Landscapes, Soils & Surface Environments

Welcome

• Welcome to ENST2007: Landscapes, Soils & Surface Environments
• Today:
  • Get oriented to the unit
  • Meet the teaching team
  • Start thinking in landscapes and systems

Teaching team

• Dr Lewis Walden – lewis.walden@curtin.edu.au - Unit Coordinator
• Dr Bree Morgan – bree.morgan@curtin.edu.au
• Prof Raphael Viscarra Rossel – r.viscarra-rossel@curtin.edu.au
• Offices: Building 311 (Env & Ag), Rooms 207 & 224

(If you need to meet with us, please schedule a time via email.)

What this unit is about

• Landscapes, soils, water, vegetation, atmosphere as integrated systems
• How spatial variability and landscape organisation shape ecosystems
• Tools and methods for understanding and managing landscapes
• The role of biogeochemical cycles and water in landscape function
• How Indigenous knowledge and Two-Way science support management
• Building sustainable development and resilience in landscapes and communities in the face of change

The semester arc

• Weeks 1–3: Foundations – spatial variability, soil & landscape patterns
• Weeks 4–6: Dynamic soil–water–vegetation processes, biogeochemical cycles
• Weeks 7, 10: Hydrology, sediment, connectivity, resilience
• Weeks 11–12: Indigenous knowledge systems, Two-Way science
• Weeks 13–14: Resilience, synthesis, stakeholder presentations

Workshops vs Tutorials

• Workshop 1 (first session each week)
  • Core concepts and frameworks
  • Mini-lectures + discussions + short activities
• Workshop 2 (second session each week)
  • Varies but can be more applied
  • Data, R, QGIS, case studies, real problems
• Attendance at both is expected and essential

Software you’ll use

See handout for details and recommended setup

Assessments snapshot

See handout and Blackboard for details

AI in this unit

• AI tools are allowed as a learning aid

• AI is not a ghost-writer, its an assistant, a thinking partner

Submitting work that is primarily AI-generated can have serious consequences.

Your learning, and your integrity, are worth far more than a shortcut.

See full guidelines in the handout and also in Blackboard

Warm-up

Question

What shapes the landscape you see outside?

• Think of:
  • Soils
  • Water
  • Vegetation
  • People and infrastructure

Turn to someone near you and share one idea (2 min).

Activity: your landscape (step 1)

1. Quick sketch (3 min)

On paper:

• Draw a landscape you know well
• Add at least 3 labels, e.g.:
  • “sandy soil”, “salty flat”, “drainage line”
  • “housing estate”, “bushland remnant”, “cropland”

No art skills needed – schematic is fine

Activity: landscape “speed-dating” (step 2)

2. Two short rounds (6–7 min total)

Activity: what do you see? (step 3)

3. Whole-class (5 min)

As a group:

• What features keep appearing?
  • e.g. slopes, roads, creeks, cleared land
• What processes did you mention?
  • e.g. erosion, salinity, fire, urbanisation
• What questions do you have about these landscapes?

Activity: tiny concept map (step 4)

4. Connect the ideas (3–4 min)

With your class partner, draw 4 nodes:

• Landscape
• Soil
• Water / vegetation / atmosphere
• Environmental management

Connect them with arrows, e.g. “controls”, “influences”, “stores”, “feeds back to”

We’ll ask a couple of pairs to share one connection.

5. Exit prompt

On your sketch:

• Write one sentence:

“One thing this unit could help me understand better about my landscape is…”

Hand it in please.

Next

Workshop b after a 5 minute break:

• Interconnected landscape systems

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