Elective Modules

• Agro-forestry and Farm Forestry
• Conservation Biology
• Ecological Modelling
• Forest and Resource Inventory
• Forest Growth and Silviculture
• Forests and Climate Change

• Forests and Water
• Forests as Sources and Sinks of  Atmospheric Pollutants
• Landscape Ecology
• Non-timber Forest Products and Bioresources
• Plantation Forestry

Agro and Farm Forestry

Module coordinator

Additional lecturers

Syllabus

Introduction to agroforestry and farm forestry. Production characteristics of farmsteads, ecological interactions in subsystems, co-generation of crop, animal and silvicultural products, including non-wood forest products and carbon sequestration.

Overview of land-use forms of agroforestry and farm forestry in temperate and tropical climates.

Historical pathways of agroforestry and farm forestry.

Field visits to farmsteads and trials.

Case studies of selected examples of farm- and agroforestry, use of metaplan technique.

Analysis of systems of farm- and agroforestry with modelling: system concept and model, interaction diagrams, modelling of dynamic systems (e.g. pasture models).

Computer exercise: development of different types of models, including spreadsheet programming, systems optimisation, linear optimisation theory, simulation of a farmstead.

Computer exercise: Modelling of CO2-sinks.

Conclusions regarding the development of farm forestry and agroforestry projects

Learning goals and qualifications

Knowledge of agroforestry and farm forestry systems, understanding of historical development of such systems, ecological-technical-economical interactions, carbon sequestration and development perspectives.

Skills in analysis, modelling, simulation and optimisation of agroforestry and farm forestry systems with emphasis on plant production, economics, carbon sequestration and project development.

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures, excursions, computer exercises, case studies and student presentations

Relevance of the module

Development cooperation in rural areas requires in-depth understanding of farm forestry and agroforestry systems, based on practical experiences and modelling. A part from this, the acquired skills and knowledge, e.g. regarding model formulation, linear optimisation, or CO2 sequestration provide a useful basis in many job situations.

Preliminary Readings

• Batish, D.R. et al. (eds.) (2008): Ecological basis of agroforestry. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, USA, 382 p. LA 600
• Dupraz, C. et al. (2005): Synthesis of the Silvoarable Agroforestry For Europe project. INRA-UMR System Editions, Montpellier, 254 p.
• Gordon, A.M; Newman, S.M. (eds.) (1997): Temperate Agroforestry Systems. CAB International, Wallingford, UK and New York, USA, 269 pp.
• Kapp, G. B. (1998): Farm forestry and agroforestry in Central America. Research on forestry and agroforestry production systems with special reference to the wet lowlands of Costa Rica and Panama. Margraf Verlag, Weikersheim, 303 pp. (German) (Forstbibliothek LA)
• KAPP, Gerald (1998): Financial evaluation tools for smallholder forestry: A methodological comparison of two forms of cost-benefit analysis and optimisation. International Tree Crops Journal 9: 233 – 246. Mac Dicken, K.G.; Vergara, N.T. (ed.) (1990): Agroforestry: Classification and management. John Wiley & Sons, New York, 382 p. (Forstbibl. LA 600/3)
• Nair, P. K. R. (1993): An Introduction to Agroforestry. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Boston, London in Cooperation with ICRAF, Nairobi, 499 pp. (Forstbibl. LA 600/14)
• Reif, A.; Schmutz, T. (2001): Planting and maintaining hedges in Europe. Institut pour le développement forestier. Paris, 126 pp.

Conservation Biology

Module coordinators

Additional lecturers

Syllabus

I. Introduction

• Conservation Biology as “crisis discipline” between fundamental and applied research

II. Ecological concepts

• Patterns and consequences of landscape change: Stability/disturbance; Succession/climax; Ecosystem processes, Habitat degradation and loss; Ecological thresholds
• Dynamics of small populations: Habitat concept; Fragmentation, Metapopulation concept; Minimum Viable Popoulations; genetic diversity and extinction vortex.

III. Conservation instruments and approaches

• Setting conservation priorities: Diversity, rarity and endangerment; Red lists of threatened species; naturalness/originality, restorability; Biodiversity hotspots; Protected areas; Surrogate species concepts: indicators, umbrellas, flagships
• Legal frame and major players
• Conservation approaches from species to landscapes

IV. Restoration ecology

• Restoration ecology – aims and principles
• Restoration in Practice: Physical and chemical environment, landscape scale
• Techniques of site and habitat management: Topsoil removal, rising of water level, nutrient depletion
• Animal species recovery programmes: Restocking and re-introduction
• Peculiarities of arthropod conservation: Insects as targets and non-targets in conservations issues

V. Conservation Biology in practice - project work
The last few days of the module students will assess a conservation issue by collecting and analyzing data and other information. Topics change from year to year. In the winter semester 2010/11, for example, students researched the IUCN Red List database to write a summary report on the biodiversity conservation status of their home country.

Learning goals and qualifications

Module participants distinguish between conservation as a human goal, and political action, based on values (conservation ethic), and Conservation Biology as a scientific discipline which provides the scientific basis for conservation planning and action. Students understand aims, concepts and approaches of Conservation Biology and are able to critically assess and present data and original publications in the field.

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures, excursions, student presentations, group work, project work, report writing.

Ecological Modelling

Module coordinator

Additional lecturers

Syllabus

Introduction to modelling and theoretical ecology. Modelling tools. System analysis and algorithmic thinking, basic principles of cybernetics. Introduction to differential equations. Introduction to computer programming with modelling examples. Brief introduction to related topics: cellular automats, point processes, Markov processes, fuzzy logic, fractal geometry, deterministic chaos.

Implementation of simple ecological models (humus dynamics, carbonate weathering, temperature regime in soils, transport of water and matter in soils, population models)

Learning goals and qualifications

Students will aquire:

• Ability to assess and critically evaluate existing models
• Understanding systems and their components
• Ability to translate rules and statistical relationships into algorithms
• Ability to analyse (dynamic) processes and recognize essential functional and structural relationships and interdependencies as well as dynamics
• Ability to implement and use simple models to test hypothesis

Teaching and learning methods

Lecture (10%), Computer training + Lecture (40%), Computer Exercises 40%

Forest and Resource Inventory

Module coordinator

Additional lecturers

Syllabus

• Statistical methods, sampling designs
• Basic measurement concepts
• National forest inventory systems
• Management inventory systems
• Global Forest resources assessment of FAO
• Assessment of Biodiversity
• NTFP in inventories
• Tropical inventories

Learning goals and qualifications

Students will gain the:

• Ability to assess inventory designs and procedures
• Ability to design and implement forest and resource inventories

Teaching and learning methods

Lecture (30%), Exercises (30%), field work (20%), literature study 20%

Forest Growth and Silviculture

Module coordinators

Main lecturers

Syllabus

In this module students will learn how to analyse and interpret the growth of individual trees and the dynamics of forest stands in order to develop decision tools and design silvicultural prescriptions for their management.

Based on an introduction to tree growth and its environmental control and an introduction to forest dynamics, regeneration methods and stand density management will be explored in the context of traditional silvicultural systems as well as in the context of ecosystem management and close to nature silviculture.

Students will be introduced into various methods of sampling trees and stands in the field and analysis of trees and their parts. The participants will learn how to assess and interpret data and parameters of trees and stands for controlling tree and stand growth and will be able to apply methods of forest site productivity assessment. Students will be introduced to models of tree and stand growth and their critical application. Based on the understanding of the environmental and spatial determinants of tree growth and wood quality development, students will learn approaches to control tree and stand growth and apply their analytical and planning skills to a number of case studies incl. mixed-species and uneven-aged forests and stands undergoing conversion. Students will also learn the ecological implications of controlling tree and stand growth as well as silvicultural approaches to manage and restore forest structure for forest conservation goals.

Learning goals and qualifications

Students:

• will be able to understand silvicultural and growth and yield techniques and terminology.
• will gain an appreciation for various management approaches and their implications on growth and yield and ecosystem functions and processes.
• will be able to discuss principles of natural and artificial regeneration, intermediate stand treatments, and silvicultural systems in the context of growth and yield relationships and other ecosystem functions and processes.
• will be able to predict short- and long-term ecosystem responses to common silvicultural practices, based on fundamental ecological concepts, such as succession, stand dynamics, growth and yield relationships.
• will be able to apply silvicultural and growth and yield concepts to case studies.

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures will provide an overview over basic silvicultural and growth and yield concepts and highlight the scientific basis for silvicultural practices. They also aim at putting the readings into perspective and link silvicultural, ecological, and quantitative analysis concepts. The instructors assumes students have read the assigned material and the lecture will not just duplicate material covered in the readings.
Field trips: Field trips will provide real world experiences. They will help visualize basic ecological and silvicultural concepts. Students are expected to read assigned readings before the field trip.
Laboratory and computer excercises

Forests and Climate Change

Module coordinator

Additional lecturers

Syllabus

The module will introduce the scientific basis of climate change and the physiological effects of climate change in plants. These include atmospheric processes significant to climate change, atmospheric features of climate change, effects of climate change on processes in trees and on biogeochemical cycles.

The policy related to climate change will also be reviewed: background, state of affairs and problems with current national and international policies, etc.

The students will learn also about the interactions between the soil and the atmosphere (relevance of soils in the carbon cycle, key parameters of carbon dynamics in soils, effects of land use change, etc.) and about the impacts of climate change in forest growth (growth-climate relations, forest management and climate change, growth parameters as indicators for climate change).

Learning goals and qualifications

The students will

• realize the atmospheric fundamentals of climate change,
• understand the interaction of increasing atmospheric CO2, increasing surface temperature, and enhanced UV radiation with physiological processes in trees,
• learn the consequences of these interactions for ecosystem processes and biogeochemical cycles, in particular of carbon,
• understand the actual climate change policies concerning the main actors and institutions, political processes and instruments,
• understand the principles of soil-atmosphere interactions and the effects of land use change,
• learn fundamentals of forest growth impacted by climate change.

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures, tutorials, lab work, excursions

Preliminary Readings

• IPCC (2007): Climate Change 2007 – www.ipcc.ch
• Oberthür, Sebastian; Ott, Hermann (2002): Das Kyoto-Protokoll: internationale Klimapolitik im 21. Jahrhundert. Opladen: Leske + Budrich. 440 S.

Forests and Water

Module coordinator

Additional lecturers

Syllabus 

• In the first part meteorological processes are introduced that are important to understand water and energy fluxes between forests and atmosphere. Micrometeorological processes and phenomena are presented and different components of precipitation in forests are described. Finally methods to determine evapotranspiration and energy balance components in forests are discussed.
• The second parts deals with the hydrology of forests, i.e. processes that are active when precipitation reaches the ground surface. These include infiltration, water fluxes/storage in the vadose (soil water) and saturated (groundwater) zone and aspects of water quality. Runoff generation is described on forested hillslopes in temperate, semi-arid and tropical climates.

Learning goals and qualifications

• realise meteorological and climatic processes and phenomena significant to the water balance of forests
• understand the basic differences of the water balance in forests compared to other land use types
• understand and apply relevant techniques for hydrological process research to identify relevant water pathways in forests of different climatic regimes
• apply computer simulation tools (mathematical models) to quantify water balance components in forests

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures, excursions, student presentations, lab experiments, computer modelling exercises

Relevance/use of the module

Water availability is of primary importance for all forests throughout the world. Hence a detailed knowledge of the water balance is important to understand forest ecology. and to manage forests. .

Preliminary Readings

•  Bonell, M. Barnes, C. J., Grant, C.R., Howard, A. and Burns J. (1998): High Rainfall, Response-Dominated Catchments: A Comparative Study of Experiments in Tropical Northeast Queensland with Temperate New Zealand, in: Isotope Tracers in Catchment Hydrology (1998), C. Kendall and J. J. McDonnell (Eds.) Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, pp. 347-390.
• Chang, M., 2003: Forest hydrology – an introduction to water and forests. London, CRC Press
• Geiger, R., Aron, R.H. and Todhunter, P. (1995): The climate near the ground, Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, Mass.
• MacDonald, L.H. and Stednick, J. D. (2003): Forests and Water: A State-of-the-Art Review for Colorado, Colorado Water Resources Research Institute, Completion Report No.196.
• McGlynn, B. L.; McDonnel, J. J.; Brammer, D. D. (2002): A review of the evolving perceptual model of hillslope flowpaths at the Maimai catchments, New Zealand. In: Journal of Hydrology 257, 1-26.
• Post D.A. and Jones J. A. (2001) : Hydrologic regimes of forested, mountainous, headwater basins in New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oregon, and Puerto Rico, Advances in Water Resources 24, 1195 – 1210.

Forests As Sources And Sinks Of Atmospheric Pollutants

Module coordinator

Additional lecturers

Syllabus

Scope of the module is to deepen the knowledge and scientific background on forest-atmosphere-interactions and to get practical insights in experimental and computational methods to analyse consequences of environmental changes including land use/ land management and climate changes on forest C-, N- and water cycles and trace gas exchange.

The module combines overview lectures on the climate system, the carbon and nitrogen cycles, and biosphere-atmosphere exchange of trace gases of forests. In addition, specific lectures on impacts of land use and global change on the climate system, on the biological processes underlying trace gas exchange, and on criteria for ecological sustainable woody biomass production will be given.

In practical exercises the students will be trained in gas exchange measurements of CO₂, CH₄, N₂, and volatile organic compounds emissions from soil and plants for the quantification of ecosystem fluxes and processes. Computational exercises will give an introduction to environmental modelling. The excursion to a field observation station allows an insight in ongoing environmental forest research.

Learning goals and qualifications

The student will

• obtain physical knowledge on features of the atmosphere and its influence on trace gas exchange of forests (1)
• obtain a quantitative view about the exchange of C, N, and S trace gases between forest vegetation and the atmosphere (1)
• obtain a quantitative view about the exchange of C, N, and S trace gases between forest soils and the atmosphere (1)
• understand plant and microbial proccesses involved in the production and consumption of atmospheric trace constitutents (2)
• understand how biological and physico-chemical processes can be implemented in numerical models (2, 3)
• and how these models can be used to understand, proof and simulate ecosystem processes (4)

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.

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures, tutorials, lab work

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.

• Stull, R.B. (1991): An introduction to boundary layer meteorology. Kluwer Acad Publ., Dordrecht.
• Gasche, R. et al. (2002): Trace gas exchange in forest ecosystems. Kluwer Acad. Publ., Dordrecht.

Landscape Ecology

Module coordinator

Main lecturer

Syllabus

This module addresses the underlying theory and foundation for landscape ecology. We begin with a discussion about the inherent complexity of the natural world. We then ask the questions: How can we understand what is going on? What do we have to know to put natural phenomena into perspective? What bodies of knowledge can we use to understand the essential nature of large scale landscape change? In this course, students will work independently and as teams to understand the concepts and precepts of the class, and complete the assignments. Emphasis is on developing an empirical skeptical approach to learning.

Elements of the course:

• Why landscape Ecology?
• The nature of natural complexity
• Understanding causality and the nature of reasoning
• Why things are not what they seem
• The difference between rigorous and reliable science
• The hierarchical nature of Nature and the Number System mismatch
• Why scaling is important: study results as caricatures
• Why the world is fractal and what that means for scale sensitivity
• Visualizing the landscape: Evolving conceptual frameworks –or- why we do not live in a binary world.
• Fragmentation in space, time, and process
• Disturbance regimes: large scale structuring of the world
• Understanding the benefits and limitations of fragmentation metrics
• “Laws” in ecology: can we put it together.

Learning goals and qualifications

In this module students will:

• Learn the basic concepts that characterize a larger scale, landscape approach to ecological problems.
• Be able to read the ‘scale-related’ literature more critically.
• Be able to use landscape metrics and models to evaluate landscape change 

Teaching and learning methods

Readings, problem sets, discussions, class presentations, lectures

Preliminary Readings

Journal articles and book chapters as assigned

Non-timber Forest Products and Bioresources

Module coordinator

Additional lecturers

Syllabus

"Bioresources" are the products and benefits from ecosystems and their plant and animal populations to be used sustainably by people, including "non-timber forest products" in the well established meaning.

Bioresources can be classified as usable, useful or hazardous, which can directly (e.g. meat; fruits; pathogens) or indirectly (e.g. pollinators; pests) affect human needs and interests. The
spectrum reaches from protozoa as pathogens to hunting and ecotourism.

Animals, plants and fungi do have numerous impacts on man; basic understanding of ecological principles in the light of management goals treated to help harnessing bioresources. Therefore, markets of bioresources as well as to historic and ethical aspects will be considered.

Learning goals and qualifications

Students will learn to characterize different types of NTFPs and bioresources, as well as to assess management options for NTFPs. Drawing attention to new and innovative ways of generating income by using NTFPs and bioresources is the main goal of the course.

Through case studies, students will learn to identify new products from ecosystems and will appreciate the difficulty in marketing some NTFPs and bioresources.

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures, self-study, seminars, groupwork

Preliminary Readings

• Berenbaum MR (1996) Bugs in the System: Insects and Their Impact on Human Affairs. Helix Books
• Freese CH (1998) Wild Species as Commodities. Washington DC: Island Press UBFR NA 99/392
• Lewington A (1990) Plants for People. London: The Natural History Museum London

Plantation Forestry

Module coordinator

Additional lecturers

Syllabus

Students learn basic objectives, strategies, concepts and management of plantation forestry. In a case study based on the example of a southamerican integrated forest/pulp company, the students learn about options to optimize wood production considering

• the ecological, legal and social framework of forest management and pulp production;
• Soil and site conditions, climate, selection of species including clones, soil preparation and fertilizing, planting
• Risks and pest management
• Stand management for pulp and sawnwood as an value added by product
• Harvesting strategies and transportation logistics
• Short, middle and long term planning based on forest inventory
• Products of pulp and other wood products, bio-energy
• Business plan

Based upon this data tasks (groups of 3 to 5 persons each) of specific topics will be given to the students under supervision of experts in the corresponding subject. The aim is to analyse huge datasets statistically and to find solutions for specific problems or tasks. One of the main objectives is to show students how important teamwork is when complex situations like found in big companies are given. The students will present and discuss the outcomes with all participants of the module and write a final report .

Learning goals and qualifications

The overall learning goal is that the students learn to make a critical science and knowledge based evaluation of an enterprise based on plantation forestry and pulp production in order to optimise the management of natural resources, wood harvesting, transportation logistics and production processes. The students include into their assessment and decision making legal, social and natural restrictions in their decision taking.
The candidates will be qualified in elaborating and / or optimising management and business plans under realistic and practical conditions, considering existing and future socio-economical and socio-ecological circumstances of specific countries or regions.
The students will learn to work in a team, to discuss different point of views and at least to find compromises for future activities. They also will be trained in presenting results in an convincing and professional way and how to write detailed reports with essential information for further decision taking.

Teaching and learning methods

Case study, comprising; lecture, didactic discussion, groupwork, oral presentation, report writing;

Preliminary Readings

• Brown,C.. The global outlook for future wood supply from forest plantations. No. GFPOS/WP/03, 1-145. 2000. Rome, FAO. Working Papers. (WEB)
• Cossalter,C., Pye-Smith,C.. Fast-Wood Forestry. -50. 2003. Indonesia, CIFOR. (WEB)
• FAO. The Eucalypt Dilema. FAO Working papers , 26. 1985. Rome, FAO. (WEB)
• FAO. Afforestation and plantation forestry. Kanowski, P. J. Volume 3, Topic 12, -84. 1997.
• Rome, FAO. XI World Forestry Congress, Antalya, Turkey. 13-10-1997. (WEB)
• FAO, 2001. State of the World´s Forest. FAO, Rome. (WEB)
• Stape,J.L.. Production ecology of clonal Eucalyptus plantations in northeastern Brazil. -225. 2002. Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado. (WEB)