Academic management

Detection of direct and indirect human impacts on biodiversity and their evaluation are tools needed for the management of marine resources. Unfortunately, a common and unified methodology which allows for quantitative evaluation of impacts does not exist. It is crucial to learn some techniques to estimate impacts quantitatively as well as the acquisition of reasoning strategies to improve existing evaluation methods.

Students must have a previous knowledge in General Ecology, Statistics and in the use of statistical packages.

Students will learn to evaluate changes in the natural environment as a consequence of human actions. This will help to understand methods to predict future changes and their impact on natural resouces or biodicversity. Students will also learn how to obtain information to obtain baselines. Finally, students will get familiarised with experimental statistical designs to detect impacts.

Lesson 1. Introduction. Basic principles. Identification of impacts

Lesson 2. Elementary notions on sampling theory and statistical inference

Lesson 3. Sampling designs

Lesson 4. Statistical inference

Lesson 5. Some common problems in sampling designs. Basic designs (1st part)

Lesson 6. Basic sampling designs (2nd part)

Lesson 7. Detection of impacts(1st part).

Lesson 8. Detection of impacts (2nd part)

The course will consists in four sessions with a duration of 3 hours each for theoretical lessons and four additional sessions, also of 3 hours, for practical lessons. The course will taught during two consecutive weeks. The first week will be devoted to theoretical lessons, and the second week to practicals. The content of the practical lessons will be coordinated with the theoretical lessons. Asistance to theoretical and practical lessons is compulsory.

Exceptionally, if health conditions so require, we may use virtual teaching. Should this be the case, students will be readily informed.

Students must prepare and submit an assignment describing two complete sampling designs to detetct impacts in two differebnt scenarios. Scenarios selected must differ in the spatial and/or temporal scale of the expected impact.

In case of health alert, the evaluation method will remain the same as it already consists of online exams and/or assignments.

Distintive evaluation: In those special cases with a right for distintive evaluation which involve the unability to assist classroom sessions, the personal circumstances of the students should be considered. Compulsory assistance might be replaced by alternative activities not requiring the physical presence of the studens in the classroom.

Downes JD, Barmuta LA, Fairweather PG, Faith DP, Keough MJ, Lake PS, Mapstone BD, Quinn GP. 2002. Monitoring ecological impacts. Concepts and practice in flowing waters. Cambridge UP, New York

Underwood AJ. 1997. Experiments in Ecology: their logical design and interpretation using Analysis of variance. Cambridge UP, New York

Underwood AJ. 1992 Beyond BACI: The detection of environmental inpacts on populations in the real, but variable, world. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 161:145-178

Underwood AJ. 1994. On beyond BACI: Sampling designs that might reliably detect environmental disturbances. Ecol. Appl. 4: 3-15