This program is open only to students in the B.Sc. or B.Sc.(Ag.Env.Sc.) Major Environment.
What methods should we use to analyse and understand complex systems?
In view of the crucial need for sound study design and appropriate statistical methods for analyzing environmental changes and their impacts on humans and various life forms and their ecological relationships, this program is intended to provide students with a strong background in the use of statistical methods of data analysis in environmental sciences. Graduates will be capable of effectively participating in the design of environmental studies and adequately analyzing data for use by the environmental community.
Accordingly, the list of required courses for the Environmetrics Concentration is composed primarily of six statistics courses and one mathematically oriented course with biological and ecological applications. The list is completed by three general courses that refine the topics introduced in the MSE Core courses by focusing on the ecology of living organisms, soil sciences or water resources, and impact assessment. These three courses should allow the students to understand their interlocutors and be understood by them in their future job.
Students can further develop their background in applied or mathematical statistics and their expertise in environmental sciences by taking two complementary courses along each of two axes: statistics & mathematics and environmental sciences. The possibility of an internship is also offered to students to provide them with preliminary professional experience.
See also Information for Students for details concerning:
- Suggested First Year Courses
- Taking courses on both campuses
- ENVR course sections - beware!
Program Requirements
NOTE: Students are required to take a maximum of 30 credits at the 200 level and a minimum of 12 credits at the 400 level or higher in this program. This includes Core and Required courses.
Core: Required Courses (18 credits)
ENVR 200 - The Global Environment
ENVR 201 - Society,Environ&Sustainability
ENVR 202 - The Evolving Earth
ENVR 203 - Knowledge, Ethics&Environment
ENVR 301 - Environmental Research Design
ENVR 400 - Environmental Thought
Core: Complementary Course — Senior Research Project
(3 credits*)
ENVR 401 - Environmental Research
ENVR 451 - Research in Panama (in Panama)
FSCI 444 - Barbados Research Project (in Barbados)
* only 3 credits will be applied to the program; extra credits will count as electives
Concentration Required Courses (6 credits)
AEMA 403 - Environmetrics Stage (M)
AEMA 414 - Temporal&Spatial Statistics 01 (M) (offered winter 2024 and alternate winters)
Concentration Complementary Courses (36 credits, minimum)
12 credits of fundamentals from (maximum 3 credits from any one category):
Ecology
BIOL 308 - Ecological Dynamics
ENVB 305 - Population & Community Ecology (M)
Impacts
ENVB 437 - Assessing Environmental Impact (M)
GEOG 340 - Sustain. in the Caribbean (in Barbados)
MIME 308 - Social Impact of Technology (not offered)
Modelling
BIOL 309 - Mathematical Models in Biology
ENVB 506 - Quantitative Methods: Ecology (M)
GIS Techniques
ENVB 529 - GIS for Natural Resource Mgmt (M)
GEOG 201 - Intro Geo-Information Science
3 credits basic environmental science
BREE 217 - Hydrology and Water Resources (M)
or GEOG 322 - Environmental Hydrology
or CIVE 323 - Hydrology and Water Resources
ENVB 210 - The Biophysical Environment (M)
or GEOG 305 - Soils and Environment
GEOG 350 - Ecological Biogeography (not offered)
6 credits of statistics, one of the following two options:
Note: BSc students should see "Course Overlap" near the beginning of the Faculty of Science section of the current Calendar for info on course overlap. Several stats courses overlap (especially with MATH 324) and cannot be taken together. These rules do not apply to BSc(Ag.Env.Sc.) students.
Advising Note: Students wishing to take MATH 423 or MATH 447 from List 1, should choose Option #1 (ie. MATH 323 and MATH 324).
Option 1:
MATH 323 - Probability
and MATH 324 - Statistics
Option 2:
One of:
AEMA 310 - Statistical Methods 1 (M)
or BIOL 373 - Biometry (no longer offered)
AND one of:
AEMA 411 - Experimental Designs 01 (M) (offered winter 2023 and alternate winters)
CIVE 555 - Environmental Data Analysis
GEOG 351 - Quantitative Methods
SOCI 461 - Quantitative Data Analysis
15 credits total chosen from the following two lists:
List 1: Statistics and Mathematics, at least 3 credits from --
BIOL 434 - Theoretical Ecology (not offered)
BREE 252 - Computing for Engineers (M)
BREE 319 - Engineering Mathematics (M)
GEOG 401 - Socio-Envrnmntl Sys:Thry & Sim
MATH 223 - Linear Algebra
MATH 326 - Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos
MATH 423 - Applied Regression
MATH 447 - Intro. to Stochastic Processes
MATH 525 - Sampling Theory & Applications
SOCI 504 - Quantitative Methods 1
SOCI 580 - Social Res Design&Practice
List 2: Environmental Sciences, at least 3 credits from --
AGRI 550 - Sustained Tropical Agriculture (offered alternate years; in Panama)
ATOC 341 - Caribbean Climate and Weather (in Barbados)
BIOL 331 - Ecology/Behaviour Field Course
BIOL 343 - Biodiversity in the Caribbean (in Barbados)
BIOL 553 - Neotropical Environments (in Panama)
ENVB 313 - Phylogeny and Biogeography (M)
ENVB 500 - Advanced Topics Ecotoxicology (M) (offered fall 2022 and alternate falls)
ENVR 421 - Mtl:Envr Hist & Sustainability (not offered 2023-2024)
ENVR 422 - Mtl Urban Sustainability Anal (not offered 2023-2024)
GEOG 300 - Human Ecology in Geography (not offered)
GEOG 302 - Environmental Management 1
GEOG 404 - Environmental Management 2 (in Africa)
GEOG 494 - Urban Field Studies
GEOG 499 - Subarctic Field Studies (Schefferville; no longer offered)
NRSC 333 - Pollution and Bioremediation (M)
PLNT 460 - Plant Ecology (M)
WILD 401 - Fisheries&Wildlife Management (M)