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This module will provide first-hand experience of ecology and conservation in a tropical environment and give you a foundation in a range of topics including biodiversity, community ecology, ecosystem processes, anthropogenic impacts, in-situ and ex-situ conservation, and protected areas. Tropical forests are some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth and play critical roles in global biogeochemical cycles and climate regulation. However, they are undergoing rapid transformation through deforestation and land-use change. Alongside developing research skills this module will provide an opportunity for students to develop an understanding of how these ecosystems function and an appreciation of conservation and management of tropical forests. The two-week field course will take place in Belize, Central America. We will visit 3 key sites, including the Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Centre and the Las Cuevas Research Station. The Las Cuevas Research Station will be the primary field site and is located within the Chiquibul forest, which is part of the largest block of intact tropical forest north of the Amazon. Throughout the course there will be a strong emphasis on practical training. Key topics will be introduced during a series of lectures and talks, and then developed through workshops and structured field activities. The first half of the course will be spent learning about ecological and conservation issues and key equipment and field techniques for monitoring and conducting biodiversity surveys. Students will then use the remaining time to design and carry out their own supervised small group research projects.

Teaching sessions will be accompanied by practical work which involves animal observation, with alternatives in place if required to meet minimum learning outcomes.

This module will provide first-hand experience of ecology and conservation in a tropical environment and give you a foundation in a range of topics including biodiversity, community ecology, ecosystem processes, anthropogenic impacts, in-situ and ex-situ conservation, and protected areas. Tropical forests are some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth and play critical roles in global biogeochemical cycles and climate regulation. However, they are undergoing rapid transformation through deforestation and land-use change. Alongside developing research skills this module will provide an opportunity for students to develop an understanding of how these ecosystems function and an appreciation of conservation and management of tropical forests. The two-week field course will take place in Belize, Central America. We will visit 3 key sites, including the Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Centre and the Las Cuevas Research Station. The Las Cuevas Research Station will be the primary field site and is located within the Chiquibul forest, which is part of the largest block of intact tropical forest north of the Amazon. Throughout the course there will be a strong emphasis on practical training. Key topics will be introduced during a series of lectures and talks, and then developed through workshops and structured field activities. The first half of the course will be spent learning about ecological and conservation issues and key equipment and field techniques for monitoring and conducting biodiversity surveys. Students will then use the remaining time to design and carry out their own supervised small group research projects.

Teaching sessions will be accompanied by practical work which involves animal observation, with alternatives in place if required to meet minimum learning outcomes.

During this fieldcourse you will conduct snorkeling surveys of coral reef and soft bottom habitats by boat and from the beach. You will map marine underwater habitats in one of the world’s most iconic biodiversity hotspots. You will evaluate the influence of water quality on this diversity along gradients of human impact and understand the importance of the wider reef catchment area including mangrove and rainforest habitats.

Students taking this module need to be Marine Biology MSci, Biology and Marine Biology MSci or Marine Biology with Oceanography MSci students who have successfully completed their third year.

During this fieldcourse you will conduct snorkeling surveys of coral reef and soft bottom habitats by boat and from the beach. You will map marine underwater habitats in one of the world’s most iconic biodiversity hotspots. You will evaluate the influence of water quality on this diversity along gradients of human impact and understand the importance of the wider reef catchment area including mangrove and rainforest habitats.

Students taking this module need to be Marine Biology MSci, Biology and Marine Biology MSci or Marine Biology with Oceanography MSci students who have successfully completed their third year.

During this fieldcourse you will conduct snorkeling surveys of coral reef and soft bottom habitats by boat and from the beach. You will map marine underwater habitats in one of the world’s most iconic biodiversity hotspots. You will evaluate the influence of water quality on this diversity along gradients of human impact and understand the importance of the wider reef catchment area including mangrove and rainforest habitats.

Students taking this module need to be Marine Biology MSci, Biology and Marine Biology MSci or Marine Biology with Oceanography MSci students who have successfully completed their third year.

The central goals of enquiry are to discover what the world is like and how we ought to live. A simple and initially attractive picture is that there is a world independent of us that we can learn about via experience, and via reasoning. But both parts of this picture are subject to significant philosophical worries. Is the world truly independent of us, or do we somehow construct it – are truths about beauty and ethics, race and gender, dependent on our beliefs and relative to our perspectives? Does the existence of widespread disagreement in these areas show that there is no independent fact of the matter? Can we really know about a world independent of us given that we are subject to error and illusion, and that we can doubt all of our beliefs? Are there some truths that can’t be known or that can’t be known by certain groups of people?

The central goals of enquiry are to discover what the world is like and how we ought to live. A simple and initially attractive picture is that there is a world independent of us that we can learn about via experience, and via reasoning. But both parts of this picture are subject to significant philosophical worries. Is the world truly independent of us, or do we somehow construct it – are truths about beauty and ethics, race and gender, dependent on our beliefs and relative to our perspectives? Does the existence of widespread disagreement in these areas show that there is no independent fact of the matter? Can we really know about a world independent of us given that we are subject to error and illusion, and that we can doubt all of our beliefs? Are there some truths that can’t be known or that can’t be known by certain groups of people?

The central goals of enquiry are to discover what the world is like and how we ought to live. A simple and initially attractive picture is that there is a world independent of us that we can learn about via experience, and via reasoning. But both parts of this picture are subject to significant philosophical worries. Is the world truly independent of us, or do we somehow construct it – are truths about beauty and ethics, race and gender, dependent on our beliefs and relative to our perspectives? Does the existence of widespread disagreement in these areas show that there is no independent fact of the matter? Can we really know about a world independent of us given that we are subject to error and illusion, and that we can doubt all of our beliefs? Are there some truths that can’t be known or that can’t be known by certain groups of people?

It is commonplace to hear people say such things as, "You should believe that the climate is changing—that's what the evidence tells us", or "You ought not to believe that the earth is flat—that's just not true". These judgements concerning what people ought (not) to believe seem to assume that there are norms governing belief in something like the way that moral norms govern action. But what are these norms? Are they moral? If not, what kind of norms are they? The judgements about what people ought (not) to believe seem also to assume that people bear responsibility for their beliefs in something like the way that they bear moral responsibility for their actions. However, people cannot control what they believe in the way they can control what they do. Moreover, beliefs are influenced by a range of external factors ranging from upbringing to peer pressure to indoctrination. So, are people really responsible for their beliefs? And, if they are, how might such external influences make a difference to whether beliefs satisfy the norms governing them? These are among the issues this module will explore.

Generic timetabling and Blackboard information module for the Year 1 simulated practice week for Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy programmes.