Inhalte

Part "Landuse and Habitat Management by Animals" • Conventional measures in species conservation and why they failed • What will happen if we remove or add species to habitats • Megafauna as ecological engineers and agents in species conservation • Main habitat (forests, heathland / dry grassland, wetlands, floodplains) restoration by large animals • Special landscape "military training areas" • Group work: develop a management plan for a former military training area using large animals • Excursion to Branitzer Park (which is NOT Cottbus Zoo!) Part "Data Analysis in Environmental Sciences" • Data sampling design • Theory of data sampling • Preparation of ecological data • Theory of data analysis in ecology • Simple techniques of data analysis • Working with software applications • Further methods of data analysis

Lernziele

Rationale The rationale is to give an introductory account of ecosystem and landscape management approaches. Beyond evaluation and decision making, conservation, sustainable use and restoration of biodiversity require the ability to sample, analyse and interprete ecological field data. Part "Landuse and Habitat Management by Animals" Objective is to raise students’ awareness for ecosystem functioning, large animals (wild and domestic) as ecological engineers and their use in habitat restoration and species conservation. Students will be able to • Tell the disadvantage of conventional measures in contrast to close to nature grazing, • Acknowledge the role of (extinct) megafauna and the modern possibilities for de-extinction and Pleistocene rewilding, • Find the best suited animals for the restoration of a given habitat / landscape with examples from Central Europe, • Gain insight into the problematics of former military training areas as new areas for species conservation, • Realize the problems that may come with alien species of all kind and how to use large animals to fight invasive species • Work in groups to develop a management plan for former military training areas and present the result in class Part "Data Analysis in Environmental Sciences" Objectives are to give a systematic overview of data sampling, data handling, and data analysis in ecology with special reference to flora and fauna. Students will be able to • discuss different data sampling designs in relation to certain scientific problems to solve, • apply different statistical techniques to ecological data, • use common software (Excel, SPSS, ARCVIEW), • interprete and discuss the results of ecological investigations.

Prüfungsleistung

Part "Landuse and Habitat Management by Animals": • Each student has to give a presentation from a list of topics (40 %) and to present the results of their group's work (20 %). (Group work: develop a management plan for a former military training area using large animals. Remember to bring your computers to class!)Part "Data Analysis in Environmental Sciences": • Written examination, 80 min. (40%)

Literatur (1)

Part "Landuse and Habitat Management by Animals" Video documentations (German): Augenweide; Die neue Wildnis; Hutelandschaftspflege und Artenschutz mit großen Weidetieren im Naturpark Solling-Vogler. Books: will be presented during the lectures Part "Data Analysis in Environmental Sciences" The class is held as a seminar with practical training at the computers. Seminar notes will be given during the course of the seminar. Registration in Moodle-portal is required.

Module

Ecosystem and Landscape Management

Inhalte

Lernziele

Prüfungsleistung