Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Introduction
GeoSciences course (dont use BTO barcodes!) Course Secretary: Helen McKeating The class: Ecological Science plus Biological Sciences plus visiting students Pre-requisite courses: none, but ask if you need concepts explained The course booklet on WebCT read it! Other WebCT pages
Course team
Maurizio Mencuccini (Course Organiser) Alistair Hamilton (SAC) Alan Gray (CEH) Bronwen Whitney (Edinburgh University) Georgios Xenakis (Edinburgh University) Barbra Harvie Seven tutors Helen McKeating (Course Secretary)
Get you to do what professionals do: make predictions for real situations; how do I achieve a particular objective? If I do this, what will be the outcome?
Field work
1. Arthurs Seat
opportunity to put things learned in the class into practice
2. Silverburn
revision exercise
Beecraigs Nature P
Park management
Assessment
Coursework (50%) and degree exam (50%)
simple aggregation of marks
Anonymous marking so please do not put your name on your work Hand everything into Helen (Crew 211) for date stamping and bar coding (not the BTO barcodes) Send an electronic copy as well (Course Work Submission Boxes in WebCT) Will use software to check for plagiarism Normal lateness penalties and marking criteria for the essay; tutorial work must be on time
Coursework
Essay (25%): more details on Friday Tutorials (17%)
attend two (one for each set of three/four) sign up via WebCT (sign-up links) aim is to discuss a topic in depth with an expert summary document produced by you in advance and handed in for marking and feedback summary specification in the coursebook (pay close attention to them) not used for exam questions
Degree Examination
Answer four questions from six Advice on exam preparation and technique at the end of the course
Exercise 1
Imagine that Scottish Natural Heritage has commissioned you to write a short book to explain to the general public the key ecological concepts necessary to understand nature conservation in Scotland
List FIVE important concepts or processes that might form the basis of a section in the book
e.g. succession, food webs, habitats etc.
For ONE concept or process summarise the key messages in two or three sentences and give a good example Report back after 5 minutes
Discussion
Content Process What has been learned?
Constant change
climate, dispersal, human pressures
Coffee break!
Open another file and list other techniques that you could use (5 minutes)
Professional/subjectspecific/practical skills
Plant and animal identification Systematics and taxonomic keys Recognition of main types of plant communities Sampling schemes and experimental design Techniques for population census Design of field surveys Indicators of biodiversity Use of field instrumentation for ecological and environmental studies Measurement of air, soil and water pollution Soil and water sampling Habitat surveys Environmental Impact Assessment Design of management plans GIS Nature conservation Cost-benefit analysis
Transferable skills
Oral and written communication Computer skills Graphical and numerical skills Information retrieval and database skills Leadership Teamwork Inter-personal skills self evaluation Problem formulation/solving skills Independent learning Statistical design and analysis Time management Organisational skills Project Management
Sustainability
Is sustainability a concept applicable to natural ecosystems?
there is catastrophic change (disease, flooding, soil erosion) lack of profitability (proximate vs ultimate cause)
Next session
Productivity and its variability Introduction to the essay
read the course booklet / website before then to identify the habitat or species you are going to write about