RAVT2005-2 : Wildlife survey and monitoring techniques in tropical areas

Study Programmes 2015-2016

RAVT2005-2

Wildlife survey and monitoring techniques in tropical areas

Duration :

8h Th, 20h Pr

Number of credits :

Specialised master in plant and animal resource management in tropical environment		3

Lecturer :

Philippe Lejeune

Language(s) of instruction :

French language

Organisation and examination :

Teaching in the second semester

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite :

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Course contents :

The course has two distinct parts :
- General introduction to GIS
- Initiation to the main techniques of wildlife surveys and data acquisition for the description of home range;

Learning outcomes of the course :

At the end of the course, students should be able to:
- understand the basic concepts of GIS (data model Vector and raster georeferencing, projection, digitizing, geoprocessing)
- handle the main functionalities of a desktop GIS (QGIS) : data visualization, selection, symbolization, geoprocessing, preparing layouts
- Manipulate GPS receivers ("hiking" type) and download their data in a GIS
- Process simple data sets about wildlife surveys (aerial count, abundance indices, distance sampling)

Prerequisite knowledge and skills :

Basic knowledge of personnal computer (Windows and Excel)
Elements of statistics (sampling theory)

Planned learning activities and teaching methods :

Lectures : 6 hours
Pratical exercises : 18 hours

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :

Face-to-face
Tutorials and personnal exercises

Recommended or required readings :

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
- 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.
- Schwarz C.J. and A.F. George (1999). Estimating Animal Abundance: Review III. Statistical Science, Vol. 14, No. 4, 427-456.

Assessment methods and criteria :

Personnal exercises report

Work placement(s) :

Organizational remarks :

The course material and the data sets are provided to the students in the form of a USB key

Contacts :

Philippe Lejeune
p.lejeune@ulg.ac.be

081/622296