Our ecosystems are under threats posed by increasing multiple pressures from growing environmental challenges such as the loss of biodiversity, reduction in water quality and quantity, and global warming. Now the pandemic has further exposed our vulnerability to the resilience for our future. These environmental challenges are increasingly challenging the sustainable provisioning of multiple ecosystem services to society. Addressing future uncertainty and risk has therefore become a central problem of natural resource management. Drawing from our course contents, please explain the importance of ecosystem management to address growing natural resource management challenges. Can integrated ecosystem management provide solutions to these challenges/problems? Should there be a paradigm shift in how we manage ecosystems? What can be the future of ecosystem management, and what can be your role? How you envision using the knowledge, tools, and techniques you learned from the Ecosystem Management course and others in your chosen career field?
This essay should consider content from lectures, readings, activities, discussions, project work, and guest lectures from throughout the course. The essay shouldn’t be a simple list of facts but rather reflect what you learned relative to course content. You can also include knowledge from your other personal and professional experiences, including other coursework, but your essay needs to clearly convey how you’re putting together course content.
The structure of your essay might look something like this:
Title: Concise title of your essay
Introduction: This section will be composed of a few sentences that introduce the main topics of your essay, ending with a sentence summarizing the 3-4 main points you seek to develop.
Body Paragraph 1: Start by stating your first main point clearly and concisely, but more fully than that in the intro. In the next several sentences, you should develop this idea with logic and examples. Support your arguments with class material, including readings, lectures, interviews, etc. You may also bring in personal experience and what you’ve learned in other classes. You may consider including a quote or two if it helps you convey your thinking and how you are putting content together. Always be sure to reference your sources, but especially when you are referring to data or providing direct quotes.
Body Paragraphs 2-3 or 4: Repeat the process above but for your other main points.
Conclusion: Sum up your whole essay in 2-3 sentences, preferably in a way that leaves a positive lasting impression on the reader.
References: Cite your sources using the Council of Scientific Editors Name-Year formatting. Detailed guidelines on this reference format can be found here (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.). You do not need to formally cite content shared through class lectures or discussions; you can refer to this content informally (e.g., “As discussed in the April 27 lecture…”).
Your reflection should be 1,500-2,000 words in length and will be graded according to the following scale:
Excellent 50 pts: The essay is very detailed, very complete, and shows evidence of advanced critical thinking and links to other course content in six or more ways. Constructively discusses at least three major environmental challenges and how ecosystem management can address them. It contains a clear introduction, body, and conclusion sections. The source material is always correctly and clearly cited. Writing contains few, if any, errors in grammar or spelling. You clearly expended a high amount of effort to complete the assignment. Essay submitted on time.
Good 35-49 pts: The essay is detailed, complete, and shows evidence of critical thinking and links to other course content in more than three ways. Constructively discusses at least two major environmental challenges and how ecosystem management can address them. It contains a clear introduction, body, and conclusion sections. Source material is nearly always correctly and clearly cited. Writing might contain a couple of errors in grammar or spelling. The assignment is complete and adequate but not exceptional. The depth of thinking displayed or level of effort expended is not as exceptional as excellent work. Essay submitted on time.
Passable 20-34 pts: Essay accurately covers topic and links to other course content in at least three ways, but is not sufficiently detailed to show evidence of critical thinking. Constructively discusses one major environmental challenge and how ecosystem management can address them. The source material is mostly cited correctly and clearly. Writing contains errors in grammar or spelling, though not excessive. Essay submitted on time.
Fail 0-19 pts: Student did not complete the assignment or did not meet the above criteria.
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