Introduction and overview (2 lectures)
General description of the Earth's interacting subsystems-biotic and abiotic
A time line of the Earth's development-from formation through the industrial revolution
A glance at the impact of human activities: trends in human population, carbon dioxide production, nitrogen fixation, land cover, pollutant release, species extinctions
Why is this a chemical engineering offering?
Biota dynamics (15 lectures)
Setting the scene-definitions, food web structure, nutrient recycling
Dynamics of interacting populations, with emphasis on mathematical models and analysis, effects of parameters and disturbances
Single species (logistic growth models, age-structured models, complex dynamics for discrete-time models)
Two competing species , with and without nutrient recycling (extinctions, coexistence, stability, bifurcations, phase planes)
Mutualism
Predator-prey interactions (Lotka-Volterra mechanisms and other predator response functions, sustained oscillations)
Introduction to higher-dimensional state space-analysis of a tri-trophic food chain (steady states, stability, non-linear responses)
Reflections and generalizations-general models consisting of systems of ODEs, multiplicity of steady states, the general stability problem, complexities and impediments in the analysis of large systems
Over the last two weeks of lectures on biota dynamics, the students work in groups of 2 or 3 on a "miniproject". (Select "projects" from the menu on this course's home page for further description.)
Midterm (take-out) exam
The Earth's natural and altered environments (10 lectures)
Introduction to the Earth's major biogeochemical cycles
Carbon cycle (fluxes, reservoirs, "box" or "compartment" models, historical trends and anthropogenic disturbances
Simulated carbon dynamics based on a 4-compartment model (effects of fossil fuel burning, the "greenhouse" gas effect)
Nitrogen cycle (fluxes, reservoirs, the pre-industrial "balance", anthropogenic disturbances)
Ozone formation and destruction in the stratosphere (chemical reactions, mechanism of ozone destruction by pollutants, the ozone layer - computations of the rate of production of ozone versus altitude and the effect of pollutants)
Ozone formation in the troposphere (chemical reactions, the effects of pollutants)
Sulfur and phosphorus cycles (a brief glance at pre-industrial fluxes and reservoirs, anthropogenic disturbances)
In place of the next 9 lecture periods, the students are engaged (in groups of 2 or 3) on a course project. Weekly, during that period, individual groups meet with the instructor for oral progress reports and discussions. Over the final 5 class meetings, each group presents an oral report on the project to the entire class. A written report is submitted (in electronic format) on the last class day. (Select "projects" from the menu on this course's home page for further description.)
Final Exam
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