Undergraduate Course: Conservation Science (ECSC10036)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Conservation Science is an honours course combining biological and social science perspectives on the field of conservation. The course is a 20-credit course demanding significant student investment into the coursework of 200 hours: lectures/discussions/workshops (3 hour sessions each week), preparation and readings (at least 3 hours per week), group learning (3 hours per week), assignment preparation (60 hours) and external reading and engagement (20 hours). The course does not have any pre-requisites, but students are expected to have a background in ecology or biological sciences and to be comfortable reading and interpreting the scientific and social science literature and understanding basic applied statistics and mathematics. |
| Course description |
Week 1 Introduction to Conservation Science
Week 2 Why do we conserve biodiversity?
Week 3 Patterns of biodiversity
Week 4 Protected areas
Week 5 Background population ecology for conservation
Week 6 Conservation Science Conference
Week 7 Threats to biodiversity
Week 8 People-focused conservation
Week 9 Conservation in practice
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Students can take EITHER Conservation Science OR Conservation and Management of Natural Populations (SBS). Please note GeoSciences PT's cannot directly enroll students on to SBS courses. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Successful completion of introductory ecology or biology courses. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2022/23, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Quota: 38 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 30,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
166 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Poster (15%)
Poster should be submitted as pdf by 12 noon on Monday 24th October, Week 6.
Opinion piece (50%)
Opinion piece should be submitted as pdf by 12 noon on Thursday 3rd November, Week 7.
POSTnote (35%)
POSTnote should be submitted as pdf by 12 noon on Thursday 1st December, Week 11.
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| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand the concept of biodiversity change and identify threats to global biodiversity.
- Understand how and why we conserve ecosystems and populations.
- Understand people-focused conservation.
- Use ecological and social science methods to communicate science to academic, public and policy audiences.
- Give a poster presentation, write an opinion piece and write a POSTnote on selected topics in the field of conservation science.
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Reading List
| No texts are recommended prior to the course, but details of specific papers to be discussed each week can be found in the course schedule. |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Aidan Keane
Tel: (01316)50 5094
Email: aidan.keane@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Francesca Nadal Finnegan
Tel: (0131 6)50 4842
Email: Francesca.Finnegan@ed.ac.uk |
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