NBIK12007U Thematic Course 1: Ecology and Management of Nature and Semi-Nature Areas

Volume 2024/2025
Education

MSc Programme in Nature Management

Content

Thematic course comprising field work, practical exercises, lectures and interactive class room discussions of ecology and management of open terrestrial areas, forests amd freshwater systems in a specific catchment area, Gribskov and the National Park, “Kongernes Nordsjælland”. The course analyses these elements:

  • Biodiversity: Diversity and species-richness patterns and quantitative measures of nature quality of aquatic and terrestrial systems.
  • Indicator groups for biological monitoring of ecological quality.
  • Temporal development and changes of climate, landscapes communities and processes (including leaching, acidification and eutrophication) in lakes, streams, terrestrial vegetation and soils.
  • Climate Change and other anthropogenic impacts and stressors on ecosytems.
  • Quantitative regulation, rates of carbon deposition in forests and wetlands and evaluation of CO2 emissions.
  • Evidence based conservation and management of nature. 
  • Ecological restoration of nature habitats and natural hydrology in landscapes.
  • Ecological sustainability of management principles of landscapes and nature habitats.
Learning Outcome

After completing the course the student must have gained the following knowledge, skills and competencies:

Knowledge:

  • The student must obtain knowledge on the value of physical-biological indices describing the value of different types of nature habitats.
  • The student must obtain knowledge on patterns of biodiversity on international, national and local scales and the measures required for the analyses.
  • The student must obtain knowledge on the ecological foundation of different management strategies and their influence on the environmental and biological quality of different natural habitats.
  • The student must be able to evaluate the concepts and elements involved in sustainability and ecological footprints.
  • The students must obtain knowledge on the economic value of forest for biodiversity, recreation, hunting and tree production.
  • The student must obtain knowledge on how climate has been and is changing and what the couplings are to human impacts.
  • The students must obtain knowledge on carbon dynamics in relation to global climate and how human enterprises and nature managements types influence the overall balance.


Skills:

  • The student must be able to use abiotic-biotic methods to classify freshwater and terrestrial habitats in terms of ecological status and according to national and international directives.
  • The student must be able to analyse and graphically represent environmental and biological data, including indices of biodiversity, couple them and evaluate them by appropriate quantitative-statistical methods and tests using excel or other software.
  • The student must be able to collect samples and perform measurements of environmental key parameters in lakes and streams.
  • The student must be able to calculate and evaluate the biodiversity, the quality of nature and the economy associated with different production methods in forest types.
  • The student must be able to calculate and evaluate different types of nature management and offer guidance to the most suitable methods under the specified conditions.
  • The student must be able to quantify the retention or loss of carbon and its relation to atmospheric carbon dioxide on a national and regional scale involving towns, traffic, industry, agriculture and initiatives in different types of habitat management in nature.


Competences:

  • The student must be able to work in inter-disciplinary groups aiming at developing evidence based optimal management strategies.
  • The student must be able to work interdisciplinary to offer solutions to minimize release of carbon dioxide and optimize retention of organic carbon in agricultural and nature areas.
  • The student must be able to communicate ecology and nature management to a broader, non-professional audience.
Literature

See Absalon.

Relevant bachelor degree, e.g. in Biology, Geography, Geology, Natural Resources, Forest and Landscape Engineer or similar.
Thematic course including excursions, practical and theoretical exercises, interactive class room discussion, and lectures. Based on excursions and exercises mandatory reports are written. A specific catchment and region is used for integrated observations, analyses and syntheses.
The course is a mandatory course in the Nature Management education.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Lectures
  • 48
  • Preparation
  • 226
  • Theory exercises
  • 28
  • Practical exercises
  • 28
  • E-Learning
  • 12
  • Excursions
  • 32
  • Project work
  • 30
  • Guidance
  • 4
  • Exam
  • 4
  • Total
  • 412
Oral
Collective
Continuous feedback during the course of the semester
Credit
15 ECTS
Type of assessment
On-site written exam, 4 hours under invigilation
Type of assessment details
4-hour written examination with computer including: multiple-choice (30%), quantitative analyses of biodiversity patterns or time development of climate and ecological processes (40%) and essay on nature management (30%)

The course has been selected for ITX exam
See important information about ITX-exams at Study Information, menu point: Exams -> Exam types and rules -> Written on-site exams (ITX)
Exam registration requirements

To be able to sign up for the exam, each student has to contribute to a written group repot, that has to be handed in and approved. 

Aid
Only certain aids allowed

Notes (paper format and/or electronic), calculator and these computer systems:

  • Excel
  • Maple
  • Math Type 6.8
  • R og R Studio

 

As the exam is an ITX-exam, the University will make computers available to students at the exam. Students are therefore not permitted to bring their own computers, tablets, or mobile phones.

Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
External censorship
Re-exam

Four hour written examination under invigilation, with computer.

If ten or fewer students have signed up for re-exam, the type of assessment will be changed to 30 minutes oral exam, no preparation time, no aids.

 

To be able to sign up for the re-exam, the student has to contribute to a written group repot, that has to be handed in and approved. 

Criteria for exam assesment

In order to obtain the grade 12 the student should convincingly and accurately demonstrate the knowledge, skills and competences described under Learning Outcome.