Module Information
Course Delivery
| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Field Trip | 2 x 3 Hour Field Trips |
| Field Trip | 1 x 3 Hour Field Trip |
| Field Trip | 1 x 4 Hour Field Trip |
| Lecture | 11 x 2 Hour Lectures |
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Vegetation recording. | 5% |
| Semester Assessment | Woodland management plan. | 25% |
| Semester Assessment | Conservation management plan. | 30% |
| Semester Exam | 1.5 Hours Essay paper. | 40% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Students must take elements of assessment equivalent to those that led to failure of the module. | 60% |
| Supplementary Exam | 1.5 Hours Students must take elements of assessment equivalent to those that led to failure of the module. | 40% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Describe the motivations, designations and powers available to protect wildlife.
2. Recognize major wildlife habitat categories; devise appropriate management objectives and their delivery through conservation management plans based on current ecological theory.
3. Awareness, selection and appropriate use of a range of species surveying and monitoring techniques in management planning.
Brief description
This module covers the ecological principles plus the practical skills of species conservation and monitoring through habitat management that are required by today'r professional conservation practitioner. An understanding of applied community ecology is developed, in conjunction with the ability to recognize and monitor dynamic ecological processes. Management planning methods are evaluated in protected areas as well as in the wider countryside with particular emphasis on agricultural and forestry management aimed at conserving general biodiversity (ecosystem approach) or adapted according to the specific resource requirements and life histories of priority species for conservation. A perspective is presented of the current status of wildlife and conservation law and significant designations that apply to conservation management. The techniques used to maintain, enhance, restore and re-create the conservation value of a range of habitats are examined.
Content
Why conserve?
Population biology for conservationists
Managing succession
Habitat creation
Conservation management tools
Conservation management planning
Legislation for wildlife conservation
Threats represented by non-native, invasive species
Mammalian herbivore grazing in conservation management
Wildlife management of semi-natural habitats:
Woodlands / Wetlands / Lowland and upland heath / Montane habitats /
Grasslands / Sand dunes and Coastal habitats
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | Assess and present population data for plant and animal species. |
| Communication | Preparation of full Conservation Management Plan as major assignment |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | |
| Information Technology | Presentation of complex information and data. Access to and adaptation of maps for Conservation Management Plan. Produce professional report format using Word Processing software. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | Several aspects of practical nature conservation covered in module of relevance to site management as Local Authority Ranger or Nature Reserve Warden. |
| Problem solving | Creative thinking related to future management of a site to enhance nature conservation value: state of typical habitats and species |
| Research skills | Learning about sampling methods and design to assess populations and assemblages of plant and animal species |
| Subject Specific Skills | Awareness and application of Conservation Management Planning procedure used in many conservation agencies and organisations |
| Team work | Species recording and habitat mapping during conservation audit of field site prior to assignment teamworking activities |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 5