hazards

Module No.  
Module name 
P 7 
Natural Hazards and Risk Management 
Module coordinator 
 PD Dr. M. Hanewinkel      Email:  Marc.Hanewinkel@forst.bwl.de 
Additional teaching staff 
Prof. Dr. J. Bauhus,  Prof. Dr. H Mayer, Prof. Dr. M. Boppré, Prof. Dr. Fink N.N. 
Syllabus 
Almost every day we are confronted with news of natural catastrophes, the spread of 
diseases and other disturbances, which are all events that affect both natural and managed 
ecosystems. To manage ecosystems sustainably, these risk factors need to be considered. 
This module will introduce students to a range of biotic and abiotic risk factors and the way in 
which these may affect ecosystems and the enterprises depending on them. In addition, 
students will learn about the components of ecosystem resistance and resilience and how 
these can be managed to stabilise forest ecosystems and reduce the impact of risks.  
Particular emphasis will be placed on the following ecosystem risks/disturbance agents: 
storms, drought, fire, flooding, and biotic factors such as animals.  
Students will learn that disturbances are a normal phenomenon in ecosystems and 
responsible for the dynamics of stands and landscapes. The importance of managing 
ecosystems within the variation of a natural disturbance regime will be  discussed, and 
approaches to assess disturbance regimes will be examined. Examples of ecosystem risks 
and disturbances and how they can be considered in natural resource management will be 
drawn from around the world. Risk management and particularly risk  assessment and risk 
modelling will be a focus of the module.  
Learning goals and qualifications 
Students will learn: 
•  that disturbances are a natural phenomenon and responsible for ecosystem 
dynamics 
•  reasons and features of disturbances and the consequences of disturbances in forest 
ecosystems 
•  how to reconstruct disturbance regimes of forest ecosystems and how to develop 
management systems that increase ecosystem resistance and resilience. 
•  principle processes of risk management including risk analysis (identification and 
evaluation of risks), risk handling and control 
•  assessment, modelling and application of risk probabilities (including expert systems, 
basic statistical and mechanistic models and advanced technologies of risk 
modelling) 

---

 
Teaching and learning methods 
Lectures, tutorials, pracs, excursions 
Prerequisites 
 
Requirements for registration 
 
Distribution of work load  
Contact hours                     60 h (Lectures, pracs, excursion, exam) 
Independent learning          65 h (Preparation, reading etc.) 
Proposed assessment 
Written exam 
Link to learning resources 
 
Preliminary Reading 
Attiwill PM (1994) The disturbance of forest ecosystems; the ecological basis for conservative 
management. Forest Ecology & Management 63, 247-300. 
Oliver CD and Larson BC (1996) Forest Stand Dynamics. Update edition. John Wiley & Sons, NY. 
 
Comments 
 
 
 

---