Compulsory Modules

• Applied Environmental Statistics
• Ecosyste Management 
• Forest Resources and Wood Production
• Global Environmental Change
• Managing Human-Environment Interactions
• Methods in Ecosystem Analysis

• Natural Hazards and Risk Management
• Population and Community Ecology
• Soil Ecology and Management
• Spatial Information Systems and Eco-Informatics
• Tree Structure and Function

Applied Environmental Statistics

Module coordinator

Syllabus

Introduction to statistical methods:

• Statistical tests, analysis of variance, nonparametric statistics
• Experimental design and analysis (completely randomized, randomized block, latin squares,
• Split plot, factorial experiments etc.)
• Regression analysis, simple linear regression, multiple regression, logistic regression

Learning goals and qualifications

At the completion of the course the students should be able to design experiments and analyse data from these experiments with standard statistical analysis programs. Major emphasis is placed on the prerequisites for using the methods and on the interpretation of the results.

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures, computer exercises, e-learning module on statistics

Ecosystem Management

Module coordinator

Additional Lecturers

Syllabus

The concept of Ecosystem Management has merged as a new paradigm for the management of natural resources. It is based on the objectives of sustainable use and conservation of natural resources as well as fair and equitable sharing of benefits from ecosystem goods and services. Underpinning this approach are explicit objectives for the management of natural resources that can be translated into measurable goals, which lend themselves to monitoring. Ecosystem management recognises that ecosystems are complex and interconnected systems, which function on a range of spatial and temporal scales. While management should be based on sound ecological models and understanding aiming at maintaining ecosystem integrity, the approach acknowledges that knowledge on ecosystems is limited and the paradigms provisional and likely to change in future. Consequently management approaches are being viewed as hypotheses that require testing through systematic research and monitoring resulting in adaptive management.
In this module, students will be introduced to the concepts underpinning Ecosystem Management to enable them to critically evaluate the strengths and limitations of the approach. The module comprises an excursion of ca. 1 week duration to visit a landscape setting, which serves as a case study to examine the Ecosystem Management Approach. In the last phase of the module, the students students discuss their impressions from the field, and work out a report in which they assess the feasibility, potential and limitations of the approach based on the experiences gained from the case study.

Learning goals and qualifications

In this module students learn to:

• understand the underpinning concepts of the Ecosystem Management approach;
• Identify and analyze the importance of ecosystem functions
• the main concepts underpinning the Ecosystem Management Approach
• Evaluate the strengths and limitations of the Ecosystem Management approach using a case study of a forested landscape in Central Europe
• Produce a framework for Ecosystem Management, recombining concepts and principles learned during the course

Core readings

A list of relevant texts will be made available at the start of the course; obligatory readings (and part of the voluntary readings) will be made available online in electronic form. Preliminary readings:

• Box, Elgene and Kazue, Fujiwara (2005). Vegetation types and their broad-scale distribution. In: Vegetation Ecology. Van der Maarel, Eddy (Ed.). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. pp. 106-128.
• Constanza, Robert et al. (1997). The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature, Vol. 386, May 15th, pp. 253-260.
• Noon, B.R. & J.A. Blakesley (2006): Conservation of the Northern Spotted Owl under the Northwest Forest Plan. Conservation Biology 20 (2): 288-296
• Rigg, C. (2001): Orchestrating Ecosystem Management: Challenges and Lessons from Sequoia National Forest. Conservation Biology 15 (1): 78-90
• Warning, Richard and Running, Steve (2007). Introduction. Forest Ecosystems. Analysis at Multiple Scales. Burlington, MA: Elsevier Academic Press. pp. 1-16.

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures, excursions, tutorials, independent learning

Requirements for registration

Students need to bring their passports on the excursion, and should be vaccinated against ticks and tetanus.

Forest Resources and Wood Production

Module coordinator

Additional Lecturers

Syllabus

The main driver of forestry today is the value of wood as a renewable natural resource.  While most of the modules in the FEM program are oriented towards an ecological conception of forests, this module focuses on the forests worldwide as an exploitable resource. The module presents the state of the forest resources today, as well as trends and causes for these trends. What is the production potential of different forest types and what is the current use of forest resources in different regions of the world.

Quality criteria for timber are introduced and management options oriented towards wood production are presented, as well as their impact in wood quantity and quality and in the future scenarios concerning world forests (natural forests, semi-natural forests, devastated secondary forests, man-made forests).

The module includes a section about forest utilization: harvesting and transport methods and their dependence on management options, accessibility of timber resources, wood processing, etc.
 

Learning goals and qualifications

Students will gain knowledge

• on the extent and structure of forest resources at regional, national and the global scales
• on the climatological, pedological, and phyto-sociological conditions of the forest resources
• on relevant growth-determining environmental factors
• on the wood production potential of forests in the present, past and future
• on the effect of management options on forest resources and wood production potentials
• on the interactions between management options and harvesting systems

Students will acquire competence:

• to analyse the structure of forest resources
• to estimate wood production potential
• to analyse changes in wood production potential
• to define and formulate integrated management scenarios
• to evaluate management scenarios and their impacts on forest resources.

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures, tutorials, panel discussions, group works, excursions

Global Environmental Changes

Module coordinators

Additional Lecturers

Joint with MEG

Syllabus

Students will be introduced to some of the globally most important environmental problems such as water and air pollution, acid rain and forest decline, the loss of forests and biodiversity, global warming and others. At the same time, this module is designed to familiarise students with the research process in the environmental and social sciences. Based on selected reading, partly from the book “The sceptical environmentalist” (Lomborg 2001) and the responses from other scientists to its author’s arguments, students will be challenged by the difficulty to assess the magnitude of environmental problems. Against this background, research ethics, the quality and reliability of scientific information, and the role of science in the public discourse will be discussed. Following the introduction of particular environmental problems by experts, students will work in groups to examine independently the extent of these problems in more depth and analyse the, sometimes contrasting, claims and arguments made by different scientists.

Learning goals and qualifications

In this module students are expected:

• to gain an understanding of the most pressing environmental issues facing the globe
• to develop an understanding of important models and assumptions used to predict future environmental conditions
• to develop the capacity to assess scientific information critically
• to appreciate the social dimensions and context of information
• to reflect about the role of science in society, in particular in policy development
• to learn about research ethics

Development of the following qualifications is supported:

• literature research skills, reading of scientific documents
• teamwork
• presentation and report writing

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures, tutorials, discussion groups, independent research

Preliminary Readings

• B. Lomborg (2001) The sceptical environmentalist – Measuring the real state of the world. Cambridge Univ. Press.

Managing Human-Environment Interactions

Module coordinator

Additional Lecturers

Syllabus

All people live within an environmental context and all societies have developed ways of managing their interactions with their environment. This course explores the various ways in which societies organize and manage relationships with their environmental context and their use and appreciation of natural resources. Social institutions can take many forms: rituals, traditions, informal practices, and formalized procedures.

While the disciplines for understanding people, economies, and ecological processes tend not to consider the context of action, a management perspective requires contextual analysis and understanding. This module links analysis of people, politics, markets, and ecosystems by examining the institutions and ideas connecting them. In the first part, this course will focus primarily on the social institution of “property”; in the second part it will deal with various “classical” conceptual frameworks of environmental management – which will be deconstructed using a paradigm’s perspective.

Learning goals and qualifications

In this module students are expected:

• to gain an understanding of the ways in which societies organize and manage relationships;
• to develop an understanding of institutions and ideas;
• to develop the capacity to assess institutional arrangements;
• to reflect about approaches to manage human-environment interactions.

Teaching and learning methods

Students will have a core set of readings to introduce them to the main institutions for managing human environment interactions. Student teams will examine different institutions in more depth and give presentations to the class. Classes will be a mix of lecture and discussion where students have prepared the readings in advance. In addition, this module will have team projects in which students elaborate property rights regimes for different types of natural resources and in which they review “classical” conceptual frameworks of environmental management.

Methods in Ecosystem Analysis

Module coordinators

Additional Lecturers

Syllabus

This module focuses on the theory of experimentation and the practical application of a set of different approaches and methods to address questions in ecosystem analysis. In this module students will be given the opportunity to learn methods required in their MSc research. In addition, students will get familiar with fundamental concepts in experimentation such as accuracy, replication, reproducibility, documentation etc. Following a general introduction to the principles of experimental design and analysis, students will work in small groups. These groups will learn research methods in the following areas:

• Forests and Climate Change (Tree Physiology, Soil Science, a. o.)
• Forest Structure and Function (Silviculture, Forest Growth, Forest Botany, Tree Physiology, a. o.)
• Population and Community Ecology (Zoology, Wildlife Ecology, Vegetation Ecology, a. o.)

In each of these areas, students will collect samples or data using a range of methods, analyse samples were applicable (in the field or the laboratory), and compile, screen, analyse and interpret data, to allow a critical appraisal of the whole process.

Learning goals and qualifications

Students will learn:

• Principles of experimental design (1) and how to translate a research question into an experimental approach incl. the choice of appropriate methodology (3)
• Important steps in the research process from the formulation of hypotheses (4), to the interpretation of data (5), and the writing of a short research paper (6)
• To evaluate critically (5) the accuracy, different types of errors and reproducibility of ecological measurements, the issue of scaling up of results etc.
• To apply a range of methods confidently to particular areas of ecosystem research (3)

Classification of cognitive skills following Anderson & Krathwohl (2001):

1 = Remember: retrieving relevant knowledge from long term memory; 2 = Understand: determining the meaning of instructional messages (interpreting, exemplifying, summarizing ...); 3 = Apply: carrying out or using a procedure in a given situation; 4 = Analyze: breaking material into its constituent parts and detecting how the parts relate to one another and to an overall structure or purpose; 5 = Evaluate: making judgment based on criteria and standards; 6 = Create: putting elements together to form a novel, coherent whole or make an original product.

Core readings

A list of relevant texts will be made available at the start of the course; obligatory readings (and part of the voluntary readings) will be made available online in electronic form.

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures, practical exercises, field and lab work, tutorials, peer review

Natural Hazards and Risk Management

Module coordinator

Additional Lecturers

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, fire, and biotic factors such as pests and diseases.

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.

Based on a case study of a forest enterprise heavily damaged by a severe storm event, students learn how to assess and evaluate the damage using real world data and prioritize necessary actions to deal with catastrophic disturbances by setting up a Gantt-chart and a detailed risk management plan.

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)
• socio-economic aspects of risk (e.g. attitude towards risk)

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures, tutorials, pracs, excursions

Preliminary Readings

• 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.
• Haimes, Y.Y., Risk Modeling, Assessment, and Management. 2nd ed. 2004, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 837.
• Kaplan, S. and B.J. Garrick, On The Quantitative Definition of Risk. Risk Analysis, 1980. 1(1): p. 11-27.
• Heinimann, H.R. Risk Management – A Framework to Improve Effectiveness and Efficiency of Resource Management Decisions. in 23rd Session of the European Forestry Commission's Working Party on the Management of Mountain Watersheds,. 2002. Davos, Switzerland, Sep 16-19,: BUWAL

Population and Community Ecology

Module coordinator

Additional Lecturers

Syllabus

In addition to individuals, populations and communities are important ecological entities. Plant species associating on certain sites form plant communities, which in turn, provide the basis for animal communities. Shifts in site conditions or successions result in a gradual turnover of species occurrences, both in plants and animals, that are linked in multiple and complex ways. Ecosystem management is based, in part, on population management by enhancement or suppression, respectively. Management goals include harvesting, conservation, and control of populations. Basic principles of population dynamics (biotic as well as abiotic factors) are significant for the understanding of various types of population dynamics. Some contexts are particularly highlighted because different factors have different impact according to species or management context:

• Insect populations: examples for communities and their dynamics
• Wildlife Ecology: introduction to wildlife population ecology as a basis of wildlife management
• Neobiota: influences of alien species on their 'new' environment
• Relationships between sites and vegetation; indicator values of species
• Plant formations and communities: concepts, definitions, examples
• Ecological gradients

Learning goals and qualifications

In this module students learn and study biological basics of populations and communities such as structure, dynamics, and determining factors. Major objective is to understand relationships between pedology, climatology, species compositions; the formation of plant and animal communities and populations, their ecological function, the relations among animals and between plants and animals. Furthermore, cases are presented and analysed to understand complexity of biotic and abiotic influences. Since every single problem of managing populations is unique; case studies are used to develop general principles and concepts that can be transferred to analyse any case for identifying biological factors crucial for management approaches. Students will be enabled to develop and implement adapted concepts and to consider and synthesize information from other sources (literature, modules).

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures, tutorials

Preliminary Readings

• Alcock, J (1993) Animal Behavior. Sunderland/Mass.: Sinauer
• Begon M, Thompson M, Mortimer M (eds) (1990) Population Ecology. Blackwell Science
• Campbell NA, Reece JB (2004) Biology. Heidelberg: Spektrum
• Gullan PJ, Cranston PS (1994) The Insects: An outline of entomology. London: Chapman & Hall
• Krebs JR, Davis NB (1993) An introduction to behavioural ecology. Oxford: Blackwell
• Krausman PR (2002) The basics of habitat. Chapter 16 (pp 292-302) in Krausman PR (2002) Introduction of Wildlife management. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall
• Bolen EG & Robinson WL (1999) Population Ecology. Chapter 5 (pp 45-66) in Bolen EG & Robinson WL (eds) (1999) Wildlife ecology & management. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River/NJ: Prentice Hall
• Van der Maarel E  (2005) Vegetation Ecology. Oxford: Blackwell

Soil Ecology and Management

Module coordinator

Syllabus

Soil assessment and mapping:

• Excursion: Introduction to soils and geomorphology
• Soil classification and theory of soil mapping
• Field methods of soil assessment (practical training)
• Soil and site Mapping (field training)
• Self-study

Soil hazards and soil protection:

• Introduction and mechanical impacts of harvesting operations
• Soil Erosion, Salination and Irrigation
• Eutrophication and acidification, Soil contamination and remediation

Plant/Soil Relations:

• Concepts and theory of tree nutrition
• Diagnosis and therapy of nutrient deficiencies
• Field trip: Nutrient cycling
• Interactions between vegetation and soils

Learning goals and qualifications

• Ability to assess soil and site quality in the field
• Ability to use and interpret soil maps
• Knowledge of soil hazards especially in forests
• Ability to select adequate management options
• Ability to understand scientific and technical publications concerning soil ressources
• Ability to use computer resources and the web to obtain soil information
• Ability to assess and to manage the nutrient status of forests

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures (field and lecture hall), computer based training, field training

Spatial Information Systems and Eco-Informatics

Module coordinator

Additional Lecturers

Syllabus

Landscapes are dynamic, constantly and simultaneously affected by numerous processes. Major changes to the landscape can be caused by natural disasters, such as storms, fire, drought and flooding, whereas more gradual changes can be caused by weathering, wind, waves, frost, etc. To understand, monitor and react to these complex changes and processes, data must be collected, organised, managed, analysed and displayed. Since changes take place over such a large area, remotely sensed data is collected and managed with further data in a Geographical Information System (GIS).
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a computer-based tool to map and analyse where things exist and events happen on earth. GIS technology integrates common database operations such as query and statistical analysis with the unique visualization and geographic analysis benefits offered by maps. These abilities distinguish GIS from other information systems and make it valuable for use in a wide range of applications for explaining events, predicting outcomes, and planning strategies.
In this module the students will be trained on a specific GIS software package (ArcGis / ESRI). Students acquire professional skills create, manage, edit, analyse and model spatial data. Additionally the module will provide an insight to into practical GIS projects in forestry and environmental planning. The students will apply the knowledge learned in lectures in individual projects.

Learning goals and qualifications

Students will acquire:

• Ability to plan and set up a GIS project
• Reliable application of GIS tools
• Sensible and careful handling of Geodata

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures, practical training, independent learning

Tree Structure and Function

Module coordinators

Additional Lecturers

Syllabus

The module is a combination of plant structure and plant physiology; thus each part is separated into one part presenting the anatomy and a second part the physiology.

• Tutorial on basic structural botany / Cell + Tissue
• Tutorial on basic plant physiology
• Structure of Leaves + Buds
• Photosynthesis and respiration in woody plants
• Structure of roots + root tips
• Root functions: water and nutrient uptake, significance of mycorrhizal symbiosis and N2-fixation
• Structure of xylem, phloem + cambium
• Xylem and phloem transport of water, ions and organics, transpiration
• Practical course part, i.e. microscopy
• Storage and mobilisation processes in trees
• Nutrient requirements of trees: consequences of deficiencies and excess; physiology of tree nutrition
• Physiological basis of carbon fluxes in forest ecosystems/Source/sink relations of carbon and its seasonality
• Meristems and growth (cambium, shoot and root primordia, differentiation)

Learning goals and qualifications

The students will:

• achieve an in depth understanding of carbon relations of trees from the molecular via the physiological, eco-physiological and tree to the stand level.
• learn the role of trees in water relations of forest and the mechanisms involved in water acquisition, water transport inside the tree and water vapor flux into the atmosphere.
• obtain a detailed understanding of nutrient requirements of trees, nutrient acquisition, the mechanisms involved and its regulation
• understand the relations between structural aspects at the cell, tissue and organ level and the respective physiological functions
• become competent in linking growth processes at the cell and tissue level to “classical” growth parameters used in forestry (annual rings, volume yield etc.)

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures, tutorials

Preliminary Readings

• Teiz L and Zeiger E (2006) Plant Physiology. Sinauer Associates Inc, Sunderland, Massachusetts
• Hopkins W and Hüner N (2009) Plant Physiology John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
• Marschner H (1995) Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants. Academic Press, London
• Landsberg JJ and Gower ST (1997) Applications of Physiological Ecology to Forest Management. Academic Press, San Diego
• Dickison, W.C. (2000): Integrative Plant Anatomy. Academic Press, San Diego
• Tyree, M.T. and M.H. Zimmermann (2002): Xylem Structure and the Ascent of Sap. 2nd. Ed. Springer, Berlin