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Instructor: Dr. Matthew J. Gray (mattjgray@utk.edu)

Phone:         974-2740 (office)

Office: 247 Ellington Plant Sciences Building

Meeting Time and Place:  8:30–12:00 and 1:30–5:00 M,Tu,W,Th,F 156/157 PBB

Course Goal: To expose students to the basic principles of wetland ecology and management via class lectures, labs, and field experiences.

Recommended Text: Wetlands, 2007, 4^th edition (ISBN 978-0-471-69967-5)

Authors: William J. Mitsch and James G. Gosselink

Course Credits: 2 credits

Course Duration: 6–29 March 2009 (spring break: 16-19 March)

Tentative Schedule:

2–6 March:

	Monday	Tuesday	Wed	Thursday	Friday
Morning			Annual Meeting of the Tennessee Chapter of The Wildlife Society Fall Creek Falls State Park Pikeville, TN		Wetland Definition, Wetland Regulations
Afternoon					Waterbird, Amphibian, and Wetland Plant ID

9–13 March:

	Monday	Tuesday	Wed	Thursday	Friday
Morning	USFWS Wetland Classification	Wetland Management (agriculture & moist-soil management)	Capacity Estimation Lecture	Open Topic – Students Decide	PRACTICUM (Classification & Waterbird, Amphibian, and Plant ID)
Afternoon	Human Impacts and Wetland Values	Wetland Management (green-tree reservoir management)	Capacity Estimation Assignment & Lab Exercise	OPEN Study for Practicum

NOTE: Lab practicum starts at 7:30 a.m. in 156/157 PBB.

23–27 March:

	Monday	Tuesday	Wed	Thursday	Friday
Morning	EXAM (7:30−9:30) Leave for Noxubee (10:00 am)	Noxubee NWR (moist-soil units, GTRs, aquatic plant management)	MSU Presentations Dr. Rick Kaminski, colleagues, & students	Southeastern Wildlife Conclave Co-hosted by University of Arkansas - Monticello and Arkansas Tech University (Leave Noxubee NWR at 10:00 am on Thursday, Leave Arkansas by 8:00 am on Sunday)
Afternoon	Visit Briefly with Refuge Staff, Watch Video	Noxubee NWR (wood duck and RCW management, bat research)	MSU Captive Wildlife Facility Dr. Steve Demarais and students

NOTE: Lecture exam starts at 7:30 a.m. in 156/157 PBB.

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Academic Assessment:

Weights of Academic Assessments and Grading Scale:

The exam, lab practicum, homework assignment, and participation (field trip attendance) will be weighted as follows:

● Exam: 50% (Monday, 23 March 2009 at 7:30 am in 156/157 PBB)

● Lab Practicum: 30% (Friday, 13 March 2009 at 8:30 am in 156/157 PBB)

● DED Assignment: 10% (due Monday, 30 March 2009 by 1:00 pm)

● Participation: 10%

Your course grade will be determined using the following scale:

Grade	Final Weighted Percent	Grade	Final Weighted Percent
A	90–100%	C	70–76%
B+	87–89%	D	60–69%
B	80–86%	F	<60%
C+	77–79%

You can positively influence your grade as much as 4.5% by volunteering for extra credit. Your volunteer work however must be related to wetlands or wetland fauna (e.g., amphibians, waterbirds). For every 8 hours of volunteer work, your final grade will be increased by 1.5% up to 4.5% (24 hours total). All volunteering must be completed by 28 April 2009. A volunteer form (see website) must be filled out by the supervising individual, and submitted to Dr. Gray.

VOLUNTEER FORM

Attendance:

Attendance on the field trip to Mississippi will count for 10% of your final grade. You must participate in all field trip activities to receive 10% (2% deduction for each missed activity). Attendance at lectures is not mandatory but strongly recommended.

Full Syllabus

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Teaching Resources:

Homework Assignment

DED Calculations (Due: Monday, 30 March 2009)

Handouts

Required Wetland Plants

Required TN Anurans

Required Waterfowl

Required Shorebirds

Recommended Readings (Wetlands Edition 3 [below]; Edition 4 see: http://fwf.ag.utk.edu/mgray/wfs340/ReadingList2008.pdf)

•What are Wetlands? Chap 2, Chap 6 (155–164, Hydric Soils), Chap 21 (754–758)

•Wetland Regs & Programs Chap 18, Chap 19 (653–668)

•Wetland Classification Chap 21 (737–744)

USFWS (Cowardin) Classification System (pages 9-44 if questions after lecture)

•Wetland Losses & Impacts Chap 4 (71–89), Chap 17 (611–625)

•Bottomland Sedimentation Hatchie River Shoals and Valley Plugs (Diehl 2000)

•Wetland Values Chap 16 (571–591)

•Wetland Construction Chap 19 (668–680)

NWRC Waterfowl Habitat Management Handbook 13.4.8

Waterfowl Habitat Management Handbook for LMRV

•Wetland Management Chap 17 (625–638)

NWRC Waterfowl Habitat Management Handbook 13.4.6

NWRC Waterfowl Habitat Management Handbook 13.2.1

Greentree Reservoir Handbook (Fredrickson and Batema 1992; Chaps 1, 2, 5, 6, & 8)

•Duck energy-days TME for Acorns & Other Foods (Kaminski et al. 2003)

(need for assignment) Predicting Seed Yield (Laubhan 1992)

Predicting Seed Yield (Gray et al. 1999a)

New Method to Predict Seed Yield (Gray et al. 1999b)

Current DEDs for LMAV (Reinecke and Kaminski 2005)

•Wood duck Biology Population Status (Davis 2005)

Wood Duck Brood Ecology (Davis et al. 2002)

Supplemental Resources

USACE Wetland Delineation Manual (1987)

USACE Wetland Delineation Form

TN Hydric Soils List

NRCS Keys to Soil Taxonomy

NRCS Field Indicators of Hydric Soils

USFWS National Hydrophyte List (1996)

USFWS Wetland Status and Trends (2000)

Bottomland Hardwood Guidebook: GTRs (King and Fredrickson 1998)

Shorebird Management Handbook (Helmers 1992)

North American Waterfowl Management Plan (2004)

USFWS Moist-soil Management Guidelines (Strader and Stinson 2005)

PARC Habitat Management Guidelines for Amphibians and Reptiles—New Publication**

Testing Preparation

Lab Practicum Requirements

Exam Review

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Podcasts: (MP3 Format)

1. iTunes Instructions: (you must first download iTunes to Listen to Podcasts)

1) Go to http://itunesu.utk.edu

2) Click on "Download iTunes & Quick Time"

3) Click on “Download iTunes Free”

4) Save iTunes to your hard drive and install.

2. Link to iTunes to Listen to Podcasts: Launch Podcasts in iTunes U

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Slides: (PDF Format)

Lectures:

“What is a Jurisdictional Wetland?” (PDF)

“USFWS Wetland Classification” (PDF)

“Wetland Losses & Human Impacts” (PDF)

“Wetlands Values” (PDF)

“Moist-soil and Agriculture Management” (PDF)

“Green-tree Reservoir Management” (PDF)

“Wetland Carrying Capacity” (PDF)

“Wetland Impoundment Construction” (no PDF)

Websites (Class)

USFWS Hydrophyte List

USGS Wetland Hydrology Site

USGS Wetland Loss Site

Videos of Louisiana Coastal Wetland Loss

Historical Loss of Louisiana Wetlands

NWRC Waterfowl Management Site

Websites (Wetland Conservation Programs)

Wetland Reserve Program WRP Brochure Tennessee WRP Website

Tennessee Partners Program TPP Brochure

Conservation Reserve Program (Forested Riparian Buffer Practice) Iowa Brochure

Websites (Wetland Conservation & Professionals)

Society of Wetland Scientists

RAMSAR Convention on Wetlands

Ducks Unlimited

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Lab Resources:

Lectures:

“Tennessee Anuran Identification” “Tennessee Anuran Identification” (PDF)

Podcast: “Identification of common Tennessee anurans: 15 of 21 Species”

“Waterfowl Identification” (PDF) by Melissa Foster

“Shorebird Identification” (PDF) by Drew Wirwa

Podcast: “Identification of 23 waterfowl and 15 shorebird species that migrate through Tennessee”

Websites

Vascular Plant Identification and Taxonomy: http://tenn.bio.utk.edu/vascular/vascular.html

Tennessee Amphibian Identification: http://www.leaps.ms/ and http://www.state.tn.us/twra/frogs.html

Waterfowl Identification: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/tools/duckdist/duckdist.htm and http://www.ducks.org/waterfowling/gallery/

Shorebird Identification: http://samigbird.fws.gov/shorid.htm (click on ‘Learn to identify Shorebirds’)

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Wetlands Class Photos

Spring Camp 2009

Seed Prediction Lab and Lab Exam

Mississippi Trip

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Graduate Instructors:

Melissa Foster (M.S. Candidate, Wildlife [Wetlands: Waterfowl])

Drew Wirwa (M.S. Candidate, Wildlife [Wetlands: Shorebirds & Waterfowl])

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Previous WFS 340 Websites

2008: http://fwf.ag.utk.edu/mgray/wfs340/340home_2008.htm

2007: http://fwf.ag.utk.edu/mgray/wfs340/340home_2007.htm

2006: http://fwf.ag.utk.edu/mgray/wfs340/340home_2006.htm

2005: http://fwf.ag.utk.edu/mgray/wfs340/340home_2005.htm

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