Ecology and Conservation MSc

Biodiversity, the variety of life on earth is a term coined in the 1990s by the Convention on Biological Diversity, reflecting growing concerns about species extinctions. Since then, the field has become multidisciplinary with aspects relating to biology, taxonomy, ecology, conservation, food systems, fisheries, climate science, agriculture and health. But there remains much work to tackle the current biodiversity crisis.

You develop a practical understanding of biodiversity as relevant to practitioners, consultants and managers working in ecology and conservation. You acquire critical skills in biodiversity sciences from conducting biodiversity surveys, identifying organisms, managing biodiversity data, accessing data repositories and assessing the quality of these data, the latter being crucial when interpreting biodiversity analyses.

Climate change is an urgent challenge facing humanity and this module will provide the scientific knowledge and understanding needed to address this challenge. You explore how the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, cryosphere and biosphere interact to shape earth’s climate, a dynamic system on both temporal and spatial scales. Global climate is changing in a manner that is unprecedented over the past 800,000 years. The evidence that human activity since the onset of the Industrial Era has significantly perturbed the earth’s natural climate state is all too clear from the palaeoclimate and instrumental record. Rising global temperatures, warming oceans, retreating ice sheets, declining Arctic sea ice, sea level rise, weather extremes, ocean acidification, coral bleaching, are all lines of evidence that climate change is occurring.

This module develops topical themes from the wider field of conservation science for you to gain an overview understanding of a range of conservation actions and the latest thinking. There will be a focus on the science and thinking that underpin conservation, using a multidisciplinary approach straddling, bioscience, ecology and geoscience. Key topics include, but will not be restricted to, global change biology, invasion and disease ecology and rewilding conservation strategies.

Ecologists study interactions between organisms and their environments, thereby developing an understanding of nature, the environment and ecosystems. In this module you explore how these interactions underpin the functioning of ecosystems that are vital for biodiversity and the sustainability of human societies. You consider how ecosystems change over time, in the past and in the future, while developing an understanding of the increasing important role of ecology in enriching human wellbeing and prosperity by providing evidence of the inter-connectivity between the natural environment, the built environment and people. You gain in-depth knowledge of how ecological interactions provides evidence for other fields such as conservation, environmental management, agriculture, fisheries for example.

This is a multidisciplinary activity which aims to ensure maximum human benefit from the natural world whilst minimising degradation to natural habitats and ecosystems. You addresse key issues for the professional environmental manager including:

• identification of appropriate social, financial, environmental and technical outcomes from a human-environmental interaction
• selection, operationalisation, recording and reporting of appropriate measures of environmental conditions and potential impacts from an activity
• consideration of the regulatory environment
• the Environmental Impact Assessment, the Environmental Statement, and the Environmental Audit, ISO14000.

Spatially-explicit data is used across industries such as logistics, land planning, crime pattern analysis and behavioural studies. You learn to collect, locate, access, and analyse geodata using geographic information systems (GIS). This includes a range of methodologies such as mapping and statistical analysis to address key questions in your field. You are emersed in analysing geographical patterns in the built and the natural environment and relate your findings to real world situations, which may include: crime patterns, habitat mapping for environmental impact assessments, policy and decision making during land planning.

Mapping and analysing of geo-data can be an extremely complex task that can reflect people’s behaviour, societal change, and environmental quality. By learning to use GIS and analyse data, you will learn to interpret the world in a geographical way and bring this novel understanding into your own professional field. You gain skills critical to your success during your studies and your career.

This module will provide an appropriate environment for an in-depth investigation of a subject relevant to the programme chosen and the continued development of cognitive, professional and transferable skills. It aims to unify your understanding and awareness of engineering or science as developed in the programme, with individual and independent research and analysis on a selected topic within the discipline. It also aims to expose you to the management of a significant project and to enable you to apply research methods relevant to your specific field and related discipline.

You investigate problems which involve the consideration of relevant legal, social, ethical, environmental and other professional issues.

You will be expected to develop and practice a professional approach to the presentation, delivery and appraisal of your written and oral presentations.