Module BIOL3181: PALAEOECOLOGY (L)

Department: Biological and Biomedical Sciences

BIOL3181: PALAEOECOLOGY (L)

Prerequisites

• Plant Biology BIOL2271.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To promote an appreciation of how the environment has changed in the recent geological past and of the impacts of these changes on organisms and ecosystems.
• To conduct a supervised investigation of an area within Biological Sciences where knowledge obtained by laboratory experimentation or field work is important.

Content

• Palaeoenvironmental, palaeoecological and chonometric methods.
• Global environmental history of the last 5 million years.
• Orbital forcing of global and regional climate.
• Late-Quaternary interglacials.
• Interglacials v interstadials.
• Rapid global environmental fluctuations during the last glacial cycle.
• The Holocene: the role of humans in Holocene vegetation change.
• Millennial environmental variability during the Holocene.
• Linking palaeoecology to ecology and conservation.
• Project - a supervised investigation of an area within Biological Sciences where knowledge obtained by field work, laboratory experimentation or database information retrieval and analysis is important.

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of this module each student should be able to: Illustrate how Quaternary environmental changes have impacted upon organisms and ecosystems.
• Appreciate the nature of the interactions between environmental change and ecosystem components, and the relevance of different scales both in time and space.
• Understand the prevailing hypotheses as to the mechanisms and ultimate causes of environmental change and the extent to which differed processes operate at different temporal and spatial scales.
• Understand the principle techniques used to study Quaternary environments.
• Have a practical knowledge of sediment sampling and palynology.

• To establish Quaternary chronologies and to investigate Quaternary palaeoecology.

• Know haw to: extract, compile and review relevant scientific information from various sources and evaluate them critically.
• Acquire, interpret and critically analyse experimental and field data and present the results effectively.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Taught Component: Teaching and learning in this component is primarily through the means of lectures and seminars, supplemented by practical classes and field excursion(s).
• During the practical classes the students will gain skills that will enable them collectively to collect and analyse a set of palynological data and to critically assess these data in relation to published data.
• Additional skills will be acquired through the searching, retrieval and presentation of data: Knowledge, understanding and ability to retrieve and synthesise information will be assessed formatively through an oral presentation.
• Knowledge, understanding, ability to synthesise information and ability to critically assess and analyse information will be assessed summatively by means of a written examination.
• Project Component: Teaching and learning in this component is primarily through supervised individual laboratory or field work or through a directed literature search.
• Skills will be acquired through advanced practical or field work and through the searching, retrieval and presentation of relevant data.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Oral presentation to assess ability to retrieve, organise, synthesise and present information.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University