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NATF320 Ecology and Management of Natural Resources in the Tropics

Credits (ECTS):10

Course responsible:Thomas Luypaert

Campus / Online:Taught campus Ås

Teaching language:Engelsk

Course frequency:Annually

Nominal workload:Seminars, lectures, and personal guidance: 50 hours. Preparing for the seminars, own presentation, writing of the report and semester assignment and reading for exam 200 hours.

Teaching and exam period:This course starts in Spring parallel. This course has teaching/evaluation in Spring parallel.

About this course

This course aims at guiding students to a post-graduate level in tropical ecology and natural resource management. The course focus on tropical ecosystems and how they can be protected and managed. The effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functions and services is a central part of the course. It is a combination of general tropical ecology and more applied dimensions, focusing on management and conservation issues. The course benefits from a wide range of expert contributions and examples from a wide variety of tropical biomes. The students, acting as a participatory component via presentations and discussions, form an integral part of the course. One important part of the course is the development of a term paper focusing on a topic relevant for the course content.

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

The students will have advanced knowledge about tropical ecosystems and management. Students will have in depth knowledge about theories related to tropical biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Furthermore, conservation and the social and economic value of tropical ecosystem will be covered.

Skills:

The students should be able to make use of ecological knowledge in the management of tropical ecosystems. The students will also be able to use acquired state of the art knowledge to review and write scientific reports related to different issues in tropical ecology. The candidate will have the ability to work independently and critically with scientific literature and be able to synthesize this knowledge into a scientific report.

General competence:

The students will be able to utilise his or her knowledge in a broad set of situations, also outside the tropical realm. The candidate will be able to review theories and hypothesis and communicate with natural resource scientists.

  • Learning activities
    Lectures, seminars and a term paper assignment.
  • Teaching support
    The candidate's learning is supported through academic supervision, also on an individual basis. Supervision during the work with the term paper is particularly emphasised.
  • Prerequisites
    Completed Bachelor's degree and ecological knowledge equivalent to ECOL200.
  • Assessment method

    Combined assessment.

    Written exam counts 60% and term paper counts 40%. Both parts must be passed to pass the course.



    Term paper Grading: Letter grades Written exam Grading: Letter grades Permitted aids: A1 No calculator, no other aids
  • Examiner scheme
    An external examiner evaluates both the written exam and the term papers.
  • Mandatory activity
    Participation in course seminars
  • Notes
    Students may use a dictionary on the exam.
  • Teaching hours
    Seminars and lectures: 40 hours.
  • Admission requirements
    Special requirements in Science