Environmental Studies

Ecotoxicology addresses how chemicals released into the environment impact the biota. This course thus covers all aspects from release of chemical through transport and transformation outside the biota to uptake and effects within the biota. The main body of the course is concerned with distribution and effects within the organism from molecular interactions, impact on organ systems and how these effects at the individual organismal level can translate into highter level biologica, effects in populations, and communities. The course introduces important toxicoloical tools, illustrated in theory and practice and outlines the fundamental elements in chemical risk analysis.

This course examines the concepts of how marine species interact with each other and the environment to form functional populations and communities. This course uses a mixed platform of lectures, tutorials, computer labs and field-based exercises to explore and understand current issues and processes affecting marine ecosystems, using New Zealand and worldwide examples. 

This course examines options for the transport of forest products. It covers soil engineering characteristics and low-cost methods to determine the bearing capacity of subgrade soils; vehicle/road interaction; legal regulations for heavy vehicles operating on New Zealand public roads; forestry truck and trailer designs and their impact on load capacity and vehicle safety; road design for forest roads and the design of low-cost water crossings and drainage structures; application of RoadEng road design software; and cost estimation and contract management for road construction.

This course examines how glaciers respond to climate changes. It provides a global perspective with emphasis on examples from polar regions. The course focuses on understanding the processes and impacts of the climate on glacier behavior.

This course offers a critical overview of anthropological approaches to the environment. It introduces a set of contemporary and now classic literature on nature produced by anthropologists and social scientists more broadly, while critically engaging with contemporary environmental issues. This course examines key anthropological approaches organized into three key themes of community, capitalism, and multispecies entanglements. 

This course discusses the challenges of an increasing demand for meat, milk, and eggs produced in a manner that is environmentally sound and socioeconomically acceptable. It focusses on the production cycles of pig, cattle, and poultry production under Danish conditions. The course investigates the effects of management, housing, breeding, nutrition, productivity, health, animal ethics and welfare, resource consumption, and environmental impact of livestock production. It explores a range of different livestock production systems and works with the opportunities and challenges of implementing sustainable practices within them.

This course offers a study of environmental impact assessment including its origin, legislative frameworks, and practical applications.

This course provides an interdisciplinary introduction to international development discourses with a focus on water and development issues. Attention is given to outlining conceptual frameworks addressing the relevant underlying ecological, political, economic, and sociological principles in evaluating and managing water issues. 

This course examines the concepts, theories and techniques required to describe dynamic environmental systems and to develop mathematical models to explore their behavior. Systems thinking and modelling approaches are applied to several important environmental systems and processes including chemical and biological transformations in water and air pollution applications, ecological models and population dynamics, global climate change, water balances in lakes and reservoirs, and energy and mass transfer.