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Kies de Nederlandse taal
Course module: UCSCIEAR21
UCSCIEAR21
Global Processes and Sustainability
Course info
Course codeUCSCIEAR21
EC7.5
Course goals
After completing this course students are able to:
  • value (scientific) information related to the Earth’s ecological and geodynamic processes – including information pertaining to modern environmental problems and sustainability issues
  • work with specific models and tools. Students gain an understanding of the relation between energy flows and biogeochemical cycling in ecosystems. You learn about ecological concepts such as element cycling, the role of vegetation and microbes in global cycles and some effects of major disturbances of the global carbon and nitrogen cycles.
Content

Knowledge of the Earth’s processes is of fundamental importance to obtain a true understanding of our natural environment. This course deals with some important scientific issues at the boundaries between ecology and earth science. Ecology is the science that studies the interactions between living organisms and their environment. Earth Science deals with the dynamics of our “System Earth” in which the main constituents are the geosphere, the hydrosphere, the atmosphere, and the biosphere. Both fields of science are fundamentally important to support sustainable solutions for major environmental problems our planet is currently facing.
In this course, students will investigate the carbon and nitrogen cycle at a global scale, and assess the effects of major disturbances on the functioning of natural ecosystems and which sustainable management practices are required. We will also discuss the geodynamic aspects of the inner Earth, including the evolution of our solar system and our atmosphere, plate tectonics, the magnetic field, mountain building processes and basin formation. In the last lectures, we focus more explicitly on the biosphere, and its relation to the other spheres. In general, the study of the Earth integrates methods from physics, chemistry, physical geography and biology.

 
Format
The course consists of an Earth Science module and a Global Ecology module. Each module consists of a series of interactive lectures, practicals and discussion meetings. The two practicals in the Global Ecology part of the course consist of questions about the main topics of the course, culminating in the design of conceptual frameworks for computer models of biogeochemical cycles. The results of the modeling process are described in practical reports. The two practicals related to the Earth Science part of the course are directed at the more quantitative aspects of the principles discussed during the lectures. The results of the exercises must be submitted in the form of a concise report. For the discussion meetings, students will be asked to read a piece of literature on an imminent issue related to the course subjects and to present that for discussion in class.
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Kies de Nederlandse taal