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Introduction to ecology (part A, 15h, only for geography students and other students without prior knowledge of ecology) :
Basic elements of the ecology of individuals, populations, and ecosystems. This part of the course consists of 6h of lectures and et 3 written reports, one each week, to describe the ecology of a plant species (a different species for each student), the other species that interact with it, and its habitat.
Biogeography (part B, 30h, all students)
Historical biogeography
Historical factors that influence present-day distributions: continental drift, climate change, mass extinctions; global distribution of diversity at higher taxonomic levels; phytogeographical kingdoms and zoogeographical provinces; centres of origin; vicariance; long-distance dispersal; ice ages; Quaternary phylogeography; glacial refugia; diversification.
Ecological biogeography
Patterns of biodiversity : counting species, gradients of biodiversity, hotspots, diversity in time (succession, climax), richness and diversity.
Patterns of distribution : geographical range, methods to represent distribution ranges on maps, effects of scale, limits to distributions, overcoming the barriers, types of connections, relictual distributions, endemism, dispersal, invasions, migration, the ecological niche, niche overlap, fundamental and realized niche.
Communities and ecosystems : community richness, alpha, beta, gamma, and delta richness, diversity index, closed and open communities, plant growth forms, plant formations, biomes, zonal vegetations, arid regions, interzonal vegetations, predictive models.
Island biogeography : types of islands, arriving on an island, species-area relationships, surviving on an island, the Theory of Island Biogeography, evolution and speciation on islands, adaptive radiation, insularity syndromes.
Practical work : the 24 hours of practical work (3 field excursions to visit different biogeographical regions in Belgium) are for geography students and other non-biology students only. Biology students should follow the course Practical work in ecology and biogeography (BIO1352), especially part A of that course.
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