Content: The course introduces students to radiation, heat transfer in soils, view factors, turbulent transfers and wind relations, hydrologic cycle, energy balance and atmospheric diffusion. The course will focus on the micrometeorological and physiological processes controlling the exchange of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases (CH4, N2O), water vapor, and energy between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere. The course will also expose students to the impacts of human activities, such as land use change and land management, on energy, water, carbon, and nitrogen exchange between the land and atmosphere.

Objective:To equip students with the relationship between atmospheric conditions, such as temperature and humidity, and living organisms

Reading materials

1. Brewer, R. 1988. The Science of Ecology. Sanders, New York.
2. Enger, E.D. and Smith, B.F. 1991. Environmental Science: A Study of Interrelationships. 4th Edn. W.C. Brown Publishers
3. Hillel, D. 1980. Applications of Soil Physics. Academic Press Inc. New York.
4. Napier, T.L. et al., 1983. Water Resources Research: Problems and Potentials for Agriculture and Rural Communities