Study Programmes 2015-2016
ENVT3050-1  
Quantification of ecosystem services
Duration :
8h Th, 8h Pr, 8h AUTR
Number of credits :
Master in forests and natural areas engineering (120 ECTS)2
Lecturer :
Marc Dufrêne
Language(s) of instruction :
French language
Organisation and examination :
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite :
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Course contents :
Introduction to the concept of ecosystem services (ES)
  • Illustrative examples
  • General definition
  • Production Services
  • Regulating services
  • Cultural services
  • Support Services
What relationships between ES and biodiversity? How to measure the ES? How to evaluate the ES? Analysis for main land use classes
  • ES in forests
  • ES in agriculture
  • ES in cities
Human impacts on ES and solutions
Cas studies analyses with a Flemish specialist (in English)
Learning outcomes of the course :
They will be able to define and to identify ecosystemic services and to assess their relative importance in a landscape. They will learn to identify relevant information in a large and diverse literature. They will learn to defend their assessment compared to other groups. They will be aware of the consequences of the choice of initial values on the final results (sensitivity analysis of the parameters).
Prerequisite knowledge and skills :
Good knowledge in ecology and in landscape analysis
Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
Interactive course. A significant part of the course is devoted to a work group consisting of a literature review to gather and organize information to complete a table summarizing ecosystem services related to land classes and uses. This table will be used to test different scenarios of landscape dynamics.
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :
Face-to-face + workshop + group works + report restitution.
Recommended or required readings :
A wide variety of references is provided to learn how to identify relevant information.
Assessment methods and criteria :
Group report Written examination
Work placement(s) :
Organizational remarks :
 The organization will be announced in class.
Contacts :
Marc.Dufrene@ulg.ac.be