Principles of Sustainability in Space and Time

Recommended Prerequisites

Not applicable.

Teaching Methods

Lecture and Seminar.

Learning Outcomes

Students are familiar with the natural characteristics (climate, topography, soils and sediments, vegetation, animals) and the development (past, present, future) of ecozones and ecosystems; students are familiar with the varieties of human impact and their effects on ecosystems; students are able to differentiate, to interpret and to evaluate natural processes and the effects of specific human activities on global, zonal and regional scales.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

Global overview of ecozone characteristics (climate, topography, soils and sediments, vegetation, animals, human impact) Presentation and analysis of the individual ecozones (polar and subpolar zone, boreal zone, temperate and dry midlatitudes, subtropics with Winter rain, humid subtropics, dry tropics and subtropics, subtropics with Summer rain, humid tropics), evaluation of the human impact in the individual ecozones (past and present) Presentation of case studies.

Discussion of future development of ecozones and ecosystems.  

Head Lecturer(s)

José Paulo Filipe Afonso de Sousa

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Report: 100.0%

Bibliography

• EEA (2012): Late lessons from early warnings II. https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/late-lessons-2/late-lessons-2-full-report

• J. Schultz (2005): The ecozones of the world: The ecological divisions of the geosphere. Springer

• S. Chapin et al. (2004): Principles of terrestrial ecosystem ecology. Springer

• Winiwarter, V. and H.-R. Bork (2019): Geschichte unserer Umwelt. Primus-Verlag and WBG