Aims

This course provides the practical aspects of the courses in Ecology and Biogeography. The course aims at teaching students how to read and analyse the natural environment, and at developing naturalist skills by observing and identifying plants and animals in their natural environment.

Main themes

Demonstrations and exercises cover the biogeographical districts of the south of Belgium and adjacent territories. These sites are chosen as examples to represent a variety of different landscapes, ecosystems and communities.. Emphasis is put on the impact of man, and on the distribution, structure and composition of communities. The ecological point of view is constantly integrated in biogeography by exercises or observations that will be made in these same sites. The students are required to present a herbarium with the indigenous woody plant species of Belgium, a herbarium of 50 herbaceous plants typical for the sites visited during the excursions, and a collection of 25 insects from different families.