Global Change
Code: 42404 ECTS Credits: 9| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4313784 Interdisciplinary Studies in Environmental, Economic and Social Sustainability | OT | 0 | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Roser Maneja Zaragoza
- Email:
- Roser.Maneja@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- english (eng)
Teachers
- Jordina Belmonte Soler
- Patrizia Ziveri
- Johannes Langemeyer
- Carles Barriocanal Lozano
Prerequisites
Students should preferably hold an undergraduate degree with relevance to environmental sciences, biology, geography or ecology, although students with a background in social and political sciences are also welcome and should be able to follow the course provided they are acquainted with basic principles of Earth and physical sciences.
A reasonable level of English speaking and writing skills are recommended to follow the course.
Objectives and Contextualisation
The understanding of the biological, physical and social processes related to Global Change, and their interaction, are some of the main current challenges, not only because of its complexity, but also due to the necessity of finding solutions to the negative impacts caused by such changes.
The course covers many of the diverse types of impacts related to Global Change on different spatial and temporal scales, mainly focused on different types of ecosystems (terrestrial and marine) as well as its effects on society, and the social responses.
The main objectives of the course are summarized below:
- to identify different types of impacts related with global change
- to explore a wide variety of spatial and temporal scales
- to distinguish other driving forces that influences on global change
- to analyze global change manifestations from land use, biodiversity, global carbon cycle, impacts and effects on ecosystems, both terrestrial and marine.
- to identify different approaches to global change through the analysis of protected areas (biosphere reserves, marine protected areas, rural landscapes....)
Competences
- Analyse how the Earth functions on a global scale in order to understand and interpret environmental changes on the global and local scales.
- Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Communicate orally and in writing in English.
- Continue the learning process, to a large extent autonomously.
- Seek out information in the scientific literature using appropriate channels, and use this information to formulate and contextualise research in environmental sciences.
- Solve problems in new or little-known situations within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to the field of study.
- Work in an international, multidisciplinary context.
Learning Outcomes
- Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Communicate orally and in writing in English.
- Continue the learning process, to a large extent autonomously.
- Know the ways in which global change shows itself in different ecosystems.
- Seek out information in the scientific literature using appropriate channels, and use this information to formulate and contextualise research in environmental sciences.
- Solve problems in new or little-known situations within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to the field of study.
- Work in an international, multidisciplinary context.
Content
The course is organized as following:
Sub-Module 1: Terrestrial Global Change
- Welcome and course introduction. Interdisciplinary approach to global change
- Responding Locally to Global and Globalising Changes
- Organisms and distrubution on Earth
- Forest Management as a key factor of global change. Sustainable forest management and its revalorization
- Phenology and proxies
- Environment and human health
- Aerobiology and its applications to human health and the study of climate and global change
- Contributions of the ornitho-fauna to the environmental studies and the study of global change
- The Conceptual Framework of (Urban) Ecosystem Services and Green Infrastructure
- Assessing (Urban) Ecosystem Services: Methodological Approaches
- Oral presentations
Sub-Module 2: Marine Global Change
- Introduction: Ocean, climate and global change: the marine ecosystem and biogeochemistry
- Micro-plastics
- Ocean governance for sustainability, challenges, options and the role of science. The case of the Marine Protected Areas
- Oral presentations
Sub-Module 3: Fieldworks
- New trends in rural/forest management in Mediterranean landscapes (Solsonès or Terres de l'Ebre Biosphere Reserve)
Methodology
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Fieldwork | 12 | 0.48 | 4, 3, 7 |
| Lectures | 48 | 1.92 | 5, 2, 4, 7 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Final Exam | 3 | 0.12 | 2, 6, 1 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Reading articles, books and studying for each of the given lectures and the final exam | 81 | 3.24 | 5, 4, 6, 1, 3 |
| Two oral presentations | 33 | 1.32 | 5, 4, 6, 3, 7 |
Assessment
Students will be assessed on the basis of:
- A final exam that will last 3 hours and cover most aspects of the course. Students will have limited space to answer each of these questions and will have to prove that they have understood and master key concepts and ideas introduced during the course.
- Two oral presentations corresponding to two topics addressed during the course.
- Fieldworks in oder to prove the local effects of Global Change in a Mediterranean landscape
The final mark will be the weighted average of the following assessments:
- Final exam: 50%
- Two oral presentations: 30% (15% each)
- Fieldwork: 20% (10% each)
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fieldwork | 20% | 12 | 0.48 | 4, 3, 7 |
| Final Exam | 50% | 3 | 0.12 | 2, 6, 1 |
| Two oral presentations | 30% | 33 | 1.32 | 5, 4, 6, 1, 3, 7 |
Bibliography
Terrestrial Global Change
- Bartolomé, J., Boada, M., Saurí, D., Sànchez, S., Plaixats, J. (2009). Conifer dispersion on subalpine pastures in Northeastern Spain: characteristics and implications for rangeland. Rangeland Ecology and Management, 61: 218-225.
- Bartolomé, J.; Plaixats, J.; Fanlo, R.; Boada, M. (2005): Conservation of isolated Atlantic heathlands in the Mediterranean region: effects of land-use changes in the Montseny Biosphere Reserve (Spain), a Biological Conservation, 122:81-88.
- Boada, M.; Sànchez-Mateo, S.; Maneja, R.; Varga, D.; Barriocanal, C. (2013): Urban biodiversity assessment. The case of Barcelona city (Catalonia), a Colloque international. Nature urbaine en projets. Vers une nouvelle alliance entre nature et ville. Résumés des communications, 10. École nationales superieure du paysage. INRA. París (França).
- Boada, M.; Sànchez, S.; Maneja, R.; Varga, D. (2011): Diseño de indicadores para la evaluación de los servicios ambientales ofrecidos en la Reserva de la Biosfera del Montseny, 43-63, a M. Onaindía (Ed.): Servicios Ambientales en Reservas de la Biosfera Españolas. Organismo Autónomo de Parques Nacionales. Ministerio de Medio Ambiente. UNESCO. Red Española de Reservas de la Biosfera. NIPO: 781-10-040-5.
- Boada, M.; Sànchez, S.; Pujantell, J.; Varga, D. (2010): Indicadores de cambio global en la Reserva de la Biosfera del Montseny, España, a P. Araya i M. Clüsener-Godt (eds.): Reservas de la Biosfera. Su contribución a la provisión de servicios de los ecosistemas, 161-178. UNESCO.
- Broncano, M.J.; Vilà, M.; Boada, M. (2005): Evidence of Pseudotsuga menziesii naturalization in montane Mediterranean forest, a Forest Ecology and Management, 211:257-263.
- Maneja-Zaragoza, R. et al (2013) Drawing Analysis: Tools for Understanding Children’s Perceptions of Community Conservation. L. Porter-Bolland et al. (eds.), Community Action for Conservation: Mexican Experiences, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-7956-7_10, Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013.
- Otero, I., J. Marull, E. Tello, G. L. Diana, M. Pons, F. Coll, and M. Boada. (2015). Land abandonment, landscape, and biodiversity: questioning the restorative character of the forest transition in the Mediterranean. Ecology and Society 20(2): 7.
- Otero, I.; Boada, M.; Badia, A.; Pla, E.; Vayreda, J.; Sabaté, S.; Gracia, C.A.; Peñuelas, J. (2010): Loss of water availability and stream biodiversity under land abandonment and climate change in a Mediterranean catchment (Olzinelles, NE Spain), a Land Use Policy, on line.
- Peñuelas, J. and Boada, M. (2003), A global change-induced biome shift in the Montseny mountains (NE Spain). Global Change Biology, 9: 131–140. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2486.2003.00566.
- Varga D, Vila J, Barriocanal C, Pujantell J (under revision): Landscape transformation under global environmental change in Mediterranean mountains: Agrarian lands as a guarantee to maintaining their multifunctionality. Mountain Research and Development.
Relevant collaborations in international congresses:
- Boada, M., Otero, I., Badia A., Piqueras, S., Rodoreda, G., Rojas, E. (2006): Landscape history and heritage revaluation in Olzinelles valley (Montnegre, NE Spain). A socioecological approach (1851-2006), a Proccedings of the International Conference on Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Forest Management: the Role of raditional Knowledge.Florencia(Itàlia).
- Gómez, F.J. (2006): Integrating traditional knowledge into global change analysis models. The case of Ridaura sessile oak forestland (Natural Park of Montseny, NE Spain). Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Forest Management: the role of traditional knowledge. ItalianAcademy of Forestry Science. IUFRO. Florencia (Itàlia)
- Maneja, R.; Varga, D.; Boada, M. (2009): Monitoring of socio-environmental indicators in the Mediterranean river basins. A study case in the Tordera River Basin, a 2nd European Congress of Conservation Biology. Praga: CzechUniversity of Life Prague y Society for Conservation Biology.
- Otero, I.; Boada, M.; Varga, D. (2009): Consequences of the transition from a primary to a tertiary landscape in Olzinelles (NE Spain), 1853-2008, a European IALE Conference. Salzburg: University of Salzburg, SlovakUniversity of Technology in Bratislava i ComeniusUniversity in Bratislava.
- Otero, I.; Boada, M.; Tàbara, D. (2009): Loss of socioecological heritage in Mediterranean landscapes. The case of the municipality of Olzinelles (Catalonia, NE Spain), a 2nd European Congress of Conservation Biology. Praga: CzechUniversity of Life Prague y Society for Conservation Biology.
- Otero, I. (2006): Land use and land cover change in Olzinelles valley (Montnegre, NE Spain). An environmental history approach to forest resources use. Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Forest Management: the role of traditional knowledge. ItalianAcademy of Forestry Science. IUFRO. Florencia (Itàlia).
- Pallarès-Barberà, M.; Casellas Casellas, A.; Sànchez-Mateo,S.; Boada, M.; Marlès, J. (2013): Well-being, Biodiversity and Urban Planning in Barcelona, a AAG Anual Meeting. Los Angeles (USA).
- Sànchez, S.; Boada, M. (2009): Socioecological analysis of land use and land cover change. Implications of afforestation in hydrological resources in Montseny Natural Park, NE Spain, a Second European Congress of Conservation Biology. Praga, República Txeca, 1-5/9/2009. Czech University of Life Prague i Society for Conservation Biology.
Marine Global Change