Module Information
Module Identifier
BR21120
Module Title
Climate Change: Plants, Animals and Ecosystems
Academic Year
2024/2025
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 2
Reading List
Other Staff
Course Delivery
Assessment
Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
---|---|---|
Semester Assessment | Climate Change impacts report 2000 Words | 50% |
Semester Assessment | Assignment Time released essay question 2000 Words | 50% |
Supplementary Assessment | Assignment Time released essay question 2000 Words | 50% |
Supplementary Assessment | Climate Change impacts report 2000 Words | 50% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
Discuss how plant ecophysiological mechanisms operate in optimal and sub-optimal conditions.
Describe plant and animal responses to pollution and environmental change factors.
Explain how climate change will impact on species and community interactions, populations and ecosystems, also changing the geographical range limits of biota.
Collect, analyse and interpret experimental data that will provide and insight into how future climate change factors will affect plants and communities.
Brief description
Climate change is now recognised as one of the major future challenges to global biodiversity. The module describes various future environmental change factors and how plants, animals and ecosystems will be affected. Students will explore the close relationship between the biophysical, physiological and ecological aspects of the adaptation and acclimation of an organism to its environment and how a changing environment can stress and even exclude organisms from particular locations.
We will discuss the plant community, plant-soil and plant-animal interactions and the role of soil as a habitat but also as a store for carbon and for future climate change mitigation. Plant-animal interactions will be explored by looking at direct (particularly temperature) and indirect effects of climate change factors on animal performance (via changes food palatability and digestibility).
The module benefits from glasshouse practicals simulating how future climate change factors will affect plant success which has implications for habitats and / or food security..
We will discuss the plant community, plant-soil and plant-animal interactions and the role of soil as a habitat but also as a store for carbon and for future climate change mitigation. Plant-animal interactions will be explored by looking at direct (particularly temperature) and indirect effects of climate change factors on animal performance (via changes food palatability and digestibility).
The module benefits from glasshouse practicals simulating how future climate change factors will affect plant success which has implications for habitats and / or food security..
Content
This module will describe and discuss physiological / ecological research showing evidence of shifts in northern or southern range margins of populations of species from a variety of taxa. We will consider organism physiology in detail and phenological studies that have identified change. Students will explore the close relationship between the biophysical, physiological and ecological aspects of the adaptation and acclimation of an organism to its environment and how a changing environment can stress and even exclude organisms from particular locations. This will involve developing a broad understanding of organism physiology to understanding predicted responses including changes in temperature (gradual increase, extreme events), precipitation (drought or waterlogging), direct effects of elevated CO2 and gaseous pollutants.
We will also present examples of earlier emergence or activity of species and associated ecological studies showing asynchrony of herbivore emergence with host plants or progressive predator asynchrony with their prey populations. More complex impacts on interactions will be considered including the soil-root-plant interface.
The module provides an insight into how future climate will affect plants and ultimately habitats and / or food security.. This will be achieved via practicals simulating how future climate change factors will affect plant success.
We will also present examples of earlier emergence or activity of species and associated ecological studies showing asynchrony of herbivore emergence with host plants or progressive predator asynchrony with their prey populations. More complex impacts on interactions will be considered including the soil-root-plant interface.
The module provides an insight into how future climate will affect plants and ultimately habitats and / or food security.. This will be achieved via practicals simulating how future climate change factors will affect plant success.
Module Skills
Skills Type | Skills details |
---|---|
Application of Number | Via data collection and analyses from glasshouse experiment |
Communication | Communication based around glasshouse experiments |
Improving own Learning and Performance | Learning activities embedded into lectures |
Information Technology | Use of standard Microsoft software and statistical packages to analyse data |
Personal Development and Career planning | Real world focus on problems and solutions |
Problem solving | The assessments require an understanding of the underlying principles |
Research skills | Critical review of recent peer-review publications in the topic will be required for examination and practical assessment |
Subject Specific Skills | Learning about specific methods used to study future Climate Change impacts |
Team work | Via group experiments |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 5