Freshwater Ecosystems

Learning Outcomes

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Developing an adaptable and flexible approach to study and work especially to meet targets and deadlines
• Developing the advanced skills needed for self-managed learning (e.g. handling multiple conflicting deadlines; responding rapidly and effectively to change; acquiring self-management and organisation skills)
• Handling and integrating multiple information sources across multiple platforms, including working with databases in the broadest sense
• Using the internet critically as a means of communication and a source of information
• Preparing, processing, interpreting and presenting data, using appropriate qualitative and quantitative techniques and packages including geographic information systems to a level suitable for publication

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Referencing work to a very high, prescribed standard as expected in a manuscript sent for publication
• Planning, conducting, and reporting on environmental investigations, including the use of secondary data at the level of competence expected of a junior researcher or consultant

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• Comprehensive understanding of the contribution of environmental science to knowledge
• Full appreciation of the need for both a multi-disciplinary and an interdisciplinary approach in advancing knowledge and understanding of Earth systems, drawing, as appropriate, from the natural and the social sciences
• Deep understanding of the processes which shape the natural world at different temporal and spatial scales and their influence on and by human activities
• Strong familiarity with the terminology, nomenclature and classification systems used in environmental science

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Collecting and integrating several lines of evidence to formulate and test hypotheses
• Analysing, synthesising and summarising information critically, including prior research
• Recognising and using subject-specific theories, paradigms, concepts and principles
• Applying knowledge and understanding to complex and multidimensional problems in familiar and unfamiliar contexts

Topics typically consider:

Introduction to Freshwater Ecosystems.

Structural and functional ecology of standing and running waters.

Interactions between human and freshwater ecosystems, including impacts, restoration and management.

The module is delivered through lecture and seminar sessions. The sessions will be delivered by the module leader with some contributions from others, typically providing case studies to reinforce and extend learning.

Learning activities include

• Attendance at lectures and seminars.
• Self-directed learning - supplementary and complementary to lecture materials.
• Private study – research for and preparation of module assignment.
• Attendance at a field visit – observations of degradation of urban standing waters (optional)

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.