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BIOL 455Ecological Risk Assessment and Management

Units
0.50
Faculty
Science
Subject
Biology

When it runs

  1. F24
  2. W25
  3. S25
  4. F25
  5. W26
  6. S26
  7. F26
  8. W27
  9. S27

Ran in 3 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: not on the schedule. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.

Examination of the use of scientific information characterizing the risks posed to the environment by anthropogenic stresses. Discussions will take place in the context of aquatic ecology and presume a background of standard aquatic toxicology methods. Methods for assessing risks, including environmental impact assessment, risk quotients, national, and international risk assessment paradigms, and cumulative effects assessment will be examined. Critical connections between assessment and management will be discussed in lectures and tutorials.

Prerequisites

  • Complete all of the following
    • Must have completed the following:
      • BIOL354 - Environmental Toxicology (0.50)
      • STAT202 - Introductory Statistics for Scientists (0.50)
    • Must have completed at least 1 of the following:
      • BIOL150 - Organismal and Evolutionary Ecology (0.50)
      • BIOL251 - Fundamentals of Ecology (0.50)

Antirequisites

None listed.

Leads to

No course lists it as a requisite.

Reviewed on UW Flow

20% liked it69% easy63% useful

From 5 ratings and 4 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.

  • taught by yates, very easy course but unfortunately most of the graded material is done in assigned groups so if your group members aren't bright, good luck!
    even with bad group members, its possible to get a 85+ since yates is a generous marker. he tries to make the course engaging but unless your interested in the topic its pretty boring and self explanatory.
    1 midterm worth 10%, rest of your mark is based on groupwork: 2 small assignments, 1 final report and 1 presentation

    Jan 2025 · didn’t like it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • I was looking forward to this course but it turned out to be very disappointing, mainly due to the professor who taught it.
    Firstly, no course schedule was given despite several students asking for one. We had 5 assignments (1 essay, 4 assignments using R, and a final ERA along with a group presentation). Since no assignment schedule was given, it was hard to plan assignments around other courses and assignments were given very sporadically.
    Secondly, he does not give enough time to complete assignments. He assigned the final ERA (worth 30 %) with no warning during the last few weeks of November, which is the busiest time of the school year. Almost the whole class had to half-ass the ERA…

    Nov 2018 · didn’t like it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Relatively bird course. Content was easy to understand. Light workload (~4 short assignments, plus 1 large assignment where you just put together the short assignments). There was also a simple presentation where you just summarize your large assignment. Had like 3-4 days to prep the presentation with the group, but it was so simple we put the presentation together in 20-30 minutes and got 90-95% on it (Professor McConkey is an easy marker). No midterm, just a final. Easy course. Take it.

    Dec 2018 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Boring course that was taught poorly. Can be useful if you are going into the environmental consulting field.

    Dec 2016 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this

Discussed on r/uwaterloo

One post or comment in 1 thread mentions BIOL 455, May 2016 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.

Spring 2016

Thought on BIOL 439 and 455 2 points, 1 comment

u/swiss_apple: “BIOL 439 - Environmental and Natural Products Biochemistry BIOL 455 - Ecological Risk Assessment and Management Assuming course selection goes well and I don't have any course conflicts, I have to choose from one of these. Any opinions or experience?”

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Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026

Calendar versions

Undergraduate Calendar