Gwybodaeth Modiwlau

Module Identifier
BR21120
Module Title
Climate Change: Plants, Animals and Ecosystems
Academic Year
2020/2021
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 2
Pre-Requisite
Other Staff

Course Delivery

 

Assessment

Due to Covid-19 students should refer to the module Blackboard pages for assessment details

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment Field excursion report  (up to 2000 words)  40%
Semester Exam 2 Hours   60%
Supplementary Assessment Field excursion report  Students must take elements of assessment equivalent to those that led to failure of the module.  40%
Supplementary Exam 2 Hours   Students must take elements of assessment equivalent to those that led to failure of the module.  60%

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

1. Discuss how plant ecophysiological mechanisms operate in optimal and sub-optimal conditions.

2. Describe plant and animal responses to pollution and environmental change factors.

3. Explain how climate change will impact on species and community interactions, populations and ecosystems, also changing the geographical range limits of biota.

4. Critically discuss the range of experimental approaches currently employed to estimate the future impact of climate change on species, populations and ecosystems.

Brief description

Climate change is now recognised as one of the major future challenges to global biodiversity. The module describes various future environmental change factors and how plants, animals and ecosystems will be affected. Students will explore the close relationship between the biophysical, physiological and ecological aspects of the adaptation and acclimation of an organism to its environment and how a changing environment can stress and even exclude organisms from particular locations.

We will discuss the plant community, plant-soil and plant-animal interactions and the role of soil as a habitat but also as a store for
carbon and for future climate change mitigation. Plant-animal interactions will be explored by looking at direct (particularly temperature) and indirect effects of climate change factors on animal performance (via changes food palatability and digestibility).

The module benefits from field tour drawing on ongoing research in this area.

Content

This module will describe and discuss physiological / ecological research showing evidence of shifts in northern or southern range margins of populations of species from a variety of taxa. We will consider organism physiology in detail and phenological studies that have identified change. Students will explore the close relationship between the biophysical, physiological and ecological aspects of the adaptation and acclimation of an organism to its environment and how a changing environment can stress and even exclude organisms from particular locations. This will involve
developing a broad understanding of organism physiology to understanding predicted responses including changes in temperature (gradual increase, extreme events), precipitation (drought or waterlogging), direct effects of elevated CO2 and gaseous pollutants.

We will also present examples of earlier emergence or activity of species and associated ecological studies showing asynchrony of herbivore emergence with host plants or progressive predator asynchrony with their prey populations. More complex impacts on interactions will be considered including the soil-root-plant interface using examples from Long Term Ecosystem Research experiments.

The module provides field activity that integrates the subject matter in logical order. It spans plant-animal interactions and provides a detailed functional understanding about how plants, animals and communities will respond to a wide range of future climate change factors.

Module Skills

Skills Type Skills details
Application of Number
Communication
Improving own Learning and Performance
Information Technology
Personal Development and Career planning Real world focus on problems and solutions Applying fundamental elements to applied aspects
Problem solving The assessments will require an understanding underlying principles of time-series analysis phenology and climate-ecology models.
Research skills Critical review of recent peer-review publications in the topic will be required for examination and practical assessment
Subject Specific Skills Learning about specific methods used to study future Climate Change impacts
Team work Group interactions in the field

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 5