Gunnar Petter: Catalogue data in Spring Semester 2019

Name Dr. Gunnar Petter
DepartmentEnvironmental Systems Science
RelationshipLecturer

NumberTitleECTSHoursLecturers
751-5118-00LGlobal Change Biology2 credits2GH. Bugmann, S. Burri, M. Gharun, G. Petter
AbstractThis course focuses on the impacts of global change on forests and agro-ecosystems that will strongly affect sustainable resource use across the 21st century.
Learning objectiveStudents will understand how global change, ecosystem processes, land use practices, politics, and society interact, and that it is critical to act responsibly and work as an agricultural or environmental scientist in the future.

Students will better understand the impacts of global change on ecosystems at a range of spatial and temporal scales, be able to synthesize knowledge from various disciplines in the context of global change issues, and be able to evaluate management options for sustainable resource use, climate mitigation and adaptation options.

Students will learn to present scientific information to a scientific audience by preparing an executive summary and an oral presentation to answer a specific scientific question. Students will get extensive feedback from teachers and peers. Thereby, students will also learn how to give constructive feedback to peers.
ContentChanges in climate and land use are major issues that students will be faced with during their working life, independently of where they will work. Thus, an advanced understanding on how global change, ecosystem processes, land use practices, politics, and society interact and that it is critical to act responsibly and work as an agricultural or environmental scientist in the future.

Thus, during this course, the effects of global change on forests and agro-ecosystems as well as their feedbacks to the climate system will be presented and discussed. Effects on ecosystem structure, composition, productivity and biogeochemical cycling, but also on the stability of production systems against disturbances will be addressed.

Up-to-date scenarios and models for coupled human-environmental systems will be discussed. The advantages and disadvantages of different management options will be evaluated, including sustainable resource use and climate mitigation as well as adaptation.
Prerequisites / NoticeThis course is based on fundamental knowledge about plant ecophysiology, soil science, and ecology in general.