Applied Ecology

(Course Code: ENV541 – ‘ECO’)

Semester: Spring Teaching Period: 3 weeks ECTS Credits: 2 Type:

Elective
Prerequisite Courses: Introduction to Environmental Sciences
(@ CEU Winter Semester)		 Coordinator: Panayiotis DIMITRAKOPOULOS
Nikolaos FYLLAS		 Instructor: Panayiotis DIMITRAKOPOULOS
Nikolaos FYLLAS
A. GALANIDIS

AIMS & OBJECTIVES

The aim of the course is to familiarize students with the current methods of measuring plant diversity and understanding its patterns along different environmental conditions. The course will be structured on a small number of lectures and a student’s research project (SRT). This will be a hands-on course that will involve introductory lectures on biodiversity patterns, plant functional traits and strategies, and description of the objectives of the SRT. All students will measure plants in the field and gather plant material for additional measurements in the lab. Students will analyze their own data aiming to explore the patterns of species richness and functional diversity across gradients or environments. At the end of the course, students will be evaluated through writing and presenting a report to summarize their findings

At the end of the course the students will be able to:

  • Choose the appropriate sampling or experiment design to address an ecological topic.
  • Understand different measures of species richness and functional diversity
  • Familiarize with basic ecological fieldwork methods including: measurement protocols, functional traits measurements, vegetation desctiption etc
  • Apply statistical analyses to ecological data
  • Draw up key findings and assess their implementation on ecological issues or problems.
  • Theme 1: Biodiversity: Patterns and Drivers, Measuring Biodiversity in Time and Space
  •  Theme 2: Functional Traits and Plant Functional Strategies, Measuring Functional Diversity
  •  Theme 3: Description and Design of the Filed Study, Description of Field and Lab Measurements, Data Exploration and Statistics
  •  Field Work, Lab Work, Statistical Analyses, and Report Writing

Students will be graded based on:

Individual Project (100%)

Students will be graded based on their individual project report (SR)

Marking criteria: (a) Literature review (15%), (b) Methods (20%), (c) Data analysis (20%), (d) Presentation of the study results (20%), (e) Discussion and conclusions (15%), (f) Referencing and Information gathering (10%)

Activities Estimated Workload
Lectures

Field & Lab Work

Statistical Analyses & Report Writing

 5h

30h

25h
TOTAL 60 hours
Notes provided:
Basic Textbook:
Bibliography:
Language: English
Internet Links:
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