GE3555:03
GIS Applications in Landscape Ecology
Cairns
Prerequisites: GE3502 or TG3110
Inadmissable Subject Combination: TG3116
26 lectures, 21 supervised hours, 18 hours practicals. December intensive block mode.
Staff: Professor D Gillieson.
This subject provides students with skills in the conceptual basis and practical applications of GIS for landscape ecology. Landscape ecology involves the quantitative study of landscape patterns and processes and their change over time. Landscape ecology provides a way of analysing interactions between components of ecosystems and finds ready application in natural resource management. Through an individual project students will design an appropriate spatial model, collect and integrate spatial data from field and other sources, carry out basic data analysis and produce a final report.
Learning Objectives:
- have an understanding of the basic principles of landscape ecology and its application to real world problems;
- have an understanding of landscape ecology metrics and the ability to apply them to problems such as habitat suitability assessment, ecosystem fragmentation and nature reserve design and selection;
- be able to integrate field data with other spatial data in a GIS;
- use basic analysis tools in GIS to develop a habitat suitability model for a chosen species or community;
- produce a final project report complete with maps.
Assessment by examination (40%); practicals (30%); individual project (30%).