Course info

Environmental biology is an exciting multidisciplinary area of biology, which incorporates aspects of ecology, ecophysiology and increasingly high-tech approaches to field research. Current approaches to environmental biology focus on examining species interactions (e.g. plant-insect or plant-microbe) as an explanation behind observed patterns of species distributions, rather than examining individual taxa in isolation. These new approaches to field research require a new skill set, which incorporates interdisciplinary work (e.g. field, lab, high-tech, remote sensing) to answer key questions in biology. This field course will provide students with the necessary skills to undertake environmental biology field research. This includes: skills in plant and animal ID alongside methods for recording these organisms in the field, use of thermal imaging equipment and remote sensing quadcopters, environmental microbiology and informatics/statistical analysis approaches. Experience will be gained in the design of research programmes, in data analysis, and in oral presentation. These skills will be linked to improving your C.V., and further training in producing high quality scientific reports.

Aims
The aims of this module are: 1) provide students with up-to-date, in depth knowledge of the latest techniques and methods in environmental biology, 2) increase students understanding of biological interactions as central process in ecosystems, 3) develop students ability to undertake research projects and analyse, interpret and present data, 4) provide students with a range of transferable skills including: individual, small-group and team working, IT, oral presentations and report writing, and problem solving.