2013-2014 Graduate Catalog Downloadable PDF (10.71MB)

444 Course Descriptions/Geography616. Urban Geography. (3-0). Credit 3. Spatial patterns and processes of urban systems; growth andsprawl; environmental impacts; residential choice models; political fragmentation; economic development;power and privilege; place-based identity. Prerequisite: GEOG 306 or equivalent.619. Human Impact on the Environment. (3-0). Credit 3. Human alterations of landscapes, the atmosphereand the waters of the earth; interference with natural chemical cycles; disturbance of ecologicalequilibria; depletion of natural resources; roles of technology and population growth. Prerequisite: Approvalof instructor.621. Land-Use and Land-Cover Change. (3-0). Credit 3. Human dimensions of land-use and land-coverchange; theories of global and regional land-use and land-cover changes that emphasize processes,institutions, and patterns at multiple scales; methodologies and research agendas including geo-spatialanalysis, modeling, and social science approaches. Prerequisites: GEOG 619 or approval of instructor;Graduate classification.622. Environment and Society on the US-Mexico Border. (3-0). Credit 3. Examine issues of environmentand society on the US-Mexico border; processes of environmental change, environmental outcomesand societal responses; theoretical foundations of human dimensions of environmental change,resource use, and management examined in detailed case studies. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.623. Ecohydrology. (3-0). Credit 3. Framework for understanding how plants and animals affect the watercycle; examine and explore the water cycle in all of its aspects with the idea of understanding howchanges in land cover may influence the water cycle; implications for both upland and riparian systems.Prerequisite: Graduate Classification. Cross-listed with ESSM 635.624. Biogeography: Theory and Methods. (3-0). Credit 3. Theory and methods utilized in contemporarybiogeography. Emphasis on the analysis of vegetation communities and their environmental controls.Various methods of ordination and predictive methods for analyzing vegetation ranges. Spatial analysisof vegetation. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.625. Landscape Ecology. (2-2). Credit 3. Study of structure, function, and change in a heterogeneous landarea composed of interacting ecosystems; examine basic ecological principles dealing with landscapestructure. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor. Cross-listed with ENTO 625.626. Fluvial Geomorphology. (3-0). Credit 3. Concepts and methods applicable to the fluvial systems;components affecting rivers and drainage basin and analysis geomorphology; analytical treatment ofproblems arising from fluvial changes. Prerequisite: GEOG 203 or approval of instructor.627. Arid Lands. (3-0). Credit 3. Processes and landforms in dryland environments; nature and dynamicsof gravity, water and wind in deserts; Quaternary climates and arid lands; human impact in drylands.Prerequisite: GEOG 604 or approval of instructor.629. Cultural and Political Ecology. (3-0). Credit 3. History of ideas about humans and environment;political and social meanings of nature and culture; access and control of resources; theories of environmentalchange; geographic approaches to political ecology research; current debates and futuredirections.635. Advanced Biogeography. (3-0). Credit 3. Theory and contemporary research in biogeography; methodsused in conducting biogeographical research; spatial and temporal changes in the distribution oforganisms; influences of humans and the physical environment on biogeographic patterns. Prerequisite:GEOG 624 or approval of instructor.640. Historical Geography. (3-0). Credit 3. Themes of historical geography: demography, economic structureand social structure; patterns of selective migration from specified source regions to specific destinationsand resulting processes and forms of settlement.642. Past Climates. (3-0). Credit 3. Terrestrial and marine proxy records of past climate variability, includingtree rings, coral, and sediments; past climate change events such as the Little Ice Age and MedievalWarm Period; greenhouse gases and global temperature; insight into the nature of climate change andchallenges humankind faces in the next few centuries. Prerequisite: Graduate classification. Cross-listedwith GEOS 642.643. Geopolitics and Geostrategies of Energy. (3-0). Credit 3. This graduate seminar course will examinethe geopolitics and geostrategies of energy with a primary focus on the development of “hydrocarbonfrontiers”. It will also deal more briefly with alternative energy sources.