Postgraduate Course: Plant Geography (PGBI11012)
Course Outline
| School | School of Biological Sciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | Biologists have sought to understand patterns of species distribution, richness and endemism across the globe for over two centuries, a field of enquiry called biogeography. This field is vital for planning effective conservation strategies and being able to predict how organisms will react to anthropogenic environmental change. Surprisingly, however, we still lack data to understand plant species diversity across many areas of the world. Models are now being used to predict patterns where data is lacking, but because of the complex interplay of contemporary ecology, earth history, organismal extinction and evolution, universal biogeographic explanations are still elusive. This course provides a background to the discipline of plant geography, including an account of its history, overview of basic concepts, as well as explanations of the most modern biogeographic tools used. This theoretical material is interspersed with examples based upon areas that are under active research at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and University of Edinburgh. Teaching will involve several group discussion tutorials, where students will be encouraged to read, interpret, and criticise recently published research articles in the field. Assessment is through written course work in the form of a research proposal. |
| Course description |
Not entered
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2020/21, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 22,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 5,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
71 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
100% in-course assessment, in the form of a research grant project proposal. |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand basic concepts relating to speciation, plate tectonics, paleoclimates, molecular dating, species diversity, species diversity gradients, and biomes
- Understand basic theory and research methods relating to historical, ecological and conservation geography
- Understand current limitations of digitally available global data on plant diversity and distribution
- Apply the learnt concepts, theory, and methods to formulate a research project proposal relevant to plant geography
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | plant geography,biogeography,vegetation history,plant environments |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Louis Ronse De Craene
Tel: (0131) 248 2804
Email: l.ronsedecraene@rbge.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Claire Black
Tel: (0131 6)50 8637
Email: Claire.Black@ed.ac.uk |
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