This course will provide students with core training in the collection and analysis of ecological data using geographic information systems (GIS).

The taught component of the course will be an intensive 3-day course, held at SCENE, with approximately eight hours teaching per day which will consist of a mixture of lectures, practical sessions and fieldwork.

None

Proposed new assessment

Scientific report (2000 words approx).

The aim of the course is to provide students with training in the collection and analysis of ecological data using a geographic information system (GIS). The objective is to develop key skills in creating a GIS using existing data and collecting suitable field data for an ecological project.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Critically evaluate the specific data requirements of an ecological research project for implementation into a geographical information system (GIS)

■ Design a specialised GIS project to answer a biological question using appropriate advanced software

■ Verify GIS compatible field data using a global positioning system (GPS) receiver with previously collected data to produce a high quality map of publication standard

■ Extract relevant spatial data from GIS project for use in statistical analyses and examine relationship between variables using appropriate statistical methods.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.