NRM 204 - Environmental Geology
Environmental Geology is a course designed for Natural Resources Management majors pursuing an Associate degree in Natural Resources Management. This course introduces students to geological terms and concepts such as geomorphology, strata, topography, ecliptic, physical geography; the structure of the Earth such as the core, mantle and core; the solar system and the universe; the size and shape of the Earth; lines of latitude and longitude; the formation of caves; karst topography; stream flow; formation and changes in beaches; formation of valleys; geysers; hot springs; weathering and erosion; deposition of sediments on beaches and floodplains; the types of rocks including sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks; volcanoes and their hazards; earthquakes and their hazards; plate tectonics and sea floor spreading; types of soils and their profiles; and, minerals found in the soil including silicates, carbonates, sulfides and so on.
NRM 203 - Waste Management
Waste Management is a course designed for Natural Resource majors pursuing an Associate degree in Natural Resources Management. This course introduces students to the different categories of waste such as solid, liquid and gaseous wastes. Waste management includes topics such as hazardous versus non-hazardous wastes; waste issues in Belize such as sewage treatment facilities, garbage dumps without landfills, industrial wastes and so on; reuse, recycle and reduce; waste history in Belize; organic waste and biological solutions; managing municipal wastes; composting; integrated waste management; wastewater e.g. grey water, sewage water and storm water; agricultural wastes e.g. cattle pastures, manure, pesticides and other wastes; atmospheric wastes e.g. acid deposition, ozone depletion, global warming, primary pollutants and secondary pollutants; hazardous wastes e.g. heavy metals, radioactive and biohazardous wastes; bioremediation systems; waste management industries; tourism wastes and other topics that are not limited to this course.
NRM 202 - Introduction to Recreation
Introduction to Recreation is a course that introduces students to recreation in Belize and in the region. It incorporates what is recreational planning as well as explaining why and how we recreate. The benefits of recreation will also be discussed such as the health, psychological, social and spiritual benefits. The recreational needs of the working class, elderly, adolescents and children will be described including those that might be lacking. A comparison between recreation of prehistoric times and contemporary recreation will be done along with the trends that continued throughout times. The course also includes our recreational rights and limits; commercial and environmental recreation; commercial recreation in Belize; investing in recreation; cruise ship tourism; protected areas and recreation and other topics that are not limited to but covered in this course.
NRM 201 - Introduction to Marine Ecology
Marine Ecology is a course designed for Natural Resource majors pursuing an Associate degree in Natural Resource Management. This course introduces students to marine ecological terms and concepts such as plankton, oceanography, meroplankton, holoplankton, neuston, interstitial ecology, intertidal ecology, marshes, estuaries, mesopelagic ecology; the function and structure of mangroves, seagrasses and coral reefs; the different types of shores such as rocky shores, sandy shores and muddy shores; different types of marine plankton such as meroplankton, bacterioplankton, phytoplankton and so on; the classification of marine environment from the coastal zone to the deep ocean; the characteristics of interstitial ecology; the characteristics of intertidal and shallow subtidal ecology; the characteristics of estuaries such as sedimentation patterns, nutrients and salinity gradients; deep sea ecology including mesopelagic, bathypelagic and deep sea benthic ecology; and human interactions including negative and positive impacts with marine and coastal systems.
NRM 101 Environmental Conservation and Development
This course introduces students to environmental conservation and development by reviewing the biophysical and socioeconomic dimensions of environmental problems to develop more effective conservation and development solutions. Key ecological terms and concepts such as species, population, ecology, community, ecosystem; the structure of ecosystems, community ecology, food webs and non-feeding relationships (symbiosis); ecosystem stability and diversity are explored. Understanding of the major approaches to conservation and development and their relative strengths and weakness are examined and analyzed.