Apr 16, 2026  
2024-2025 Undergraduate Academic Catalog-June 
    
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2024-2025 Undergraduate Academic Catalog-June [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

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SCI 2410 - Limnology: The Science of Inland Waters

3 lecture hours 0 lab hours 3 credits
Course Description
Only 0.02% of the planet’s water supply is found in inland lakes, streams, and wetlands, but these bodies of water are intricately linked to human activity. This course will cover the fundamentals of aquatic ecology, chemistry, and hydrology, and explore how these branches of science intersect in healthy and polluted bodies of water. Students will learn how light, heat, oxygen, and nutrient budgets affect aquatic communities, and how communities in turn affect their physical and chemical surroundings. Particular attention will be given to the effects of human agriculture, industry, and built environments on aquatic ecosystems and water quality. 
Prereq: (CHM 1010  or CHM 1050 ) and (BIO 1110  or one year of high school biology) (quarter system prereq: CH 200 or CH 2050 or CH 103, and BI 102 or one year of high school biology)
Note: None
This course meets the following Raider Core CLO Requirement: Think Critically
Course Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  • Describe aquatic communities by trophic level, location, and locomotion
  • Classify lakes by their origin and productivity
  • Explain the causes and effects of lake stratification and turnover
  • Use indices of biological integrity to assess water quality and physical properties of streams
  • Identify wetlands using characteristics of their hydrology, vegetation, and soils
  • Apply principles of equilibrium and redox chemistry to problems of gas exchange, pH, Eh, and geology-mediated buffering
  • Predict the effects of specific human activities on lakes, streams, and wetlands
Prerequisites by Topic
  • None
Course Topics
  • Light energy, ecosystems, and trophic relationships
  • Aquatic biodiversity at the micro- and macroscale
  • Origins, evolution, and hydrology of lakes, wetlands, and streams
  • Heat and density effects on water movement
  • Aqueous chemistry of dissolved gases, salinity, pH, and reduction potential
  • Nutrient loading and eutrophication
  • Emerging pollutants and invasive species
Coordinator
Dr. Anne Alexander


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