Applied Ecology Major (B.Sc.(Ag.Env.Sc.)) (24 credits)
Offered by: Natural Resource Sciences (Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences)
Degree: Bachelor of Science (Agricultural and Environmental Sciences)
Program credit weight: 24
Program Description
Food, water, air, the materials we use, and much of the diversity of life and recreation we enjoy are products of ecological systems. We manage ecosystems to provide these services and our use and mis-use often degrades the ability of ecosystems to provide the benefits and services we value. In the Applied Ecology specialization you will develop your ability to understand how ecosystems function. You will apply systems thinking to the challenge of managing ecosystems for agriculture, forestry, fisheries, protected areas and urban development. You will learn concepts and tools that help you to deal with the complexity that an ecosystem perspective brings. The goal of this specialization is to provide students with an opportunity to further develop their understanding of the ecosystem processes, ecology, and systems thinking necessary to understand, design and manage our interaction with the environment.
For information on academic advising, see: http://www.mcgill.ca/macdonald/studentinfo/advising
Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.
Required Courses (9 credits)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| ENVB 305 | Population and Community Ecology. | 3 |
Population and Community Ecology. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Interactions between organisms and their environment; historical and current perspectives in applied and theoretical population and community ecology. Principles of population dynamics, feedback loops, and population regulation. Development and structure of communities; competition, predation and food web dynamics. Biodiversity science in theory and practice. | ||
| ENVB 437 | Assessing Environmental Impact. | 3 |
Assessing Environmental Impact. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Principles and practice of Environmental Assessment (EA) in Canada and internationally. Exploration of issues surrounding impact assessment for sustainable development in different sectors, including their limitations. | ||
| ENVB 529 | GIS for Natural Resource Management. | 3 |
GIS for Natural Resource Management. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial analysis techniques to the presentation and analysis of ecological information, including sources and capture of spatial data; characterizing, transforming, displaying spatial data; and spatial analysis to solve resource management problems. | ||
Complementary Courses (15 credits)
15 credits selected from the following:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| AGRI 340 | Principles of Ecological Agriculture. | 3 |
Principles of Ecological Agriculture. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Focus on low-input, sustainable, and organic agriculture: the farm as an ecosystem; complex system theory; practical examples of soil management, pest control, integrated crop and livestock production, and marketing systems. | ||
| BREE 327 | Bio-Environmental Engineering. | 3 |
Bio-Environmental Engineering. Terms offered: Fall 2025 An introduction to how humans affect the earth's ecosystem and projections for the needs of food, water, air and energy to support the human population. Ecologically-reasonable coping strategies including biofuels, bioprocessing, waste management, and remediation methods. | ||
| ENTO 330 | Insect Biology. | 3 |
Insect Biology. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Introduction to entomology, including the the importance and diversity of insects; insect morphology, anatomy and physiology; insect sensory systems; reproduction; metamorphosis; insect classification and survey of the orders and common families. | ||
| ENTO 340 | Field Entomology. | 3 |
Field Entomology. Terms offered: Fall 2025 A field course and project about arthropod taxonomy, field methods and experimental design in entomology. Includes natural history observation, and experimental approaches to arthropod population and community ecology. | ||
| ENVB 301 | Meteorology. | 3 |
Meteorology. Terms offered: Fall 2025 The physical processes underlying weather. Topics include: the atmosphere - its properties (structure and motion), and thermodynamics (stability, heat and moisture); clouds and precipitation; air masses and fronts; mid-latitude weather systems and severe weather. | ||
| ENVB 313 | Phylogeny and Biogeography. | 3 |
Phylogeny and Biogeography. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Topics in the interface of evolution, phylogenetics, and biogeography, including tree thinking, phylogeny estimation, and the processes that generate and maintain biodiversity. The major scientific discoveries that demonstrated how Earth’s history affects the evolution of organisms, including the unheard voices of evolutionary biology. | ||
| ENVB 415 | Ecosystem Management. | 3 |
Ecosystem Management. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Through the examination of cases studies presented in a modular format, students will be exposed to a variety of ecosystem processes. Choice of components, interactions and type of management to achieve desired endpoints will be discussed. | ||
| ENVB 500 | Advanced Topics in Ecotoxicology. | 3 |
Advanced Topics in Ecotoxicology. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Exploring the impact of environmental chemicals on biological organisms in an ecological context. Basic topics in ecotoxicology, such as source and fate, routes of exposure, bioavailability, dose-response, biomarkers, and risk assessment will be covered from both theoretical and applied perspectives. The processes by which pollutants are tested, regulated, and monitored will be critically examined. | ||
| ENVB 506 | Quantitative Methods: Ecology. | 3 |
Quantitative Methods: Ecology. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Introduction to a broad range of innovative data analysis strategies commonly applied to ecological data. How to apply these strategies. Common “best practices” for data management, study design, and graphing techniques. | ||
| ENVB 530 | Advanced GIS for Natural Resource Management. | 3 |
Advanced GIS for Natural Resource Management. Terms offered: Winter 2026 An advanced spatial analysis course that uses rapidly developing techniques in GIS and remote sensing to solve problems in natural resource management. Focuses on controlling spatial operations through programming. | ||
| MICR 331 | Microbial Ecology. | 3 |
Microbial Ecology. Terms offered: Winter 2026 The ecology of microorganisms, primarily bacteria and archaea, and their roles in biogeochemical cycles. Microbial interactions with the environment, plants, animals and other microbes emphasizing the underlying genetics and physiology. Diversity, evolution (microbial phylogenetics) and the application of molecular biology in microbial ecology. | ||
| MICR 450 | Environmental Microbiology. | 3 |
Environmental Microbiology. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Focus on microbes in the environment. Topics include extreme environments, polar microbiology, biotechnology and bioremediation. Emphasis will be on population studies based upon molecular biological methods. | ||
| PLNT 304 | Biology of Fungi. | 3 |
Biology of Fungi. Terms offered: Winter 2026 This course describes the various groups of fungi and explores in depth their biology and physiology, their ecological niches and the role in various ecosystems and their benefits and uses in industry and biotechnology. | ||
| PLNT 426 | Plant Ecophysiology. | 3 |
Plant Ecophysiology. Terms offered: Winter 2026 This course investigates the complex interactions between plants and their environment, focusing on the mechanisms underlying plant physiological processes. Plasticity of plants to their ecological environment; topics include phytoremediation, plant stress responses, plant-symbiosis and plant-insect interactions. | ||
| PLNT 460 | Plant Ecology. | 3 |
Plant Ecology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Theory and practice of plant ecology with an emphasis on the interaction between patterns and ecological processes and the dynamics, conservation and management of plant populations and communities over a range of temporal and spatial scales. | ||
| SOIL 300 | Geosystems. | 3 |
Geosystems. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Interactions between Earth's various geologic systems and how these interactions lead to mineral and rock formation. Geomorphic processes and how various landforms are created by the interactions at the Earth's surface between the various geologic systems. | ||
| SOIL 326 | Soils in a Changing Environment. | 3 |
Soils in a Changing Environment. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Soil processes responsible for soil formation will be studied and the impact of changes to the physical and chemical environment will be discussed. | ||
| SOIL 535 | Soil Ecology. | 3 |
Soil Ecology. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Exploration of the unique soil habitat for organisms with a focus on the variables that affect the abundance, diversity and interactions of soil biota and, in turn, their influence on soil physicochemical properties, biogeochemical cycles and other factors impacting ecosystem sustainability. Topics include survey of soil fauna, soil food webs, microbial ecology, biological carbon and nitrogen cycling, plant-soil interactions, and the effects of human activities and management on soil ecology, including synthesizing concepts and a critical analysis and interpretation of primary scientific literature in soil ecology. | ||
| WILD 302 | Fish Ecology. | 3 |
Fish Ecology. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Introduction to the biology and ecology of freshwater and marine fishes. Topics include taxonomy, physiology, biogeography, competition, predation, fishing, and conservation. Lab exercises and field trips emphasize familiarity with local fishes and their ecological interactions. | ||
| WILD 307 | Natural History of Vertebrates. | 3 |
Natural History of Vertebrates. Terms offered: Fall 2025 The diversity and natural history of Canadian vertebrates illustrated with trophic, phylogenetic, and macroecological approaches. | ||
| WILD 350 | Mammalogy. | 3 |
Mammalogy. Terms offered: Winter 2026 This course focuses on the evolution, classification, ecology and behaviour of mammals and relations between humans and mammals. Also structure, systematics and identification of local and world mammals, as well as field methods will be emphasized. | ||
| WILD 420 | Ornithology. | 3 |
Ornithology. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Taxonomic relationships and evolution of birds. Examination of the physiology, migration, identification and ecological processes of North American birds. | ||
| WILD 421 | Wildlife Conservation. | 3 |
Wildlife Conservation. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Study of current controversial issues focusing on wildlife conservation. Topics include: animal rights, exotic species, ecotourism, urban wildlife, multi-use of national parks, harvesting of wildlife, biological controls, and endangered species. | ||