6 EC
Semester 1, period 2
5264BICY6Y
Current environmental research has to meet the challenges of climate change and other human-made impacts. The cycle of major elements in ecosystems depends on interactions between organisms and their abiotic environment and will be affected by these environmental changes at different scales, i.e. from local to global and from the molecular to the landscape level. This course focus on fluxes of elements and substances in soils and their impacts on the atmosphere and the hydrosphere.
Special attention will be paid to:
Topics of the different lectures:
A good book covering the topic Biogeochemistry is:
Schlesinger, W. H., Bernhardt, E. S. (2013). Biogeochemistry: an Analysis of Global Change. Third Edition. Academic Press.
To prepare yourself for the lecturers, one or two scientific papers for each lecture will be mentioned on Canvas.
At the end of the course, the student is able to …
Lectures, self-tuition, writing an abstract and presentations given by students, an excursion, computer practicum and a poster (presentation). In the first weeks of the course lectures will be given addressing the various topics mentioned above. This will be followed by an excursion to a research institute and field site in Germany. At this site various approaches of quantifying biogeochemical cycles in different ecosystems will be visualized which are theoretically discussed during the lectures. These sites may also be used for student’s master thesis projects. In addition, the students will be required to present a poster presentations on one of the topics discussed during the lectures. We will finish tje course with an exam.
The programme does not have requirements concerning attendance (OER-B).
Additional requirements for this course:
The students are urged to be present at all lectures because of the intensity and extent of information in this course. The first assignment “writing a summary” on 4th December, the computer practical (6th December 2017), the field excursion (11th and 12th December 2017) and the poster pitch presentation (17th December 2017) are mandatory components of the course. No resits or extra assignments will be organised if students fail to attend these activities.
| Item and weight | Details |
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Final grade | |
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15% Writing an abstract | Must be ≥ 5.5 |
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0% Computer practical | Mandatory |
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15% Presentation Excursion | Must be ≥ 5.5 |
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15% Poster & presentation | Must be ≥ 5.5 |
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55% Final exam | Must be ≥ 5 |
In the second week of the course all student have to write a summary of a scientific paper.
During the first day of the field excursion, we will be visiting the research institute “Forschungszentrum Jülich”, at Jülich, Germany. At the institute all students will have to give a presentation based on a scientific paper on a pre-determined topic. A PhD student or a Postdoc working on that topic will lead the discussion based on the presentation.
In the beginning of the last week a self-made poster will be presented by the student in a short poster presentation pitch. We will make a list from the topics of the lecturers. The students have to pick a topic from that list and make a poster on that topic. In addition, the students will also have to give a poster elevator pitch of 2 minutes. The grade for your poster will be based on the design of your poster (based on the criteria mentioned in the poster design tutorial) and your poster pitch.
On one of the last days of the course there will be a final exam, based on the content of the lectures and the field-site visit of the excursion.
The 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' applies to this course. This will be monitored carefully. Upon suspicion of fraud or plagiarism the Examinations Board of the programme will be informed. For the 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' see: www.student.uva.nl
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The schedule for this course is published on DataNose.
The student is required to have...
Travel and lodging (including breakfeast) during the excursion are covered, however, the students are expected to cover the costs of their own diner.