NSCPHD1250 GLOBAL CHANGE

Volume 2013/2014
Content

You are invited to join the course Global change, which is organized as a week-long course in a field station in the middle of a very interesting landscape.

We attempt to integrate the physical background for Climate change with changes in ecosystem processes and effects on organisms and soils. Most of the course is organized as presentations and discussions but a visit to a field-station equipped with canopy-scaffold and gas-exchange mast will be included along with presenting experimental approaches to Global Change projects. A hands-on introduction to selected methods useful in terrestrial ecology studies is part of the programme.

The background for offering previous Global change courses was the idea, that students from the physical and chemical disciplines could be brought together with students from biology and geosciences and both benefit from being introduced to different Global Change topics.
 
We cover thefollowing topics:

  • The climate system
  • The framework convention on climate change and IPCC
  • General traits of ecosystems:Ecosystem structure and function
  • Nitrogen and carbon cycling:CO2 fluxes, CH4 pools and fluxes, N2O
  • Micro-organisms:Microbial communities and activity



Preliminary programme for the PhD course in Global Change, 2014

 

Morning

Afternoon

Late afternoon/evening

Sunday 18 May

-

-

The conflict between society and   science

Organizers

Monday

Climate forcing models

 

Geophysics Dept

IPCC

 

Lead authors

Presentations by participants

Tuesday

The changing ocean

 

KU science

The Atmosphere

Greenhouse gases

KU science

Presentations by participants

Wednesday

Greenhouse gases Ecosystem processes

 

EU projects

Excursion to the flux tower in Lille Bøgeskov

Kim Pilegaard

Presentations by participants

Thursday

Ecosystems under change

Phil Ineson

Introduction to field work

 Phil Ineson

Preparation of course report

Friday

Denmark and Europe in 2050

Jørgen E Olesen

Adaptation!

 

UNEP

Preparation of course report

Saturday 24

Final report

Conclusion

Organizers

-

-

 

Learning Outcome

Skills

The student will be able to present and explain

  • the principal climate change scenario
  • what are the threats to the living nature
  • the societal issues and obstacles

Knowledge

  • a broad understanding of the general state of the climate system
  • an understanding of a system with feedback mechanisms
  • a broad understanding of the living nature, cycles of matter etc
  • a general understanding of how scientific results are disseminated and what the decision making establishment must do 

Competences

  • the students can participate at a professional level in global change projects
  • the students can take up positions within global change related organizations etc.
Literature
Participants will receive course material incl. detailed information on how to reach the site.
Microbiology Section (Department of Biology, Nature and Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen and Geophysical section, Niels Bohr Department). If you would like to participate, please send your name, affiliation/address, title of your PhD project and a few lines describing it, including starting and termination date to struwe@bio.ku.dk before March 14, 2014.

You will know before the end of March about your attendance. In case of vacancy you may sign up later.
The course is relevant if you work with issues related to Global change questions in the context of environmental, agricultural or more general natural science.
The discussions and the experimental work-sessions will stimulate the interaction between teachers and participants and are essential elements of a successful course.
The course consists of lectures and discussions, introductions to field and laboratory work and presentations of student projects in evening seminars. We will build the presentations as dialogues between invited and local scientists. The course will conclude by writing a collective report, which will be presented and followed by a general evaluation before closure of the course.
Accommodation: Brorfelde field station, a former astronomical observatory, near Holbæk in Western Zealand, approx. 80 km from Copenhagen. Closest train station is Tølløse.

Participants from Copenhagen University pay 200 euro, other attendants pay 300 euro in total for lodging, food, and course material. Bona fide graduate students may apply for full or partially free participation. A certificate of participation and contribution will be issued at the end of the course.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Class Seminar
  • 9
  • Colloquia
  • 9
  • Field Work
  • 8
  • Lectures
  • 18
  • Preparation
  • 20
  • Project work
  • 6
  • Total
  • 70
Credit
2,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Course participation