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| RAVT0001-1 | Wildlife population inventory and modelling techniques
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| Duration : | 12h Th, 12h Pr |
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| Number of credits : |
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| Lecturer : | Philippe Lejeune |
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Language(s) of instruction :
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| French language |
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Organisation and examination :
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| Teaching in the first semester, review in January |
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Course contents :
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| The course has two distinct parts :
- Presentation of the main techniques of wildlife surveys and data acquisition for the description of animals home range;
- Introduction to habitat characterization and habitat suitability modeling.
These two aspects are discussed with particular emphasis on the large mammalian species living in savannah. |
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Learning outcomes of the course :
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| At the end of the course, students should be able to:
- Understand the basic principles used in wildlife surveys techniques;
- Process data set coming from wildlife surveys (aerial counts, pedestrians surveys, abundance indices);
- Analyze georeferenced wildlife observations to characterize their home range;
- Build a spatial distribution model in the case of animal species and discuss its results. |
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Prerequisites and co-requisites/ Recommended optional programme components :
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| Basic knowledge of GIS, of Excel software and of sampling theory. |
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Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
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| Lectures : 8 hours
Pratical exercises : 16 hours |
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Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :
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| Face-to-face
Tutorials and personal assignment |
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Recommended or required readings :
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| References :
- Buckland S.T., Anderson D.R., Burnham K.P., Laake J.L. (1993). Distance sampling, estimating abundance of biological populations. London, Chapman & Hall, 446 p
- Elith, J., Phillips, S.J., Hastie, T., Dudík, M., Chee, Y.E. & Yates, C.J. 2011. A statistical explanation of MaxEn for ecologists. Diversity and Distributions, 17, 43-57.
- Hirzel, A. H., Hausser J., Chessel D. & Perrin N. 2002. Ecological- Niche Factor Analysis : How to Computer Habitat- Suitability Maps without Absence Data ? Ecology, 83(7), 2027-2036.
- Khül et al. (2008) Lignes directrices pour de meilleures pratiques en matière d'inventaire et de suivi des populations de grands singes. Document occasionnel de la Commission de sauvegarde des espèces de l'UICN, 40p.
- Northon-Griffiths, M. Counting Animals. African Wildlife Ecology Handbook Series, No. 1. 1978.
- Pearson, R.G. (2007). "Species' distribution modeling for conservation educators and practitioners". Synthesis. American Museum of Natural History. 2007 (1): 1-50.
- Schwarz C.J. and A.F. George (1999). Estimating Animal Abundance: Review III. Statistical Science, Vol. 14, No. 4, 427-456. |
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Assessment methods and criteria :
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| Assignment report |
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Work placement(s) :
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Organizational remarks :
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| The course material and the data sets are provided to the students in the form of a USB key |
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Contacts :
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| Philippe Lejeune
p.lejeune@ulg.ac.be
081/622296 |
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