Soil and Water Resources Major (B.Sc.(Ag.Env.Sc.)) (24 credits)
Offered by: Plant Science (Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences)
Degree: Bachelor of Science (Agricultural and Environmental Sciences)
Program credit weight: 24
Program Description
** This program is currently not offered. **
This specialization will interest students who want to understand how soils and water interact within managed ecosystems such as urban or agricultural landscapes. The conservation and management of agricultural soils, issues affecting watershed management and decision making, and the remediation of contaminated soils will be examined. When taken with the Agro-Environmental Sciences Major and the specialization in Professional Agrology, this specialization conforms with the eligibility requirements for the Ordre des agronomes du Québec.
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 (15 credits)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| AGRI 435 | Soil and Water Quality Management. | 3 |
Soil and Water Quality Management. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Management of soil and water systems for sustainability. Cause of soil degradation, surface and groundwater contamination by agricultural chemicals and toxic pollutants. Human health and safety concerns. Water-table management. Soil and water conservation techniques will be examined with an emphasis on methods of prediction and best management practices. | ||
| BREE 217 | Hydrology and Water Resources. | 3 |
Hydrology and Water Resources. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Introduction to water resources and hydrologic cycle. Precipitation and hydrologic frequency analysis. Soil water processes, infiltration theory and modeling. Evapotranspiration estimation methods and crop water requirements. Surface runoff estimation as a function of land use modifications. Estimation of peak runoff rates. Unit hydrograph. Design of open channels and vegetated waterways. | ||
| 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 331 | Environmental Soil Physics. | 3 |
Environmental Soil Physics. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This course addresses physical properties and processes in soil, state and transport of matter and energy affecting environment and agriculture (State: soil texture, structure, temperature, water; Transport: water flow, chemical transport, heat and gas flow), mass and energy balance in soil, effect of various environmental events on soil physical properties, management of physical properties and processes for various practical agricultural, hydrological and environmental applications including land reclamation. | ||
| 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. | ||
Complementary Courses (9 credits)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| BREE 322 | Organic Waste Management. | 3 |
Organic Waste Management. Terms offered: Fall 2025 An introduction to engineering aspects of handling, storage and treatment of all biological and food industry wastes. Design criteria will be elaborated and related to characteristics of wastes. Physical, chemical and biological treatment 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. | ||
| BREE 510 | Watershed Systems Management. | 3 |
Watershed Systems Management. Terms offered: Fall 2025 A holistic examination of methods in watershed management with a focus on integrated water resources management (IWRM). Topics include: integration, participatory management, water resources assessment, modeling, planning, adaptive management, transboundary management, and transition management. | ||
| BREE 529 | GIS for Natural Resource Management. 1 | 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. | ||
| ENVB 529 | GIS for Natural Resource Management. 1 | 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. | ||
| NRSC 333 | Pollution and Bioremediation. | 3 |
Pollution and Bioremediation. Terms offered: Fall 2025 The environmental contaminants which cause pollution; sources, amounts and transport of pollutants in water, air and soil; waste management. | ||
| 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. | ||