3 ECTS credits
75 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 4018768DNR for all students in the 1st semester at a (D) Master - preliminary level.

Semester
1st semester
Enrollment based on exam contract
Impossible
Grading method
Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
Can retake in second session
Yes
Enrollment Requirements
Students who want to enroll for this course, must be enrolled in the programme Master Biology: Tropimundo.
Taught in
English
Partnership Agreement
Under interuniversity agreement for degree program
Faculty
Faculty of Science and Bio-engineering Sciences
Department
Biology
External partners
Università degli Studi di Firenze
Educational team
Decaan WE (course titular)
Activities and contact hours

16 contact hours Lecture
8 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
Course Content

Table of contents :

Lectures:

General concepts on soil stability

Soils of the littoral environment; mangrove soils, beach ridge and dune soils

Sulphidic and sulfuric soil materials, development of sulphate acidity

Soil salinity and sodicity

Organic soils, different types of tropical peats and associated alluvial soils

Problems of drainage

Long-term peat subsidence

Soils of the rainforest: Ferralsols, Nitisols, Acrisols, Plinthosols, rainforest Umbrisols and Cambisols

Fertility and acidification of rainforest soils

Soil erosion in the humid tropics

Project:

Evaluation of real field situation; data gathering and organization, with database and GIS applications; drafting a report and a further investigation project.

Additional info

Course material, text books and further reading :

Basic theory explanation and project data will be provided during the course, being necessary and sufficient for exams. Further reading will be assigned on individual or small group basis, in the frame of project activity.

Please consult the course descriptions on the TROPIMUNDO website for the most completed and updated course descriptions.

Learning Outcomes

Algemene Competenties

Course objectives :

The target is to make the students able to understand the soils of the humid zones of the tropics, with special focus on the wetlands. Students are expected to be able to gauge soil problems within a given ecosystem and to require and successfully manage specialized assistance.

Learning outcomes :

please note the general comment on learning outcomes

Education level: Basic Ecosystem focus: Interactions Biological level: Ecosystem

Students should be able to diagnose the main soil conservation problems in the humid tropics by direct field observation and literature reference. They also should be able to select appropriate specialist help and to write suitable, technical, terms of reference.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Other Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Other Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Other Exam with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

Exam : 50% Written

Exam : 50% Project

2ndsession : oral or written exam to be decided by the teacher.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark
The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context

This offer is part of the following study plans:
Master of Biology: AR Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree in Tropical Biodiversity and Ecosystems, start at Brussels
Master of Biology: AR Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree in Tropical Biodiversity and Ecosystems, start at Cayenne