KE5014 - Fundamentals of Ecology

You will learn through a mixture of lectures, laboratory practicals, field work and mini projects. The lectures cover fundamental conceptual ideas, paradigms and case studies. In the practicals you will mix experiments, survey, modelling, role play. The practical work will boost your confidence and skills, helping you master a wide range of quantitative methods which hare important for employability and final year study. For the practicals you will be working in our science labs, accessing a variety of equipment and facilities. However the teaching strategy for this module intentionally uses a lo-fi, playful approach so that, although you will learn complex and powerful quantitative methods you’ll be able to do so in a relaxed and empowering environment. The coursework assessment purposefully puts you in the role of a researcher tasked with a site survey in which you will combine field work, data collection and analyses and report writing.

You will be supported by interaction and formative feedback from the tutors throughout the module, notably during practical classes and fieldwork activities. Staff are also available as part of the Department’s open-door policy and are contactable via e-mail. Teaching materials and information will also be available via the University eLP, including access to on-line reading materials.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.

Knowledge & Understanding:
• MLO 1: Describe and model patterns of intraspecific population dynamics, life histories and distributions, and how these affect local biodiversity.

• MLO 2: Explain and critically assess the role of interspecific interactions e.g. competition, predation, parasitism and mutualisms and their impact on local biodiversity.

• MLO 3: Examine patterns and processes of ecological assembly, communities and ecosystems, and how these are driven by abiotic and biotic drivers.


Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
• MLO 4: Critically analyse the concepts of ecological stability, complexity and function and assess the difficulties in created by scale, contingency and complexity.

• MLO 5: Use and apply a diversity of data analyses (mathematical, statistical, visual) to data for populations, communities and ecosystems, based on both theory and laboratory experience.

• MLO 6: Demonstrate skills in field survey and sampling (e.g. soil invertebrates), invertebrate identification, keying and taxonomy.

Personal Values Attributes
• MLO 7: Review and assess the ethical and political challenges raised by ecology and the necessity of sustaining your own personal outlook rather than following any party line.

1. Coursework (60%) The coursework puts you in the position of a researcher, collecting data in the field followed by lab analysis, the data set used to write a report about a real site such as the Ouseburn Farm. This will allow you to practice methods report writing a critical judgement. You will be able to get feedback on progress from tutors throughout as well as with the returned, marked work. Report format (2000 words max, although the piece is primarily figures, tables and text ) (MLOs 5 and 6)

2.Poster (40%) The poster focuses on conceptual ideas, theory and paradigms (MLOs 1-4). Students will create a poster for a species of habitats of their choice which can be presented in person on or on-line. Therefore you will have to research much of the material you use, an “information-active” research-rich learning approach. The poster will also develop visual presentational skills

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Blue whales, rain forests, coral reefs and butterflies. Ecology is a very familiar science involving animals and plants many of which we have seen first-hand or in the media. Every-day phrases, “the balance of nature”, or “nature red in tooth and claw” suggest some commonly agreed view of the natural world underpinned by reliable science. However this familiarity hides a challenging, fascinating science in which nature is not balanced, that gave rise to chaos theory and whose language has been taken up by disaster and development experts. In this module you will explore the patterns and processes of the natural world. You will learn and practice powerful methods for data collection and analyses. Above all you will have the confidence to be ecological researchers, able to go out into the world and save those whales sand forests.