Ecological Restoration in Practice (P02987)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : GEO-P-ECORESTOR

1. What is Ecological Restoration - defining restoration, reclamation, remediation and re-introduction - how do they fit the bill? + Designing Ecological Approaches - overview of restoration practices, defining targets, management of project specification and designing restoration approaches
2. Restoration of Contaminated Land a) - local case study; oil-shale bings + site visit
3. Restoration of Contaminated Land b) local study ash flats + in depth case study of technically reclaimed and spontaneously re-vegetated spoil from open cast brown-coal mining in the Most Region, Czech Republic (Karel Prach and Petr Pysek) PBL exercise
4. Reclamation of Semi-natural Terrestrial Communities a) - local case study Roslyn Glen + site visit
5. Reclamation of Semi-natural Terrestrial Communities b) - local case study Carrifran + in depth case study - short-lived tree species and their role as indicators for plant diversity in the restoration of natural forests in Central Europe (Daria Kreyer and Stefan Zerbe) PBL exercise
6. Remediation of River and Canal Systems - local case study Union Canal + site visit
7. Macro-remediation of River and Canal Systems - local case study River Almond + in depth study - restoration of alluvial meadows in the Morava River floodplain, Slovakia (Jan Seffer and Vera Stanova) PBL exercise
8. Micro-remediation - local case nitrogen nodules on Trifolium repens on low nutrient and high nutrient sites (bings) + in depth case study - symbiotic germination and development of heterotrophic plants in remediation (McKendrick et al)
9. Re-introductions - animals; from capercailzie to kites and water voles to wolves - in depth case study beavers in Scotland
10. Ecological Restoration and Climate Change + summary and review of course

Entry Requirements

? Pre-requisites : Available only to postgraduate students.

? Costs : None.

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Postgraduate Courses (School of GeoSciences), (School of GeoSciences, Schedule N)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : Semester 2 (Blocks 3-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 3 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
13/01/2009	14:00	17:00

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Tuesday	14:00	17:00	KB

? Additional Class Information : Every second Tuesday will consist of a field trip to a local site.

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

Students who follow this course will:
* gain an understanding of the philosophy and processes of ecological restoration;
* become familiar with key approaches to restoration of terrestrial and aquatic communities;
* understand how to relate this to real-life scenarios throughout the UK and Europe from case studies;
* acquire the necessary, professional skills required for this subject area
* develop their research skills in the general area of ecological restoration.