BIOLOGY 941 AFRICAN ENVIRONMENT

COURSE DESCRIPTION:  Students will study African environments as they have occurred in the past, as they are today, and as they may be in the future.  Examples of ways that students will engage in the study include, but are not limited to the following:  writing about readings of their own choosing; reports on assigned readings; video reports; reports on local African exhibitions, lectures, or other activities; projects that illustrate topics visually; reports on visiting lectures.  All major areas of Africa will be included in the material to be discussed.  The class will be carried on as a discussion of the topics where everyone contributes what she has learned.  The role on the professor during the class is to guide the discussions.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:  Students will:

• Know the political boundaries of the African continent, including the near-by islands.
• Know the landforms of the African continent.
• Understand how African environments and landforms are related.
• Know the geological history of the African continent.
• Understand how past events have shaped the present African continent.
• Have a working knowledge of all major environments of the African continent.
• Understand the unique features of the African continent when compared to all others on Earth.
• Learn the terms associated with natural descriptions of the African landscape.
• Learn how the history of the African continent has shaped the biota found there.
• Be able to find, read, and interpret literature that deals with environments of the African Continent.
• Understand how to interpret studies that indicate what the African continent will probably be like in the future.
• Appreciate how studies of past, present, and future environments are carried out in the natural sciences.

TOPICS COVERED:

• Maps
• Past environments of the African continent
• Geological history
• Marine environments of the African continent
• African deserts North of the equator
• African deserts South of the equator
• Mediterranean ecosystems: Mediterranean region of North Africa and the Cape Floral kingdom
• African grassland-savanna/savanna
• African savanna/woodland-savanna
• Tropical forests of Africa including mangrove forests
• African mountains North of the equator
• African mountains South of the equator
• African lakes, rivers, and wetlands
• Africa's great Rift Valley
• Future environments of Africa