Landscape Ecology, 15 HP

Course handbook – studiehandledning

In the following, we want to give you some information concerning the structure, schedule and examination of the course as well as our expectations.

Expectations

Landscape Ecology is a course for students at the higher Bachelor and the Masters Level, so we expect you to have good study abilities and show a high degree of dedication to this course. The group project will make extensive use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Therefore, one important requirement for the course is good computer skills and the availability of a GIS-compatible computer. Since the software used (ESRI ArcGIS) works best for PCs, we recommend a Windows computer. Licenses for ESRI ArcGIS are available through Karlstad University and installation of the program can be done at course start. Students using a Mac may work with the free software Q-GIS but this software will not be introduced/supervised by us.

Structure and schedule

This 10-weeks course (calendar week 3-12) consists of lectures, seminars, an individual essay, an obligatory week at KaU with GIS-exercises, and a group project.

Lectures – these will summarize and illustrate the most important points in the respective chapters of the course book. They will give you some input to stimulate further individual work and group discussions on the chapter. Lectures will be interwoven with seminars during course week 1 to 4. Course book – Turner, M.G. & Gardner, R.H. Landscape ecology in theory and practice. Latest Edition.

Seminars – there will be one seminar related to each chapter (or sometimes pairs of chapters), in which we will discuss different landscape ecological topics and theories using scientific papers. Students must read and prepare these mandatory papers before the seminars. Students will be divided into smaller groups for the seminars. Use the seminar group environment on Canvas to discuss the paper and potential unclarities before the seminar. During the seminar, the seminar chair (facilitator) is expected to lead the whole seminar, i.e. to welcome the seminar group, summarise the paper(s) and prepare some discussion questions. The chair also has the task to guide and lead the discussion, i.e. interrupt if the discussion heads too much off-topic and needs to give every participant the chance to contribute actively to the discussion. A notetaker (collector) summarises the seminar discussion in a short document that will be uploaded to Canvas after each seminar day. As a seminar participant, you are expected to be well prepared, i.e. have read the respective book chapter and the scientific paper(s), be ready to present own seminar questions and you need to actively contribute to the seminar in order to pass.

Individual essay – Each student will work during the course (especially during course week 5) on an obligatory individual essay dealing with a landscape ecological question that will be handed out at course start. The essay should be elaborated but concise and not longer than three pages (A4, line-space 1.5, size 12, Times New Roman)

GIS-exercises– There will be an obligatory GIS-laboratory (4.5 days) for all students on campus at KaU during course week 6 (19–23 February 2024). During these days, we will introduce you to geographic information systems (GIS) and you will have the possibility to train the GIS skills needed for the following group project while working on some obligatory GIS-assignments. Students will start working on the planning of their group project and share and discuss their group project outline with the course.

Group project – Students will work in groups on different landscape ecological datasets. The project is planned independently in the group, supported and supervised by the teachers. The timeframe for the group project is three weeks (course week 7-9). During this period, students will upload the data set, develop questions and hypotheses, plan the workflow, digitize and analyse data in GIS and summarize their results. The juridical aspects presented in a lecture (laws, regulations, responsibilities of different authorities) should also be addressed in the project report. We plan for mandatory supervision meetings during the group project, in which each group presents the status and progress of the project work. In course week 10, students prepare a digital presentation of their project results for the course. During the group project, each student will write a project diary containing the work plan and achievements for each day. Furthermore, each student will evaluate the participation and achievements of his/her group members and themselves.

Examination

The final grade of this 15-hp course (U, G, VG) is based on the weighted achievements with respect to the exercises during the GIS-laboratory (2 hp), active participation in all seminars (4 hp), the individual essay (3 hp), and the final presentation of the group project together with the completion of the project diary and peer assessment (6 hp).

Contact

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me, preferentially by e-mail (or via Canvas).

Lutz Eckstein – lutz.eckstein@kau.se