Enrolment options
The aim of the Tropical Ecology module is to provide students with a strong foundational skills in Tropical Ecology. The tropics harbour the richest ecosystems in plants and animals diversity, but also the most diverse genomes, clades of higher taxa (e.g. Willig et al., 2003; Lomolino et al., 2010). Learnig will mainly focus on tropical ecosystems diversity, structure and functionning. Ecosystems of interest include Forests, coral reefs, mangroves and costal zones, montaine ecosystems, wetlands and peatbogs, inselbergs, savannahs and deserts. Ecological processes that explain the biodiversity distribution and adaptation as well as human factors are key to understand the current biodiversity pattern on earth. Students will particularly be able to develop an clear appreciation and understanding of the ecology and conservation of the ecosystems studied.
The module provides opportunities for students to develop the ability to weigh the claims made by scientists against the evidence. This will be a writing-intensive course. Students will have ample opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of the topic, and their fluency in expressing themselves through writing, throughout the module.
The goal is to cover the fundamentals of tropical ecology, including key habitat features, biodiversity, ecological processes and biotic interactions; to provide first-hand experience of ecological research in the tropics, through group exercises and short independent projects and to evaluate the anthropogenic impacts on tropical ecosystems and consider the current conservation and forest management practices.
To be more specific the Students will:
- Understand the main patterns of tropical vegetation and how this
drives animal distribution
- Have an insight in the processes that generate and maintain
biodiversity in the tropics
- Understand the role of climate change and climate variability of vegetation and animal population dynamic and associated possible changes in relation with global warming under the tropics
- Understand the role of humans in historical and future changes in
tropical forest ecosystems
- Have an understanding of theoretical ecology in explaining community
composition in tropical forests