Silke Dietz: Catalogue data in Autumn Semester 2018

Name	Dr. Silke Dietz
Department	Environmental Systems Science
Relationship	Lecturer

Number	Title	ECTS	Hours	Lecturers
701-1441-00L	Alpine Ecology and Environments	2 credits	2G	S. Dietz, D. Ramseier
Abstract	The online course ALPECOLe provides a global overview of the complex ecosystems of mountain regions, and of their great diversity of habitats and organisms. The course is interdisciplinary and the various approaches are designed to help understand the past, present and future of mountain ecosystems.
Learning objective	Knowledge of alpine environments worldwide and their ecology
Content	The online course is subdivided into - 5 lessons on abiotic factors: geology, soils and their forming processes, climate, and disturbance factors - 12 lessons on plants: diversity, patterns and processes, treelines, water & nutrients, carbon cycle, atmospheric influences, sexual and clonal reproduction, and one specific lesson on aquatic environments - 5 lessons on animals: habitats and adaptations, origin of species, food ecology and impact of domestic livestock - 3 lessons on landscape evolution: quarternary paleoenvironments, methods like radiocarbon dating, pollen records, dendrochronology, stable isotopes, and historical data - 1 lesson on global change Students can also follow a virtual walk through alpine areas where context-based information on alpine environments can be accessed. Moreover, all mayor alpine areas of the world can be selected on a map and then informative pictures of those landscapes and faunistic and floristic inhabitants will be shown. Online exercises and tests allow to test the learned matter.
Prerequisites / Notice	Online course and seminar Students prepare for the seminar by working through particular lessons. Each student has to present some special aspects of one lesson. The seminar contribution is part of the performance assessment. Course language is English