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Syllabus

MV0227 Soil, water, and meteorological processes in the forest ecosystem, 7.5 Credits

Mark, vatten och meteorologiska processer i skogsekosystemet

Subjects

Soil Science Biology

Education cycle

Bachelor’s level

Modules

Title	Credits	Code
Single module	7.5	0001

Advanced study in the main field

First cycle, has less than 60 credits in first-cycle course/s as entry requirements
Bachelor’s level (G1F)

Grading scale

Language

English

Prior knowledge

Knowledge equivalent to 60 credits of which 40 credits in Biology, 15 credits in Chemistry and 7,5 credits in Soil Science

Objectives

The aim of the course is to give the students an overall picture of overarching soil, water, and meteorological processes in the forest landscape. By that, the course provides knowledge fundamental for long-term sustainable forest management in Sweden and globally. The course also aims to provide tools for analysis and critical thinking applicable on questions like climate change, land and water resource management, silvicultural systems, environmental pollutants and acidification of soil and water.

After successful completion of the course, the students will be able to:

• Account for the energy and water balance and their different components above different vegetation surfaces
• Account for interactions between land-atmosphere energy exchanges and the climate
• Discuss the effect of different silvicultural measures/systems on energy and water balances at the site level
• Describe different soil components, important soil organisms, and their function in the soil ecosystem
• Account for the soil water holding capacity, plant available water, soil water transport, main features of soil aeration and their silvicultural implications.
• Account for key chemical and biological soil processes with emphasis on those important for nutrient turnover and the link to site productivity
• Discuss how different environmental factors such as access to water, nutrients, energy sources, soil pH and redox conditions impact the speed and direction of different soil processes

Content

The course includes meteorology, hydrology, soil physics, soil chemistry, and soil biology including microbiology and their interactions with forest management and climate change. Central chemical and biological processes that control the availability of macro- and micronutrients in the forest ecosystem are discussed in terms of sustainability and silviculture. This includes processes such as weathering, adsorption, biological uptake and mineralisation of nutrients, as well as decomposition and turnover of soil organic matter. Moreover, the course covers important environmental problems in modern forestry such as anthropogenic and biological acidification of soils and water and the occurrence and transport of important pollutants in forest soils, as well as the role of soils as carbon sinks. The course deals with soil physical and hydrological processes that can help us predict the flow of water through the soil and its availability to plants. We also discuss how different soil properties, forest management and climate, including the effects of climate change, are affecting this. The course will also cover the processes that regulate land-atmosphere exchanges and distribution of energy. We discuss how energy fluxes are modified by different land surface properties, mainly in response to forest management, and explore the feedbacks between the energy balance and climate change.

The course includes lectures, individual literature studies, and organized group discussions. An important component of the course are exercises that integrate important knowledge from the various subsections, based on empirical data and modelling. The students then present and discuss their results from these exercises in seminars.

The course focuses on the following general competencies:

critical thinking; problem solving; scientific methods; oral communication; written communication; teamwork

Grading form

The grade requirements within the course grading system are set out in specific criteria. These criteria must be available by the course start at the latest.

Formats and requirements for examination

Approved written presentation (of project work); approved oral presentation

• If a student has failed an examination, the examiner has the right to issue supplementary assignments. This applies if it is possible and there are grounds to do so.

• The examiner can provide an adapted assessment to students entitled to study support for students with disabilities following a decision by the university. Examiners may also issue an adapted examination or provide an alternative way for the students to take the exam.

• If this syllabus is withdrawn, SLU may introduce transitional provisions for examining students admitted based on this syllabus and who have not yet passed the course.

• For the assessment of an independent project (degree project), the examiner may also allow a student to add supplemental information after the deadline for submission. Read more in the Education Planning and Administration Handbook.

Other information

• The right to participate in teaching and/or supervision only applies for the course instance the student was admitted to and registered on.

• If there are special reasons, students are entitled to participate in components with compulsory attendance when the course is given again. Read more in the Education Planning and Administration Handbook.

Additional information

The course builds on knowledge gained during the first year of the program from the course Forest soils and climatology (MV0223), but now with a focus on the detailed processes which regulate soil-plant-atmosphere interactions and their silvicultural implications.

Responsible department

Department of Forest ecology and Management