Ecology and Fieldwork

6 ECTS credits
155 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1010115ANR for all students in the 1st semester at a (A) Bachelor - preliminary level.

Semester

1st semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Impossible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Taught in

Dutch

Faculty

Faculty of Sciences and Bioengineering Sciences

Department

Biology

Educational team

Tom Van der Stocken (course titular)

Activities and contact hours

13 contact hours Lecture
52 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
13 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study

Course Content

LECTURES (HOC)

During the HOC, different ecosystem components, biota, conditions and resources, trophic levels, guilds, social relations, etc. are discussed, theoretically and with examples. Different chapters include:

Subject of ecology and historical background: e.g. definition of ecology, ecological hierarchy, habitat and biotope, biotic and abiotic factors, weather and climate, time and succession, subdivision of ecology, type of processes (deterministic, stochastic, random), inductive-deductive, equilibrium.
Conditions and resources: e.g. tolerance, ecological niche (fundamental and realized), ecological niche models, temperature (homeotherm, poikilotherm, endothermic, ectotherm), pH, salinity, solar radiation (systematic and non-systematic variation).
Population ecology: e.g. population size, distribution, migration, population dynamics.
Interactions between populations: e.g. competition, predation, parasitism, commensalism, mutualism, competitive exclusion, niche differentiation, plankton paradox, Lota-Volterra model.
Community and ecosystem ecology: including primary and secondary production, trophic level, trophic chain, food web, keystone species, trophic cascade, biomass, Eltonian pyramid, energy flows, carrying capacity, alternative stable states.

EXCURSION

The OO includes a multi-day excursion (e.g., to the northern French department of Pas-de-Calais, 'site des 2 caps', infralittoral to dune ecosystem) in which important aspects of ecology are explained, and students become acquainted and gain experience in carrying out field work.

PRACTICALS (WPO)

The practicals relate to the excursion. On the one hand, it is a preparation for the excursion. Experiments for the excursion are prepared, a preliminary species knowledge is taught, and material from the excursion area is observed and identified taxonomically, biogeographically, and trophically. After the excursion, the observations, measurements and analyzes are elaborated in group reports with information provided during the practicals. During the practicals, the region of the excursion is also outlined geographically, historically, and ecologically. During the practicals, the necessary terminology is also explained with attention to (1) the scientific approach, (2) scientific writing, but also (3) ecological definitions. Throughout the practicals, a number of scientific texts are introduced, ranging from Dutch-language, popularizing articles to English-language, scientific literature.

Course material

Digital course material (Required) : Lecture slides and supporting articles., Canvas
Handbook (Recommended) : Ecology, From individuals to ecosystems, Begon M. & Townsend C. R., 5th edition, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2021

Additional info

Study material

Digital course material (Required): Powerpointslides and supporting articles (available on CANVAS)
Handbook (Recommended): Ecology: From Individuals to Ecosystems, 5th Edition, Begon, M. & Townsend, C. R., 2021.

Additional information

A financial contribution is requested for the excursion (approximately €200 in 2018*).

*This is a target amount; this requested contribution may vary from year to year depending on market prices.

Learning Outcomes

General competences

Competences

This course explicitly contributes to the following competences of the Biology curriculum:

General

Developing the own learning process (I)
Learning to work in a team (II)
Analysing and synthetise the learning material (IV)
Presenting and transfer the acquired knowledge (V)

Field specific

Analysing a biological phrasing (VI)

The student successfully completing this course is able to dissect an ecosystem into its constituting parts, to correctly describe these parts in appropriate scientific terms and to investigate the links and relations between these parts and to present the findings and data. The goal of the course is an analysis, a division and a categorisation of the ecosystem, (a) following a trophic and functional analysis, (b) following a spatial analysis (scale, limits and ecotones) and (c) following a taxonomical characterisation (this last element is less important and is merely a tool for searches on information of the species concerned). This Ba1 course aims to make an ecosystem (or part of it) describable and measurable, by delineating and naming its components.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Oral Exam determines 50% of the final mark.
PRAC Practical Assignment determines 50% of the final mark.

Within the Oral Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Oral Exam with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 50% of the final mark.

Note: Oral exam with written preparation.

Within the PRAC Practical Assignment category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Excursion and report with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 50% of the final mark.

Note: Excursion effort and participation (including the excursion report) are assessed.

Additional info regarding evaluation

The final mark will be based on two component marks: (1) effort and participation during the field trip (incl. the field trip report) for 50% and (2) the oral examination during the examination period for 50%, assuming that both components are > 8/20 (if not, the lowest mark out of both components will be overriding). The oral examination covers the material from the course, from the practical, from the excursion and the student report. The oral examination is preceded by some time for written preparation.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context