Soil, water, and meteorological processes in the forest ecosystem
Course description
The course Soil, Water and Meteorological Processes in the Forest Ecosystem provides knowledge on how forest ecosystem composition and functions are regulated by soil properties, water and climate. Understanding these processes is a prerequisite for sustainable use of our Swedish forests, which represent a key component in climate change mitigation and in the transition towards a bio-based economy.
Detailed knowledge on the interaction between forest water and energy balances as well as soil biological and chemical processes are essential for understanding the ecology of forest ecosystems and for developing sustainable forest management strategies. This course will also provide the tools for critically thinking and scientific methods that can be applied to issues related to climate change, management of land and water resources, environmental pollution and acidification of land and water.
Lectures and individual literature studies are combined with organized group discussions and practical exercises with empirical data and analytical models during which students have the opportunity to apply the theoretical knowledge to real-life problems.
Entry Requirements
Course facts
MV0227, Soil, water, and meteorological processes in the forest ecosystem, 7.5 Hp
Print syllabus
Syllabus
Finalized by: DECISION MAKER, YYYY-MM-DD
Valid from : Autumn semester 2023 (2023-08-28)
Level
First cycle (G1F)
Main field of study
Soil Science, Biology
Grading Scale
The grade requirements within the course grading system are set out in specific criteria. These criteria must be available by the course start at the latest.
Course language
English
Entry Requirements
Objectives
The aim of the course is to give the students an overall picture of overarching soil, water, and meteorological processes in the forest landscape. By that, the course provides knowledge fundamental for long-term sustainable forest management in Sweden and globally. The course also aims to provide tools for analysis and critical thinking applicable on questions like climate change, land and water resource management, silvicultural systems, environmental pollutants and acidification of soil and water.
After successful completion of the course, the students will be able to:
- Account for the energy and water balance and their different components above different vegetation surfaces
- Account for interactions between land-atmosphere energy exchanges and the climate
- Discuss the effect of different silvicultural measures/systems on energy and water balances at the site level
- Describe different soil components, important soil organisms, and their function in the soil ecosystem
- Account for the soil water holding capacity, plant available water, soil water transport, main features of soil aeration and their silvicultural implications.
- Account for key chemical and biological soil processes with emphasis on those important for nutrient turnover and the link to site productivity
- Discuss how different environmental factors such as access to water, nutrients, energy sources, soil pH and redox conditions impact the speed and direction of different soil processes
Content
The course includes meteorology, hydrology, soil physics, soil chemistry, and soil biology including microbiology and their interactions with forest management and climate change. Central chemical and biological processes that control the availability of macro- and micronutrients in the forest ecosystem are discussed in terms of sustainability and silviculture. This includes processes such as weathering, adsorption, biological uptake and mineralisation of nutrients, as well as decomposition and turnover of soil organic matter. Moreover, the course covers important environmental problems in modern forestry such as anthropogenic and biological acidification of soils and water and the occurrence and transport of important pollutants in forest soils, as well as the role of soils as carbon sinks. The course deals with soil physical and hydrological processes that can help us predict the flow of water through the soil and its availability to plants. We also discuss how different soil properties, forest management and climate, including the effects of climate change, are affecting this. The course will also cover the processes that regulate land-atmosphere exchanges and distribution of energy. We discuss how energy fluxes are modified by different land surface properties, mainly in response to forest management, and explore the feedbacks between the energy balance and climate change.
The course includes lectures, individual literature studies, and organized group discussions. An important component of the course are exercises that integrate important knowledge from the various subsections, based on empirical data and modelling. The students then present and discuss their results from these exercises in seminars.
The course focuses on the following general competencies:
critical thinking; problem solving; scientific methods; oral communication; written communication; teamwork
Examination Formats and Requirements for Passing the Course
Approved written presentation (of project work); approved oral presentation
Responsible Department/Equivalent
Department of Forest ecology and Management
Supplementary information
Included in program
- Forest Science (BSc)
Module set
| Title | Credits | Code |
|---|---|---|
| Single module | 7.5 | 0001 |
The Course Replaces
Soil Science, hydrology and meteorology (SG0211)
Other Information
The course builds on knowledge gained during the first year of the program from the course Forest soils and climatology (MV0223), but now with a focus on the detailed processes which regulate soil-plant-atmosphere interactions and their silvicultural implications.