Study Programmes 2015-2016
GERE0034-1  
Plants - ecosystems - climate relationship
Duration :
18h Th, 48h Pr, 6h AUTR
Number of credits :
Master in environmental bioengineering (120 ECTS)6
Master in environmental bioengineering (120 ECTS)6
Lecturer :
Marc Aubinet, Bernard Heinesch, Christine Moureaux
Coordinator :
N...
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 :
This course is part of a coherent modulus (Plant Ecosystem Climate ). All the informations on the course content and learning outcomes refer to the whole modulus.
- Micrometeoroligical aspects

  • Characterization of the atmospheric boundary layer
  • Energy budget in a ecosystem
  • Soil and leaf spectral characteristics
- Physiological aspects
  • Quantification of CO2 fluxes (photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, Farqhuar model, soil and plant respiration)
  • Quantification of water vapour fluxes (canopy conductance, Bowen ratio, Water Use Efficiency)
  • Quantification of other exchanges (methane, ozone, N2O, VOC)
- Flux measurement systems
  • Micrometeorological measurements
  • Eddy Covariance method
  • Porometry
  • Soil chambers
- Data treatment
  • Establishing Functional relations
  • Budget computations
  • case studies
Learning outcomes of the course :
After completing the course the student is expected to be able to:
  • identify major plant controls on energy, water and trace gas flux exchanges with the soil and the atmosphere
  • understand how climate and ecosystem management impact these exchanges
  • Understand the requirements, strengths and limitations of ecosystem/atmosphere and trace gas flux measurement methods at spatial scales from leaves to the whole canopy.
  • Implement the most widely used of these flux measurement methods
  • Examine critically peer-reviewed publications in the domain of plant/ecosystem/climate exchanges
  • Better understand the terrestrial ecosystem roles in the climate system and, conversely, the impact of climate on these ecosystems, especially in terms of productivity and vulnerability.
Soft skills linked to team work and written and spoken English language will be developed through practical works, scientific publication analysis and oral presentations.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills :
Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :
- Lectures 12h - Practical works 48h - Seminaries 12h
Recommended or required readings :
Lecture notes Proposed scientific papers
Assessment methods and criteria :
Oral presentation of a raport
Work placement(s) :
Organizational remarks :
Contacts :
Prof. Marc Aubinet(marc.aubinet@ulg.ac.be )
Prof. Bernard Heinesch
Prof. Christine Moureaux