BB836: Geographical Information systems (GIS) in Environmental monitoring and Climate adaption (10 ECTS)

STADS: 04011801

Level
Master's level course approved as PhD course

Teaching period
The course is offered in the autumn semester.

Teacher responsible
Email: mrf@biology.sdu.dk

Timetable
Show entire timetable
Show personal time table for this course.

Prerequisites:
None.

Academic preconditions:
Students taking the course are expected to:

• Have fundamental biological knowledge at bachelor level.

Course introduction
The aim is to introduce GIS (MapInfo) theory and its applicability within environmental and nature conservation and climate adaptation. The students will learn the GIS-tool through practical environmental cases: where they prepare, implement and create environmental maps and treat and manipulate the data.
The intention is that the students reach a level, so GIS can be used during the master project. The topics is: evaluate nutrient runoff from catchments with varying land use, climate adaptation plans where topographic models assists creation of hydraulic buffers in the landscape, analysis of marine environmental conditions to fulfill the EU’s Water Frame Directive and coupling of dynamic models to GIS-tools to improve the spatial ecosystem analysis.  

The course builds on the knowledge of cell terrestrial nature, ecology, environmental quality and assessment of pollution in streams. Some courses are running in parallel to and earlier during the study programme.

In relation to the competence profile of the degree it is the explicit focus of the course to:

• Enter into academic collaborations and structure personal learning.
• Provide GIS skills and conduct GIS investigations based on biological theories, and express, evaluate and discuss the results.

Expected learning outcome
The learning objectives of the course are that the student demonstrates the following GIS expertise’s:

• Create, optimize and maintain GIS-databases.
• Register digital data into basic and thematic maps.
• Using drones for ground truthing of spatial data.
• Understand and use different types of projections.
• Critical analysis of the quality of GIS-data.
• Use GIS data- and map-manipulation facilities including: Aggregating, combining, deleting, overlaying and splitting.
•  Analyze spatial data by database queries (SQL). 
• Evaluate maps and themes with 0, 1, 2 and 3D-analyser. 
• Create thematic maps.
• Use Vertical Mapper to generate topographic models and analyze spatial gradients.
• Use GIS to analyze complex environmental problems (thru cases).

Subject overview
The students will through weekly assignments work with GIS themes that exemplify how the environmental authorities (ministry, regions and municipalities) use GIS. Thematically it includes: spatial analysis of habitat fragmentation of protected nature, land use and nutrient loading in relation to possibilities to fulfil the EU Water Frame Directive. Buffering increased precipitation to avoid flooding. Using GIS for spatial analysis of marine environmental quality.

Literature
There isn't any litterature for the course at the moment.

Website
This course uses e-learn (blackboard).

Prerequisites for participating in the exam
None

Assessment and marking:

1. Project report, presentation and oral defense of report. Danish 7-mark scale, internal marking (04011802)

The mode of exam at the re-examination may differ from the mode of exam at the ordinary exam.

Expected working hours
The teaching method is based on three phase model.
Intro phase: 24 hours
Skills training phase: 70 hours, hereof:
 - Tutorials: 62 hours
 - Excursion: 8 hours

Educational activities

Educational form
Activities during the study phase:

• Finishing GIS-analysis.
• Writing tutorial reports from exercises.

The course includes a 5-6 days residential part where the students are staying on the Institute field station in Svanninge Bjerge (Southern Funen). Here ground truthing and GIS expertise are trained.

Language
This course is taught in English, if international students participate. Otherwise the course is taught in Danish.

Course enrollment
See deadline of enrolment.

Tuition fees for single courses
See fees for single courses.