Field course in Ecological Techniques

Recommended Prerequisites

English proficiency    

Teaching Methods

Intensive field course lasting 10 days, with only face-to-face classes. The teaching components is composed by fieldwork, laboratory classes for processing the collected samples and practical group work during information processing, report preparation and oral presentation of results. 

Learning Outcomes

This curricular unit aims the acquisition and deepening of several methods and field techniques used in Ecology, through a multidisciplinary and essentially practical approach. It is expected that at the end of the course, the students will be able to apply the concepts and techniques taught, being able to plan field experiemnts to respond to specific ecological questions and responding to environmental and current conservation concerns

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1- Biodiversity of soil invertebrates. Techniques for collecting samples for soil micro, meso and macrofauna (soil cores, pitfall traps and TSBF). Sampling design and sampling effort; sample collection and processing, sorting and identification/morphotyping.

2 - Insect biodiversity: sampling techniques for different groups (sweeping and traps); identification.

3- Ecology and behaviour of mammals. Census techniques in terrestrial mammal population ecology: density estimates using distance sampling and capture-recapture; radio telemetry; acoustic monitoring.

4- Ecology and diversity of birds. Ringing and acoustic monitoring methods.

5- Plant Ecology. Assessing species composition; plant-animal interactions; quantification of the pollination services.

6- Ecological networks. Sampling, assembling and interpreting species-interaction networks.

7- Stream ecology. Structural and functional methods for water quality assessment.

Head Lecturer(s)

José Paulo Filipe Afonso de Sousa

Assessment Methods

Assessment method
Report of a seminar or field trip: 50.0%
Laboratory work or Field work: 50.0%

Bibliography

Boitani, L., & Todd K. Fuller. (2000). Research Techniques in Animal Ecology.

Buckland, S., Anderson, D., & Burnham, K. (1993). Distance sampling (Vol. 2).

Hill, D., Fasham, M., Tucker, G., Shewry, M., & Shaw, P. (2005). Handbook of Biodiversity Methods.

Magurran, A. E. (2013). Measuring biological diversity. John Wiley & Sons.

Sutherland, W. (2006). Ecological census techniques: a handbook. Cambridge University Press

Sinclair, A. R. E., Fryxell, J. M., & Caughley, G. (2006). Wildlife Ecology, Conservation, and Management.

Southwood, T. R. E., & Henderson, P. A. (2021). Ecological methods. Oxford University Press.

Wildi, O. (2010). Data analysis in vegetation ecology. John Wiley & Sons.