Monitoring Biodiversity for Science and Conservation
Monitoring is a crucial part of every scientific research project and study. It is
important that the monitoring/data collection is well designed, structured,
planned and executed so that it fulfills the goals of the project or the study.
This involves knowledge of various theoretical and practical aspects that are
to be considered when collecting scientific data at different scales.
Appropriate study design, sampling theory, effort, scale, bias, precision and
accuracy, choosing the right metric, and replication are among the crucial
theoretical aspects that are necessary for monitoring. The extent and
strength of the inferences drawn will therefore vary, depending on the study
design used in monitoring. Moreover, the use and the analyses of already
collected monitoring data also requires skill and knowledge to be able to
identify the biases and errors.
Many existing monitoring programmes suffer from various design
deficiencies. Specifically, many programmes appear to be developed without paying adequate attention to three basic questions: (1) Why monitor? (2) What should be monitored? and (3) How should monitoring be carried out?
This course is targeted towards providing basic knowledge about census
methods for monitoring the state of species, communities, populations and
ecosystems as well as their attributes in space and time. Secondly, we will
discuss how the biodiversity monitoring information is used at various law
and policy levels and what are the challenges encountered by the
stakeholders in monitoring and conservation of biodiversity.
Basics of census methods and sampling theory, biases and errors
Planning a census and experimental design (R power analyses)
Monitoring species, communities and ecosystems
Population Density methods, animal biotelemetry and removal methods
(R distance analyses, movement analyses, electrofishing)
Camera trapping, Mark recapture methods, including Genetic MRM (R lab)
Citizen science and Indexes – Catch Per Unit Effort (R lab)
Comparing census methods (R lab)
Remote sensing methods for monitoring biodiversity and spatial data (R lab)
Monitoring biodiversity – global conservation and policy perspective
Business and Biodiversity – offsets, standards, banking and methodologies
Syllabus and other information
Syllabus
PFS0182 Monitoring Biodiversity for Science and Conservation, 3.0 Credits
Subjects
BiologyEducation cycle
Postgraduate levelGrading scale
Prior knowledge
Master in Biology/Ecology, Knowledge of basic statistics and RObjectives
The student after taking the course should be able to:
- Understand and critically evaluate the design of a monitoring
programme (census and sampling) of species, populations,
communities and ecosystems.
- Identify and formulate questions, and select methods based on
scales of monitoring.
- Critically evaluate the advantages, disadvantages and limitations of
various monitoring/census methods.
Explore the collected data, and identify the right analyses.
Import and explore the collected data into R program, and undertake
descriptive statistics on it.
- Interpret the results from a census and evaluate the accuracy and
precision of the variables estimated and obtained from the data.
- Design a census for a given question and species in a habitat along
with the resources needed and the time plan.
Content
Monitoring is a crucial part of every scientific research project and study. It is
important that the monitoring/data collection is well designed, structured,
planned and executed so that it fulfills the goals of the project or the study.
This involves knowledge of various theoretical and practical aspects that are
to be considered when collecting scientific data at different scales.
Appropriate study design, sampling theory, effort, scale, bias, precision and
accuracy, choosing the right metric, and replication are among the crucial
theoretical aspects that are necessary for monitoring. The extent and
strength of the inferences drawn will therefore vary, depending on the study
design used in monitoring. Moreover, the use and the analyses of already
collected monitoring data also requires skill and knowledge to be able to
identify the biases and errors.
Many existing monitoring programmes suffer from various design
deficiencies. Specifically, many programmes appear to be developed without paying adequate attention to three basic questions: (1) Why monitor? (2) What should be monitored? and (3) How should monitoring be carried out?
This course is targeted towards providing basic knowledge about census
methods for monitoring the state of species, communities, populations and
ecosystems as well as their attributes in space and time. Secondly, we will
discuss how the biodiversity monitoring information is used at various law
and policy levels and what are the challenges encountered by the
stakeholders in monitoring and conservation of biodiversity.
Basics of census methods and sampling theory, biases and errors
Planning a census and experimental design (R power analyses)
Monitoring species, communities and ecosystems
Population Density methods, animal biotelemetry and removal methods
(R distance analyses, movement analyses, electrofishing)
Camera trapping, Mark recapture methods, including Genetic MRM (R lab)
Citizen science and Indexes – Catch Per Unit Effort (R lab)
Comparing census methods (R lab)
Remote sensing methods for monitoring biodiversity and spatial data (R lab)
Monitoring biodiversity – global conservation and policy perspective
Business and Biodiversity – offsets, standards, banking and methodologies
Formats and requirements for examination
Examination will be in the form of an assignment
Additional information
Pedagogical form:Onsite Lectures in the morning and computer lab exercises in the afternoon.
Responsible department
Department of Wildlife, Fish, & Environmental Studies