownership.
The real-world applied research project embedded within the residential is extremely important to students and should be continued and developed.
Student-led project design is an embedded component of the unit and provides opportunity for students to initiate, plan, resource, and then undertake a project centered on a real-world problem.
Source: Personal reflection
Students require more assistance and guidance with the use and application of audio-visual recording software for research seminar assessments.
Provide detailed instructions and tutorial sessions on the use of audio visual technologies.
Tutorials and Open Q&A sessions provided detailed coverage of AV technologies, giving students a better understanding of the technologies available.
Source: Personal reflection
Students appear to struggle with the use and application of statistical software for data analysis.
Consider including sessions on the use of SPSS for data analysis with particular reference to the residential school.
Residential school featured an in-house session that provided assistance in dealing with experimental data and the use of non-parametric statistics.
Source: SUTE
The research project during residential school has been well received.
The research project should continue to be a central focus of the unit, providing students with the opportunity to engage with a real world applied research project.
The research project continues to be a central focus of the unit.
Source: T1, 2025 SUTE Teacher Evaluations
More allocated time on quizzes in the future would be advantageous.
Review the time allocated to complete online quizzes and adjust accordingly.
In Progress
Source: T1, 2025 SUTE Teacher Evaluations
The unit provided great real world examples and excelled in challenging students to think in an inclusive environment during the residential school.
Continue to explore Environmental Physiology within a real-world context, and provide the opportunity for increased student participation, teamwork, and engagement.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Examine the functioning and control of physiological systems in a range of animals and habitats
- Apply knowledge of physiological responses of animals to a range of environmental challenges
- Present, analyse and interpret physiological data
- Design experiments and apply a range of practical skills relevant to the study of environmental physiology.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Online Quiz(zes) | • | • | ||
| 2 - Presentation | • | • | • | |
| 3 - Practical Assessment | • | • | ||
| 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 | • | |||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |
| 2 - Presentation | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||
| 3 - Practical Assessment | • | • | • | • | |||||||
| 1 - Online Quiz(zes) | • | • | • | • | |||||||