Environmental Studies

This course provides an overview of chemical ecology and aims to understand the history, development, and core concepts of chemical ecology.  It introduces how organisms interact via chemicals, focusing on insects and plants.   The course requires basic knowledge of biology and chemistry. 

This course examines China’s natural environment; its institutional, legislative and administrative frameworks in environment protection and nature conservation; and discusses the government’s strategies for environmental protection and sustainable development.

This course aims to introduce the fundamentals of environmental hydrology as well as some basic hydrological analysis and simulation methods. As an important tool for hydrologists, Geographic Information System (GIS) and its applications in hydrology are also introduced. Specifically, this course contains

three modules:

(1) introduction to the fundamental theories on hydrologic processes;

(2) introduction to some commonly used hydrological analysis methods

(3) introduction to using SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) for hydrological process simulations.

Ecological design is a design form that integrates the life process and reduces the impact of environmental damage; it is an effective way to adjust and integrate natural processes. Integration means designing that respects species diversity, reduces resource consumption, preserves nutrient and water cycles, maintains habitat quality, and pays attention to all other prerequisites for human and ecosystem health. In response to the impact of climate change on the ecological environment and human life, this course starts from ecologically- oriented thinking and discusses three unit themes from macro to micro: ecological environment planning, activity introduction planning, and ecological space design/ecological product design. In addition, through the topic discussion and practical exercises of each unit, students are cultivated to have the professional ability of ecologically oriented planning and design. 

This course aims to let the students understand the laws of environmental changes and climate change, and enhance their awareness of environmental protection.

It allows students to think about how humans and nature can coexist harmoniously, which significantly enhances students' concepts of sustainable development. Students can apply environmental awareness and sustainable development concepts to their majors and future work.

This course seeks to answer several fundamental questions: Which factors control life in the ocean? How do we know what we know about the ocean? What's at the bottom of the ocean? How does the water in the ocean move? How are human activities and climate change altering the ocean?  

Behavioral Ecology takes an evolutionary perspective to address the mechanisms and processes that have shaped the current form and utility of various aspects of animal behavior. The course includes lectures that cover major topics in Behavioral Ecology and introduce relevant research approaches; literature reading that provides a glimpse of cutting-edge research in the field, as well as a group project that allows students to experience the entire process of conducting a behavior study, practicing the theories and approaches learned from the lectures.    

Required Prerequisite: General Biology.  

Suggested Prerequisites: Ecology and Basic Statistics.  

This course covers major topics in deep-sea ecology, including the physical environments and history, sampling techniques, adaptations of deep-sea organisms, community composition and functions, major habitats, and anthropogenic effects. The course also explores Taiwan’s deep-sea environments and living resources.    

This course examines the techniques and procedures of evaluating environmental consequences arising from human activities, with focus on their application in Hong Kong as prescribed under the Hong Kong Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance, and its Technical Memorandum.