Graduate
Program in SYSTEMS ECOLOGY and ECOLOGICAL ENGINEERING
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
In 1970 a graduate program in Systems Ecology and Ecological
Engineering was started as a special emphasis area within
Environmental Engineering Sciences. Since that time the program has
produced over 150 Masters and Ph.D. degrees. During this period, three
to five faculty of the department, and occasionally affiliates from
other departments, have directed or co-directed graduate students.
Program Ideals and Objectives
Since the beginning, the following ideals and objectives have been
stated as guidelines:
1. Whether thesis, non-thesis, or dissertation, each student includes
holistic aspects of a selected environmental system in his or her
study around which knowledge, principles of environmental science, and
comprehensive exam can be organized. This is in contrast to studies of
single processes and parts of ecosystems, which are studied in
isolation. The student studies include a systems model and often
computer simulation.
2. Studies include two or more levels of hierarchy, so that the
processes at one level that drive or are driven by processes at
another are studied to aid management and solution to problems. For
example, studies of wetlands are accompanied by considerations of the
wetland's role in the larger landscape with the human economy and
long-term processes.
3. Traditionally, required courses (either before admission or
afterward) have included one or both of the two introductory systems
ecology courses, and courses representing terrestrial ecology,
limnology, marine environment, human ecology, resource economics,
geology, and hydrology.
4. Our program has encouraged a "workshop" mode of working together,
where each student and faculty knows of the work of others and shares
ideas and data. Meeting once a week, the program seminar has several
topics at each session with emphasis on discussion. These sessions
include "show and tell" reports of meetings, new software, new books,
new ideas, preliminary presentations by students of some of their
latest data, thorny theoretical questions and controversies. All
students in the program are expected to attend.
5. Graduate students usually serve as research assistants on contracts
and grants. Graduate student research studies have concerned natural
and impacted ecosystems of estuaries, forests, wetlands, lakes, and
streams from the tropics to Alaska. Others have studied regional,
state and national systems of environment and economy.
6. Some students gain field measurement experience, some laboratory
experience or writing experience, some make oral presentations and
others gain theoretical training. The ideal program has all these
experiences if they can be arranged.
7. Computer technology has been a major emphasis that started with
analogs, hybrid, and minicomputers and moved to microcomputers ahead
of most campus programs. Most students write their own simulation
programs using BASIC, STELLA, EXTEND, etc., use spread sheets for
energy analysis, illustrate with graphics programs and/or develop
landscape measurements and analysis using geographic information
software. We try to make students comfortable with both PC's and
Macintosh systems.
9. There are two Systems Laboratories, both in the Phelps Lab
building; one associated with the Center for Wetlands and one
associated with the Center for Environmental Policy. Most graduate
students have desks in the Phelps Lab where they share laboratory
space.
Research Philosophy
The program in Systems Ecology and Ecological Engineering has several
related themes including Ecological Engineering, Ecological Economics,
Energy Analysis, Wetlands Studies, Ecological Modeling, and Estuarine
Studies. Overall, the objective of the program is to determine how
environmental and human systems operate and influence each other and
how they can be managed so that development and environment are
symbiotic and sustainable and contribute to maximum productivity. The
program's research is organized within two research centers: the
Center for Wetlands, founded in 1973, and the Center for Environmental
Policy, started in 1990.
Ecological Engineering
Research in the area of Ecological Engineering focuses on the
interface between technology and environment, developing engineering
design solutions that incorporate the self-organizing and
self-maintaining processes of the environment. Ecological Engineering
has been a program emphasis as a theoretical and practical approach to
fitting nature and human settlements. There is now a certificate
program in Ecological Engineering within the Department for students
wishing the engineering degree.
Work here has been important in national trends for wastewater use in
wetlands and post-mining reclamation by accelerating ecological
succession. Ecological Engineering encompasses the use of ecosystems
for waste interfaces such as the recycle of wastewaters through
wetlands and the construction of wetland stormwater treatment areas
for non-point source pollution control. A new area of emphasis is
evaluation and spatial modeling of development patterns and resulting
non-point source pollution generation and design of watershed scale
wetland stormwater treatment systems. Another important area is the
restoration and reclamation of drastically altered landscapes such as
the Everglades and those created in the wake of surface mining.
Emergy Synthesis
Emergy Synthesis has been a major research and teaching emphasis for
the past 25 years and has been recognized throughout the world as
developing important new theories for measuring the contributions of
environmental work and that of humans in common units. The evaluation
process is called “Emergy Synthesis” instead of “analysis”, since
synthesis is the act of combining elements into coherent wholes.
Rather than dissect and break apart systems and build understanding
from the pieces upward, emergy synthesis strives for understanding by
grasping the wholeness of systems. Emergy synthesis makes possible
scientific-based decisions on environmental and economic alternatives.
Research in the area of Emergy Synthesis focuses on evaluation of
energy resources and transformation processes using a unit of measure
called emergy (spelled with an "m"). Collaborating with scientists
from Italy, Venezuela, Brazil, and Sweden, comparative studies have
been conducted on energy production systems of hydroelectric power,
oil, wind generation, geothermal systems, coal, biomass, and wood.
These energy systems are being evaluated
for their efficiencies, CO2 generation, productivity, and net
benefits. The same quantitative analysis is also being applied to
natural systems and to agriculture. A compendium of process analyses
is being compiled for a wide variety of energy sources and
transformation processes so that future numerically comparable
evaluations are facilitated.
Current projects include the evaluation of ecosystem services and
natural capital (storages of biomass, water, and organic matter) in
Florida ecosystems, and the economic and environmental costs and
benefits of different water supply alternatives for public water
supply in Florida. With funds from UNEP we are evaluating the costs of
soil erosion and potential benefits from forestry practices that
conserve soils in twelve West African nations. The USDA Forest Service
has provided funds to evaluate the natural capital and environmental
services of the National Forests and Grasslands.
Ecological Economics
The emerging field of Ecological Economics is devoted to
quantitatively understanding the interrelationships between natural
resources and economic developments. as a means for developing plans
and policies, public and private, for better union of humanity and
environment. Research in this field
Wetland Studies
A major component of the program has been Wetland Studies, facilitated
by the Howrad T. Odum Center for Wetlands. There is an
interdisciplinary concentration in wetlands studies for those students
wanting this credential.
Wetland ecosystems are important globally for their ecological
functions such as wildlife habitat and water quality enhancement.
Continued research in the area of wetland ecosystem function is
related to studies of seed banks, early successional pathways,
microtopographic relief and biodiversity. At the landscape scale,
wetlands play an important role in water storage, and research has
focused on the impacts of water withdrawal on wetland function.
Increasingly, impacts on wetlands are being mitigated for by
construction of new wetlands at other locations, and as a result, much
recent research has focused on techniques and guidelines for wetlands
construction. Current wetland research is related to determining
"ecosystem health" where we have been developing statewide biocriteria
and biomonitoring techniques for measuring wetland ecosystem health.
Estuarine Systems
Estuarine studies focus on the basic processes of estuarine systems
and their responses to human development, hurricanes, dredging,
impoundments, freshwater inflows, and inlet management. Current
research has focused on the determination and modeling of ecological
impacts of salinity fluctuations, turbidity, and temperature on
seagrass dominated ecosystems in Florida Bay, Apalachicola Bay, and
Indian River Lagoon, as well as pollutant storage within system
sediments in and near the Timicuan Preserve.
