Field Skills in Biology

Full course description

This skills will include:

Use of GIS computer mapping tools;
The means to identify species or higher taxa of certain environmentally or taxonomically important groups or indicator species in the field or lab;
Methods to collect or count organisms in the field;
Planning of field experiments;
Interpretation of field results, including some statistical work and spatial analysis;
How to represent spatial data on an appropriately formatted map.

Course objectives

For an ecologist, the field is a much less controlled, though much more realistic environment than the lab, and a completely different set of practical skills are required. In this course you will learn how to generate well controlled, reliable results in the field. You will be shown a diversity of methods to collect, count and identify animals and plants. You will learn how to measure important environmental variables that can determine the results you get, and most importantly some basic means to plan for and interpret all that complex data.

Prerequisites

PRA1102

Co-requisites

BIO2002

Corequisites

Ecology

Field Skills in Biology