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BI1338

Forest Conservation Biology

This course provides knowledge of the field of conservation biology with a specific focus on applications in forested landscapes. The teaching consists of a mix of self-work and real-time learning activities: lectures, literature seminars, projects, and exercises.


The course consists of several parts: Natural and anthropogenic disturbance regimes, Forest biodiversity and its assessment, Conservation measures in forests, Key ecological concepts in conservation biology, Single-species conservation approaches, Global change, The societal context of nature conservation, and Multifunctional forests and urban ecology. Each part uses both lectures and at least one other type of teaching (such as literature seminars, projects and exercises). Literature seminars and exercises play an important role for deepening the knowledge and improve scientific thinking. Projects have different purposes, but often they aim at exemplifying how ecological knowledge is applied in practical work or policy.


The course is given as a distance course. Literature seminars, written reports, oral presentations, and the written exam are compulsory.


Information from the course leader

2020-09-16
Literature - list with dates
3 November: Sodhi & Ehrlich Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Hortal, J. et al. (2015) Seven shortfalls that beset large-scale knowledge of biodiversity. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst. 46: 523-549. 4 November Sodhi & Ehrlich Chapter 10 9 – 10 November: Groom, M.J. et al. Chapter 11 Conservation genetics: the use and importance of genetic information. In: Principles of Conservation Biology. 3rd ed. Pp. 375-415. Supple, M.A. & Shapiro, B. (2018) Conservation of biodiversity in the genomics era. Genome Biology 19:131. 11 November: Sodhi & Ehrlich Chapter 5 Jackson, S.T. & Sax, D.F. (2010) Balancing biodiversity in a changing environment: extinction debt, immigration credit and species turnover. TREE 25: 153-160. 12 November: Hanski & Gaggiotti. Metapopulation biology: past, present, and future. In: Ecology, genetics, and evoluation of metapopulations (Hanski, I., Gaggiotti, O.E.). 16 November: Ranius, T. A population viability analysis of a beetles inhabiting hollow trees 18 November: Butchart, S.H.M. et al. (2010) Global biodiversity: indicators of recent declines. Science 328: 1164-1168. 19+23 November: Kuuluvainen, T. (2002). Natural variability of forests as a reference for restoring and managing bio-logical diversity in boreal Fennoscandia. Silva Fennica 36 (1). Ramberg, E. et al. (2018). Coordination through databases can improve pre-scribed burning as a conservation tool to promote forest biodiversity. Ambio 47: 298–306 20 November: Nilsson, S.G.: Biodiversity and sustainable forestry in changing landscapes – principles and southern Sweden as an example. Journal of Sustainable Forestry 21: 11–43. 25 November. Sodhi & Ehrlich Chapter 7. 26 November: Sodhi & Ehrlich Chapter 8. Felton, A. (2016) How climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies can threaten or enhance the biodiversity of production forests: Insights from Sweden. Biological Conservation 194: 11-20. 27 November: Edenius, L., Bergman, M., Ericsson, G. & Danell, K. (2002) The role of moose as a disturbance factor in managed boreal forests. Silva Fennica 36: 57-67. 30 November: Felton, A. et al. (2020) Keeping pace with forestry: Multi-scale conservation in a changing production forest matrix. Ambio 49: 1050-1064. 1 December: Bullock, J.M. et al. (2011) Restoration of ecosystem services and biodiversity: conflicts and opportunities. TREE 26: 542-549. Nogues-Bravo, D. et al. (2016) Rewilding is the new Pandora’s box in conservation. Current Biology Magazine 26: R87-R91 Seddon, P.J. et al. (2014) Reversing defaunation: Restoring species in a changing world. Science 345: 406-412. 7 December: FAO 2018. Forest Policy – Basic knowledge. http://www.fao.org/sustainable-forest-management/toolbox/modules/forest-policy-and-legislation/basic-knowledge/en/?type=111 14 December. Schröter, M. et al. (2014) Ecosystem services and opportunity costs shift spatial priorities for conserving forest biodiversity. PLOSOne 9:e112557 5 January: Duinker, P.N. et al. (2017) Chapter 34. Urban woodlands and their management. Routledge handbook of urban forestry. Fay, N. & Butler, J. (2017) Chapter 33. Conservation of ancient and other veteran trees. Routledge handbook of urban forestry. Sodhi & Ehrlich Chapter 13.7, P. 253.

2020-08-16
Welcome
Welcome to the course in Forest Conservation Biology! I will fill this website with information during early autumn. Below is the link to a 2-minute welcome video. /Thomas Ranius

Course evaluation

The course evaluation is now closed

BI1338-20017 - Course evaluation report

Once the evaluation is closed, the course coordinator and student representative have 1 month to draft their comments. The comments will be published in the evaluation report.

Additional course evaluations for BI1338

Academic year 2019/2020

Forest Conservation Biology (BI1338-20009)

2019-11-01 - 2020-01-19

Syllabus and other information

Grading criteria

Grading criteria – Forest Conservation Biology

Debate and debate article, 2.0 credits

Scale: Pass or Fail

To pass this module the student needs to participate in the debate 16-17/12 and write a debate article (deadline 18/12).

Literature seminars, 3.0 credits

Scale: Pass or Fail

To pass this module the student needs to participate in the online seminars 17/11; 27/11; 1/12; 11/12; 15/12; and 8/1. This means that the student (i) is prepared to discuss questions for each scientific paper, and (ii) presents scientific papers for the group members when responsible.

Excursion, 1.0 credits

Scale: 5, 4, 3, and U (fail)

Due to the new corona virus there will not be any excursions in the field this year. To pass this module the student should finalize the assignment with a deadline in November 24th. The grading is based on the depth and width of the written text, and how the text is structured and written.

Written exam, 9.0 credits

Scale: 5, 4, 3, and U (fail)

The written exam consists of three parts: the written part of the assignment in Conservation genetics (deadline November 20th), and two take home exams (December 4th and one in January 11th-13th).

The written report in the Conservation genetics assignment will be assessed as follows:

To get grade 3 requires:

Shows comprehensive understanding of conservation genetics concepts

To get grade 4 requires:

Shows comprehensive understanding and an ability to link together conservation genetics concepts in a logical way

To get grade 5 requires:

Shows depth and breadth in understanding of conservation genetics concepts and an ability to link together conservation genetics concepts in a logical way

The written exam will test the ability regarding the following aspects:

- Describe nature conservation with respect to its societal context, explain its scientific foundations, and structurally discuss underlying ethical values;
- Explain important theories and concepts in population biology, community ecology, ecosystem ecology, and landscape ecology and their application in forest-related nature conservation;
- Define biodiversity and compare different ways to assess biodiversity in forest ecosystems;
- Describe the natural conditions and processes in Swedish forests, how anthropogenic disturbance affect biodiversity, and propose appropriate conservation and restoration approaches;

- Describe different types of conservation measures taken in Swedish forested landscapes
- Explain the roles of actors in the forest sector regarding nature conservation and give examples on how their perspectives on nature conservation differ
- Give examples on how ecological knowledge can be combined by knowledge in other disciplines to find solutions in nature conservation, for instance when handling conflicting goals in multifunctional forests

To get grade 3 requires

  • Basic abilities regarding all seven aspects described above. Basic abilities means that key terms can be explained and patterns described.

To get grade 4 requires

  • Everything required for grade three.
  • Everything required for all modules (debate article, excursion, written exam) have been sent in before the deadlines.
  • For several of these aspects, the student shows a knowledge which especially is deeper, but also wider. This means that also processes behind the patterns can be explained and that the patterns can be described from different perspectives. Wider knowledge means that a larger number of terms can be explained and more patterns be described relevant for forest conservation biology.
  • The student can make a reasonable choice about which knowledge that should be used in different practical examples.

To get grade 5 requires

  • Everything required for grade four
  • For almost all of these seven aspects, the student shows especially a deep, but also wide, knowledge. This means that also processes behind the patterns can be explained and that different perspectives on the same patterns can be compared. Wider knowledge means that a larger number of terms can be explained and more patterns be described relevant for forest conservation biology.
  • The student can discuss which knowledge that should be used in different practical examples and the consequences of different choices.

Litterature list

  1. Conservation biology for all Författare: Editors: Navjot S. Sodhi & Paul R. Ehrilch [Conservation biology for all] (https://conbio.org/publications/free-textbook/) Kommentar: This is the main text book. We will also provide you with scientific articles and other texts as pdf file. In a message from September 16th you can see the full list which corresponds to activities at the course.

Course facts

The course is offered as an independent course: Yes The course is offered as a programme course: Management of Fish and Wildlife Populations - Master's Programme Cycle: Master’s level (A1N)
Subject: Forest Science Biology Biology Forest science
Course code: BI1338 Application code: SLU-20017 Location: Location independent Distance course: Yes Language: English Pace: 100%