Module: Community and Evolutionary Ecology (3201-570)

Persons:

• Prof. Dr. Frank Schurr (verantwortlich)

Degree Program:

• Landscape Ecology (Master, since 01.10.2014)
  1. Semester, compulsory
• Environmental Science - Soil, Water, and Biodiversity (Regulations 2014) (Master, since 01.10.2014)
  3. Semester, semi-elective
• Environmental Science - Soil, Water, and Biodiversity (Regulations 2019) (Master, since 01.04.2019)
  3. Semester, semi-elective

Relation to other Modules:

This mandatory module of the MSc Landscape Ecology focuses on the dynamics of biological diversity at different hierarchical levels. This comprises both the dynamics of genetic variation within species (that leads to evolutionary changes) and the dynamics of interacting species (that alters community structure).

Prerequisites for Attendance:

Knowledge in landscape ecology, the dynamics of species in heterogeneous landscapes and basic knowledge of statistical analyses in R (as taught in the previous module Landscape Ecology, Block 1). Online registration via ILIAS is required.

Sprache:

English

ECTS:

7,5 credits

Frequency:

every winter semester

Length of the Module:

4 weeks (block 2)

Module examination:

written

Workload:

70 h presence + 130 h preparation at home + exam = 200 h workload

Professional competences:

Knowledge
The participants learn about the mechanisms that increase or lower biological diversity within species and communities. This comprises the evolutionary forces of adaptation, genetic drift, gene flow and mutation and their equivalents at (meta-)community level: competition, ecological drift, dispersal and speciation. Based on this, the students learn how taxonomic, genetic and functional diversity is maintained and how it is affected by spatial and temporal variation in the environment.

Skills
The course participants learn and/or deepen their skills in a wide range of modern ecological methods including field censuses, functional trait measurements, statistical analyses and computer simulations.

Key competences:

The participants acquire the competences necessary to understand and assess biodiversity dynamics. They deepen their ability to test hypotheses with statistical methods, to critically discuss scientific findings and to present them in writing..

Comments:

Due to space constraints in the course room and during excursions the number of participants in this module is limited to 20. Registration via ILIAS is thus compulsory.

eLearning:

Course in ILIAS

Courses