Native Forest Ecosystems & Biodiversity

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2008:

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This subject covers:

• composition, structure and dynamics of global native forests and woodlands;

• the range of Australian forests and woodlands - environmental gradients, natural disturbance regimes, pre-settlement forests and their present condition;

• relationship between forest history, response to disturbance, and forest structure;

• the role of fungi and invertebrate fauna in sustaining forest biodiversity;

• natural and managed regeneration of different forest types, regeneration processes and sources of regeneration; phenology of important genera;

• role of treed and forested ecosystems for conservation and biodiversity, monitoring and understanding biodiversity, corridors and fragmentation;

• ecosystem services performed by forests and woodlands;

• contributions of plantations and farm forests to biodiversity.

On completion of this subject students should have:

• a profound respect for truth, intellectual and professional integrity, the principles of learning, and the ethics of scholarship;

• a capacity for independent critical thought, innovation, rational inquiry and self-directed learning and research;

• an ability to identify and describe the biophysical, social and economic resources of natural and modified ecosystems, and integrate this information on a catchment scale;

• an ability to interpret the ecological history of individual forest and woodland sites, including the history of disturbance and human intervention;

• an awareness of and ability to utilise appropriate communication technology and methods for the storage, management and analysis of data;

• highly developed oral communication skills to allow informed dialogue and liaison with peers, and with individuals and groups from industry, government and the community.

• Ecology: an Australian Perspective (P Attiwill and B Wilson, eds), OUP, South Melbourne, Vic, 2003

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

Information Not Available