UCL - Conservation de la biodiversité

[BOE2120]

[36h + 12h] 4 credits

Teacher(s):

Language: French

Level: Second

Aims
Main themes
Content and teaching methods
Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Aims

Students following this course will acquire a scientific opinion of the causes and consequences of the current biodiversity crisis. Students will be able to propose comprehensive solutions to further halt the loss of biodiversity.

Main themes

The course starts by defining the three levels of biodiversity, the methods to assess it and its current status. Then the particularity of the actual extinction crisis is compared to the previous ones. The various threats faced by biodiversity, consequences of human activity on the environment are detailed and solutions of land -use planning are proposed, presenting the tools and methods of land management and endangered populations conservation. The course will also study environmental politics (national and international), and the tools to assess the efficiency of measures taken to conserve biodiversity.
The practical work consists of an introduction to computer modelling of endangered populations function and a discussion to real cases of biodiversity conservation.

Content and teaching methods

This course is concerned with conservation biology, the branch of science that aims to provide the scientific bases of biodiversity conservation and its daily practice like the survey of natural grounds and endangered populations. The course privileges a multi-disciplinary approach integrating ecology, biogeography, genetics, to get to a modelling approach. Then the course will come upon the applied aspect of this discipline, integrating the political and socio-economical aspects.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Evaluation: oral examination preceded by written preparation..
Support: course slides are available on icampus.