Admission requirements
This course is only open for students enrolled in the Minor Biodiversity and the Anthropocene.
Description
This four-week module has a very strong theoretical and a smaller yet significant practical part. The theoretical part focuses on the ecological processes that impact on biodiversity and vice versa. As such it is strongly connected to the first course in this minor as it investigates the underlying patterns that were discussed during the Orientation course. The course is structured around three key environmental realms: (i) the abiotic environment; (ii) the biotic environment; and (iii) human impacts on the biotic and abiotic environment.
Within these themes the focus will be on the interacting ecological and anthropological processes and mechanisms underlying the core functions of these ecosystems; and how human interactions with these processes results in an collection of environmental problems. The course discusses a broad spectrum of environmental processes including climate change; eutrophication; pollution and ecotoxicology; exotic species; disturbance and fragmentation and their respective impacts on biodiversity. The practical part consists of a GIS- assignment; which will be carried out in small groups and is integrated with the data collection during the field weeks in the first module of the Minor.
Course objectives
After completion of the course; students are able to:
Explain the biodiversity theory; evolution; environmental patterns; scales in biodiversity and human/biodiversity relationships as discussed in the course;
Discuss and illustrate how evolutionary and environmental processes determine biodiversity both on a short (decades) and long term (millions of years) time frame and on local to global spatial scales;
Apply the biodiversity concepts and tools from 1 and 2 to solve a wide range of scientific and societal problems;
Write a problem-oriented report in which different scenarios and actions are discussed and evaluated to solve a pressing biodiversity issue.
Schedule
The timetables are available through My Timetable (see the button in the upper right corner). A detailed schedule will be provided on Brightspace before the start of the course.
Teaching method
Lectures; practicals; (GIS) and discussions
Assesment method
The two practical GIS assignments will together account for 45% of the final mark (10 and 35% respectively).
The exam grade will make up 55% of the final mark.
The final mark for the course is established by (i) determination of the weighted average of the partial grades combined with (ii) a minimum assessment of 5.5 for each partial grade.
Resit, review & feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest.
Reading list
For each part of the course we’ve developed a syllabus.
For some topics extra reading material will be provided (scientific articles; newspaper articles etc).
Registration
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the course coordinator: Dr. S.E. Hannula
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc., contact the Education Office
Remarks
Brightspace will be used for communication and exchange of documents
Software
Starting from the 2024/2025 academic year; the Faculty of Science will use the software distribution platform Academic Software. Through this platform; you can access the software needed for specific courses in your studies. For some software; your laptop must meet certain system requirements; which will be specified with the software. It is important to install the software before the start of the course. More information about the laptop requirements can be found on the student website.