Fall 2020
GEOG 510 Seminar in Seminar in Physical Geography: Fire, Ecosystems, and People
- Semester: Fall 2020
- Instructor: Alan Taylor
- Office: 202 Walker Building
- E-mail: aht1@psu.edu
- Office hours: Monday and Wednesday 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
- Class time: Monday and Wednesday 2:30 – 3:45 p.m. in 319 Walker Building. First meeting is Monday, August 24. (Another time could be arranged, so please attend first meeting.)
Description
Fire is a powerful agent that influences ecosystems, ecosystem services, and people who live in fire prone landscapes. This seminar will focus on the historic, current, and future role of fire as a disturbance process and as a management and political issue.
To understand the interactions of fire, ecosystems and people we will cover the following topics: fire in the earth system, fire as an evolutionary force, fire regimes, human use of fire, fire ecology and fire effects on plants, soil, and nutrient cycles, fire and land cover change, fire-climate interactions, wildland fuels, fire behavior/modeling, fire management policy, and fire in the urban/wildland intermix.
The format will be a mixture of lecture, weekly readings, and student led group discussions. The seminar will be of interest to students in a wide range of fields including geography, anthropology, ecology, ecosystem science and management, natural resources, recreation and parks management, environment and society, and landscape.