MAOK4140 Applied Wildlife Ecology

    • Number of credits
      15
    • Teaching semester
      2024 Spring
    • Language of instruction
      English
    • Campus
      Evenstad
    • Required prerequisite knowledge

      Required prerequisites: The following courses of the master in applied ecology or equivalent courses from other universities:6EV310 Concepts in ecology; 6EV311 Study design and statistical modelling.

Course content

The course will provide students with practical training in conducting field-based wildlife research during a three month long stay in Nepal. Through group exercises, the students will take part in the whole scientific process, from planning and designing studies, collecting- analyzing- and interpreting data, to producing scientific reports. Central research topics are (i) behavioral ecology (e.g. studying foraging- and antipredator behavior of grassland ungulates), (ii) population ecology (e.g. learning techniques for surveying abundance and distribution of large carnivores, ungulates, small mammals and birds), (iii) community ecology (e.g. investigate species interactions by using camera traps) and (iv) human-wildlife conflicts (e.g. conducting questionnaire surveys to assess impact of large carnivores on livestock herders).

Learning Outcome

A student with fulfilled qualifications will have the following learning outcome:

Knowledge

Student

  • has a good understanding of the process of planning and conducting wildlife research, from study design to data collection, analyses and reporting
  • has gained insight into central issues in wildlife ecology, management and conservation through practical exercises
Skills

Student

  • is able to design and conduct wildlife monitoring using a variety of practical and analytical techniques
  • can utilize technical equipment needed for data acquisition
  • is able to present scientific work orally and written
General competence

Student

  • is able to evaluate methodological aspects of wildlife studies
  • has a good understanding of problems associated with data acquisition in contrasting environments, from tropical forests to high altitude montane areas
  • is able to work effectively in teams to solve practical problems in wildlife research  
Teaching and working methods

The course is a collaboration between INN and two Nepalese institutions, i.e. Kathmandu University (KU) and the National Trust for Nature conservation (NTNC). Staff from all institutions will take part in teaching. During the course, students will stay in two protected areas, one in the lowland and one in the Himalayan mountains. Learning activities will be divided in several modules, each with an introductory lecture, followed by group exercises in the field, and a seminar in the end (data labs and student presentations).

Required coursework

100% attendance on all course components. From each course module, the students must produce written or oral presentations that are evaluated as passed/failed.

Form of assessment

Written scientific report (100%)

Assessments
Form of assessmentGrading scaleGroupingDuration of assessmentSupport materialsProportionComment
Written assignment
ECTS - A-F
100%
Faculty
Faculty of Applied Ecology, Agricultural Sciences and Biotechnology
Department
Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management