Understanding the natural world has taken on added importance in recent years as the largely anthropogenically driven biodiversity crisis looms large on the horizon. This module will introduce students to the core principles of ecology and conservation science and address fundamental questions such as: How do organisms interact with the environment and each other? How is biodiversity distributed across the Earth, and what governs where we find species? What are the main threats to biodiversity? How does biodiversity contribute to ecosystem services? How do we define ecological stability and resilience? How does biodiversity science contribute to solving the big problems facing society in the 21st century?

The module will focus on individuals, populations, communities and ecosystems, teaching current theories, paradigms and concepts and backed up with empirical evidence using examples from microbes, plants and animals. Students will be introduced to key topics including individual behaviour, population and community dynamics, concepts of the niche, macroecological patterns, biodiversity and how it contributes to ecosystem services, and current and future threats to biodiversity. Teaching delivery will be via a mix of lectures, problem-based learning, and hands-on experience of monitoring techniques. A field work component will introduce students to applying their knowledge as well as experimental design and data interpretation.

Lecture/topic list (please note, as a new module this is subject to change)

Introduction: What is ecology? What is conservation biology?

Sampling in ecology and biodiversity metrics

Monitoring biodiversity

Population dynamics

Population viability

Biodiversity patterns across scales

Origins and maintenance of biodiversity

Biodiversity and ecosystem function

Disease ecology

Microbial ecology

Biodiversity in crisis? Global and local trends in biodiversity

Conservation management

Threats to biodiversity: climate change, land-use change, invasive species

Benefits of Biodiversity: how biodiversity is crucial for human societal challenges

 

Learning Aims and Objectives:

The module aims to introduce students to the key concepts in conservation and ecology, such as population and community dynamics; island biogeography theory; macroecology; variation in space and time; causes and consequences of biodiversity loss. The module will also give students an understanding of the challenges in designing and carrying out field-based investigations. Students will be encouraged to develop their critical and independent thinking, and their science communication skills.

After taking this module student will be able to:

1.         Understand the key concepts, paradigms and theories of biodiversity and conservation science.

2.         Be able to link these concepts to the answering of the fundamental environmental problems of the 21st century.

3.         Understand the principle of sampling and appreciate how and why spatial and temporal scales affect key patterns.

4.         Appreciate the importance of critically evaluating prominent hypotheses and concepts within ecology.

5.         Understand the importance of experimental design and hypothesis testing in ecology.

6.         Collect and interpret appropriate data and undertake straightforward research tasks with guidance, and communicate findings.