| Unit name | Ecology |
|---|---|
| Unit code | BIOL20012 |
| Credit points | 10 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2C (weeks 13 - 18) |
| Unit director | Dr. Andy Wakefield |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | School of Biological Sciences |
| Faculty | Faculty of Life Sciences |
Ecology is the study of the distribution and abundance of organisms; from animals and plants to microbes. It operates at three main levels, the community, the population and the individual and is studied by a variety of methods from natural history and field biology, to mathematical modelling and molecular techniques. The unit will provide a direct link between the ecology currently taught in the first year (in BIOL12000 Life Processes) and various units in the third year (including BIOL30009 Ecology of Food Production) and together they provide a logical ecological pathway through the Biology degree. A knowledge and understanding of ecological patterns and processes is key to understanding (and helping to solve) environmental problems such as climate change, feeding the world, energy production, the control of infectious diseases and the restoration of damaged and degraded communities/ecosystems.
By the end of this course you should be able to:
6 hours of interactive video across 5 weeks (asynchronous).
There will be a single timetabled 2-hour workshop each week (synchronous).
All teaching will be online.
Continuous assessment will comprise of one summative oral presentation (40% of unit marks; tests ILOs 1,3 and 5)
Summative written assessment (60%) with one essay question to be selected from a choice of two.
Ecology, fourth edition, Begon Harper &Townsend. 2006.
Essentials of Ecology, fourth edition, Begon, Howarth & Townsend. 2014. (note that the third edition is also useful)
