Course for international guest/part time students
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- Organization
- TTK Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology
- Code
- okogy2sb17lm
- Title
- Ecology practicals II. PR
- Usual semester
- Autumn
- Published semester
- 2026/27/1
- ECTS
- 6
- Language
- en
- Learning outcomes
- The objective of the course is to provide an advanced-level understanding of practical problems related to some key ecological issues, and to provide skills relevant laboratory and remote sensing methods. Competencies: Knowledge: Aware of the main topics, concepts and terminology of ecology. Familiar with the most important research methods in ecology. Learned the most frequently used laboratory and remotely sensed sampling methods in animal and plant ecology. Knows the methods of exact evaluation of ecological data and the key statistical tests required. Ability: Able to plan and execute ecological lab or remotely sensed sampling, and the evaluation of results. Able to use the basic concepts and terminology of ecology, and can evaluate data objectively. Able to apply his/her knowledge for understanding ecological phenomena observed in nature. Able to document precisely ecological lab and remotely sensed investigations. Attitude: Open to learn more about ecology and related areas in natural sciences. Committed to use his/her knowledge for better understanding of ecological systems, and open to adopt an integrative view. Committed to objectively evaluating data obtained through empirical studies and drawing unbiased conclusions from them. Committed to the conservation of wildlife on the Earth. Autonomy and Responsibility: Able to independently conduct an ecological laboratory or remotely sensed study from problem identification to drawing conclusions Responsible for forming scientifically sound opinion concerning ecological problems, environmental science issues, and associated ethical questions. Feels responsible for acquiring scientifically based knowledge, and for high standards in his/her own research.
- Course content
- The course assumes a basic level knowledge of ecology. Studying island biogeography processes in a computer simulation program: the effects of the distance, area and shape of the island on the number of species and individuals, the effects of initial conditions on the competition of two species. Examining the mark-recapture method in a laboratory simulation: how does the proportion of marked individuals in the population influence the accuracy of the method, and how does the violation of population closedness (a prerequisite of the method) affect the estimation of population size? Learning how to collect, visualize and analyse information on movement patterns. Plant ecology: Drawing and interpreting the standard diagram used to characterize bioclimate, the Walter-Lieth climate diagram, for a multi-year average and for a current data series of a single year. Constructing and interpreting an anomaly diagram for the difference between current and multi-year data. Calculating the annual growing season length and growing degree days standard indicators from daily meteorological data of a 120-year period, identifying and interpreting long-term trends. Measuring and comparing thousand-seed weight with literature data for wild plant species. Determining the change in forest cover using satellite images in a simple GIS program. Using the same tool, the change in the area of land covered by ice in an arctic landscape over a 15-year time interval. Comparing the species composition of two plant communities using standard plant community metrics. During the practical courses, students are introduced to methods such as examining the soil seed bank and examining the plant cover through remote sensing.
- Assessment method
- practical mark (5) (1 failed, 5 excellent) Evaluation is based on the students’ individual performance. The students prepare and submit lab reports from their research individually. The quality of the report and the activity of the student are the basis of evaluation.
- Bibliography
- Task descriptions and other handouts provided by the course instructors (pdf)
- Recommended bibliography
- Krebs, C. J. 1989: Ecological methodology. Harper & Row Publ., New York. Magurran, A. E. 1988: Ecological diversity and its measurement. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton. Southwood, T. R. E., Henderson, P. A. 2000: Ecological methods. 3rd ed. Blackwell Scientific, Oxford.