Undergraduate Course: Ecological Impacts of Climate Change (ECSC10042)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Climate change is one of the biggest drivers threatening natural systems, and will only become more impactful as our undergraduates progress in their careers. This course will provide students with a grounded understanding of the physical science of climate change and how predictions are made, before delving into what we know of climate change impacts to ecosystems in the past and present, and what we might expect for the future. We will explore actions and conservation strategies, and train students in the most common tools used to predict climate impacts to species. |
| Course description |
The aim of this course is to give students a comprehensive basis in climate science and the ecological impacts of climate change, to allow them to apply their knowledge in conservation and environmental management settings. The course will be divided into 3 sections - The Physical Science of Climate Change, Past Impacts of Climate Change, and Future Impacts of Climate Change. Relevance for conservation and environmental management will be woven throughout.
The Physical Science of Climate Change
We devote the first three lectures to the physical science of climate change, the world of climate modelling, and the IPCC - without a thorough understanding of climate change itself, predicting impacts is difficult. Students will engage in practical exercises and games that explore climate models, and gain detailed insight into climate feedback loops and the roles of other pollutants such as aerosols.
Past Impacts of Climate Change
In the next three lectures, students will be introduced to current knowledge on the past impacts of climate change in geological time. This will include situating current climate change in the context of the world's continuously changing climate, with a focus on the Quaternary (the past 2.4 million years). Students will examine how species have responded to climate change in the past, including extinctions and range shifts, and learn how palaeobiological data can help make in current management decisions.
Future Impacts of Climate Change
The final three lectures will examine how we expect ecological and environmental systems to respond to climate change in the future. We will see how species are shifting distributions, adjusting behaviour and evolving in response to climatic changes, and evidence of responses that are already underway. Students will be introduced to the concept of tipping points and regime shifts, and assess how likely these are in ecological systems. Finally, we will investigate how climate change is likely to affect agricultural systems. Throughout this final section, we will introduce students to Species Distribution Models - a key tool used by conservationists and environmental managers to predict species responses to change - and encourage critical assessment of when they are (and aren't) useful.
This course has an emphasis on active learning - classes will run in three hour blocks that consist of a combination of lectures, small group activities and facilitated discussion groups. Assessment will focus on critical thinking and communication skills. We aim for students to leave this course with a thorough grounding in climate science, an awareness of the uncertainties surrounding projections of climate change and its impacts, and the ability to critically evaluate news sources and public discourse surrounding climate change and communicate this to a variety of audiences.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 50 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 8,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 10,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
166 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Coursework (100% of final mark):«br /»
«br /»
Ecosystem Responses to Change (50%) [Learning outcome 1& 2]: Students will produce a 5min video which communicates about how an ecoregion of their choice is predicted to change under climate change in the short, medium and long term. They will cover what physical processes are likely to drive change, expected responses, and different predicted scenarios. The video should be appropriate for either for high school aged children, a local government policy forum, or farmers working within the ecoregion (students can pick, detail will be provided on expected tweaks in content for each)«br /»
Students will create their videos in Media Hopper Create, for which there is guidance available (we will also provide training within class time) and submission is integrated with learn.«br /»
«br /»
Research Project - SDMs (50%) [Learning outcomes 3 & 4]: Students will select a species, and create a species distribution model (SDM) that represents its current distribution, and predicts where it may occur in the future. They will present their findings as a research paper that explores the strengths and weaknesses of the model, and proposes potential conservation actions for the species based on the results. |
| Feedback |
Feedback will be provided regularly to students within small group discussion sessions, and to the class each week based on what is submitted in end of class quizzes. The Research Project assessment will be given one class session in which students can seek feedback over species and modelling choices from staff and T&D. Written feedback will be provided on the video and research project assessments. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Explain how physical processes will drive temperature and precipitation change in the coming decades
- Communicate about how ecosystems will change in the short, medium, and long term future
- Apply one of our main methodologies for forecasting climate change impacts on species (assessment piece)
- Evaluate key conservation/sustainability strategies for managing climate change risk to ecosystems
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Climate systems,IPCC,feedbacks,quaternary,paleobiology,range shifts,tipping points,conservation |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Hannah Wauchope
Tel:
Email: hwauchop@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Francesca Nadal Finnegan
Tel: (0131 6)50 4842
Email: Francesca.Finnegan@ed.ac.uk |
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