Study Programmes 2015-2016
| BIOL2033-1 | ||||||||
| Monitoring of the biodiversity and dynamics of citizen | ||||||||
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Duration :
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| 20h Th, 24h Pr, 8d FW | ||||||||
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Number of credits :
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Lecturer :
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| Johann Delcourt, Mathieu Denoël, Alain Hambuckers, Michaël Ovidio | ||||||||
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Coordinator :
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| Alain Hambuckers | ||||||||
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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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Units courses prerequisite and corequisite :
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| Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program | ||||||||
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Course contents :
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| This course includes 4 parts: (1) Monitoring of the biodiversity in land environment, (2) Analyzes of viability of the populations, (3) Ecology and preservation of amphibians and (4) Following by the populations of fresh water fish
(1) Sampling of the biodiversity is based on the knowledge of foundations and the theoretical variations of its distribution. The realization of appropriate sampling plans allows to test correctly its hypotheses. The theoretical elements important to take into account will be explained. A practical exercise of sampling calibrated for landsnail species in forest environment will be realized. The collected data will be used within the framework of a managed work, to test the quality of the sampling (exhaustiveness). A set of data will also be given and used to highlight the effect of environmental factors on the species richness by using a linear generalized model (GLM). (2) On basis of censuses of population, data collected during long term tracking of the individuals, or still data obtained by the methods of tagging-recapture, it is possible to obtain quantity of precious information concerning population dynamic. For a future environmental and wild-life manager, whatever the species is animal or vegetable, to be able to predict the state and the future of a population is a crucial question: is it healthy, is it in expansion or on the decline? What is the extinction probability of a population? These questions are relevant for decision-making concerning preservation: predict if a population is in danger or out of hazard, to estimate its degree of exploitation, to estimate the efficiency of the measures taken to save a threatened population or to control an invasive population, choose what are the populations to save first in priority in the face of constraints of time and money, and the impact of reintroduction. These subjects will be explained by alternating theory and practical examples by using the R software. (3) The third part of the lecture is on the ecology and conservation of amphibians. It consists in (1) a presentation of species diversity mainly in temperate regions ; (2) a synthesis of their biological particularities: life cycle, demography and population dynamics, intraspecific diversity (heterochrony), habitat, feeding habits, reproductive behaviour, sensory perspection as well as on study and survey techniques, and (3) an analysis of their status and decline in function of varied risks: habitat change, pollutants, invasive species, emerging disease. (4) The part of the lecture devoted to freshwater fish includes active participation in a field experiment (fish inventory by electric fishing) and pratical exercice and theoritical debriefing. The required work is the analysis of data collected during the field experiment, in order to present them in a scientific written format, comprehensible by the administration in charge of the watercourses management. |
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Learning outcomes of the course :
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| Population viability analysis part:
- Master the concepts of determinist and stochastic models - Be able of predicting the current and future state of a population - Know how to make PVAs based on the countings and populational matrices - Know how to adapt methods according to the set of available data and to the field constraints - Know how to use the main functions of {popbio} package in [R] - Be able to answer practical questions in the context of management of natural populations on basis of the information collected by the PVAs, and suggest recommendations to manage these populations - Master concepts and effects of temporal autocorrelation, of density dependence, Allee effect and of the demographic stochasticity - Manage bias inferred by the observational errors and by the degree of detectability of a species - Know how to estimate the effects of management on populations - Develop his(her) critical mind about modellings |
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Prerequisite knowledge and skills :
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| Basics of ecology
Basics of R and multivariate statistical analysis |
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Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
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| part 2 (PVAs): lectures with sessions of applied exercises integrated directly into the course. | ||||||||
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Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :
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| Face-to-face, mandatory. | ||||||||
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Recommended or required readings :
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| For the partim 2 (PVA): the course is essentially based on three sources:
1) Quantitative Morris WF and Doak DF (2002) biology preservation: theory and practice of viability analysis population. Ed. Sinauer, 480 p. 2) Caswell H (2001) Matrix population models: construction, analysis and interpretation(performance). Ed. Sinauer. 722 p. 3) { Popbio } in [ R ] Package: downloadable document on the link: https: // cran.r-project.org/web/packages/popbio/popbio.pdf |
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Assessment methods and criteria :
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| Partim 2 (PVAs): it is asked to the student to apply the methods seen during the course within the framework of a directed exercise proposed during the year, and the student will have to present it orally. | ||||||||
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Work placement(s) :
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| A field excursion is planned to show local amphibian diversity and sampling methods. | ||||||||
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Organizational remarks :
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Contacts :
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| Population viability part:
Dr Johann Delcourt Unité de Biologie du Comportement Institut de Zoologie (Bât. I1) Université de Liège Quai van Beneden 22 4020 Liège E-mail: Johann.Delcourt@ulg.ac.be Amphibian part: Dr. Mathieu Denoël Unité de Biologie du Comportement Institut de Zoologie (Bât. I1) Université de Liège Quai van Beneden 22 4020 Liège E-mail: Mathieu.Denoel(Mathieu.Denoel@ulg.ac.be[a]ulg.ac.be ) Freshwater fish part: Dr Michaël Ovidio E-mail: M.Ovidio@ulg.ac.be |
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