EVS 6196C: Sampling and Analysis
in Environmental Sciences
Spring 2006
Lectures and
Labs: Friday 2:30 – 5:15 PM, room 13/216
Instructors: Matthew Schwartz,
room 13/219
Phone: (850) 474-3469 Office hours: Monday and Wednesday 0900h-1130h, Thursday
1430-1530, and by appointment
Johan Liebens,
room 13/213
Phone: (850) 474-2065
Office hours: every day
1:00 PM - 2:15 PM, or by appointment
Main departmental
office: Bldg. 13, rm. 206, phone 474-2746
Textbook: A textbook is not
required but students will have to print and copy materials assigned during the
semester. Selected course resources,
including some printed material, will be made available on the course website
via the University of West Florida eLearning site (www.elearning.uwf.edu) or other
websites.
The following are relevant statistics books
that are available in the UWF library. Many other statistics textbooks from the
library are useful for this course. An
updated list of resources will also be maintained on the course eLearning page.
Clark, W. A. V.
Statistical
methods for geographers. Wiley, 1986. (on reserve)
Daniel A. Griffith and Carl G. Amrhein. Statistical analysis for
geographers. Prentice Hall, 1991. (on
reserve)
Rogerson, Peter.
Statistical methods for geography. SAGE Publications, 2001. (on reserve)
Scheiner, S. M. and J. Gurevitch. Design and analysis of
ecological experiments.
Ginevan,
Michael E. Statistical tools for environmental quality measurement. CRC
press, 2004. (electronic book)
Bernard, H. Russell. Research methods in anthropology: qualitative
and quantitative methods.
Green, Roger Harrison. Sampling design and statistical
methods for environmental biologists. Wiley, 1979.
Kanji, Gopal K. 100 statistical tests. Sage Publications, 1999.
This course surveys theories and
techniques of field and laboratory methods used for physical and chemical
analysis of soil, sediment, and water samples. Procedures for exploratory data
analysis and interpretation will be discussed. Emphasis will be on the
collection of samples and their subsequent analysis. Written reports and oral
presentations are required. This semester the course is team-taught by Dr. Schwartz
and Dr. Liebens. Dr. Liebens will teach the first 3 weeks of the course and 3
weeks later during the semester (see schedule of lectures).
In
the first three lectures statistical aspects of environmental sampling and
analysis will be surveyed. Emphasis will be on statistical considerations and
methods for the planning phase of environmental research. Commonly used
statistical methods for analysis and interpretation of environmental data will
be explored.
The
latter part of this course will include discussions of the theory and practice
of collecting and analyzing soil, sediment, and water samples. Students should be prepared to discuss
technical papers and summaries that describe the methods and theories behind
common analytical techniques. A premium
will be placed on the performance of sampling and analyses, including field
sampling. Environmental samples will be
analyzed by students and instructors using UWF facilities.
Attendance at one lab per week is required. The labs are an integral part of the course and attendance at lab is obligatory. Some lab assignments can be completed during the lab period, but students should expect to work on their lab assignment outside lecture/lab time. Lab reports will be due no later than the beginning of the next lab.
The final grade for the course will be
based on your lab report grades and two exams. The exams can involve any material covered in lecture and lab. Each of the two exams is worth 30% of your
grade. The cumulative value of the lab
reports will be worth 40% of your grade. The grading scale for the course is a
straight curve as follows: A ³ 90%, 90% >
B ³ 80%, 80% > C ³ 70%, 70% > D ³ 60%, 60% > F.
There is no provision for extra credit work. If you miss an exam you have to
present a signed physician's excuse or, if an exam is missed due to a family
funeral, a dated newspaper obituary to be allowed to take a make-up exam. The
make-up exam will be oral. Most other excuses for missing an exam or lab are
not acceptable.
Students are expected to attend all
classes and labs. Missing even one
lecture may affect your grade substantially.
Announcements regarding the course outline and the schedule of the
lectures, labs and exams (including changes of these) may be made in class. All
organizational/administrative announcements made during class or labs are
assumed to be known by all students.
Student
learning outcomes
Students
who successfully complete the course:
1. Will be able
to design sampling schemes for specific environmental projects.
2. Will
have acquired skills to apply inferential statistical problem solving to
environmental data.
3. Will
be able to analyze statistical relationships between environmental variables.
4. Will
understand the purpose and limitations of sampling and analytical procedures.
5. Will have acquired a working knowledge of the
theory and mechanics of environmental sampling.
6. Will
be able to perform routine analytical procedures on environmental samples.
Special technology utilized by students
Low
to medium. Students need a good working knowledge of spreadsheet software.
Windows-based statistical and graphing software will be introduced in the lab
portion of the course.
Expectations
for academic conduct/plagiarism policy
Will
be followed as stated at these URL addresses:
http://uwf.edu/studentaffairs/division/publications/classdisrup.pdf
http://uwf.edu/studentaffairs/division/publications/plagbroch.pdf
Assistance
for students with special needs
This
policy can be found at http://uwf.edu/DSS/dss_pub.pdf on page 3
|
Date |
Instructor |
Lecture
topic |
Lab
topic |
|
January
13 (Friday
the 13th!) |
Liebens |
Data
characteristics Sampling
strategy |
Introduction
to software Descriptive statistics |
|
January
20 |
Liebens |
Estimation
in sampling Sample
size |
Power
analysis |
|
January
27 |
Liebens |
Hypothesis
testing Equality
of means testing |
Hypothesis
testing |
|
February
3 |
Schwartz |
Introduction
to environmental sampling analytical
techniques; QA/QC; and chain-of-custody |
Laboratory
report preparation |
|
February
10 |
Schwartz |
Groundwater
table and flow |
Piezometer
installation |
|
February
17 |
Schwartz |
Groundwater
sampling |
Groundwater
sampling |
|
February
24 |
Schwartz |
Drinking
water and natural water sampling SOPs |
Sampling
drinking and natural waters |
|
|
|
Mid-term take home-exam |
|
|
March
3 |
Liebens |
Soil
sampling methods |
Equipment
demonstration |
|
March
10 |
Liebens |
Soil
sampling: field trip |
Field
trip |
|
March
17 |
Liebens |
Soil physical
analysis |
Soil physical
analysis |
|
March
24 |
|
Spring
Break! |
|
|
March
31 |
Schwartz |
Estuarine
and coastal water sampling techniques |
Estuarine
surface water sampling |
|
April
7 |
Schwartz |
Nutrients
in natural waters: nutrient cycles and
analytical techniques |
Nutrient
analysis via colorimetric/ spectrophotometric methods |
|
April
14 |
Schwartz |
Gas
chromatography and mass spectrometry theory of operation |
GC/MS
lab analyses |
|
April
21 |
Schwartz |
Metal
analysis in soils and natural waters |
Atomic
adsorption spectrometry |
|
April
28 |
Schwartz |
LC/MS,
HPLC, X-ray diffraction, and other analytical techniques |
TBA |
NOTE:
the schedule listed above is tentative and is subject to change
The final exam schedule
is to be announced