Last modified: 24 Jul 2025 15:16
This five-day, non-residential field course that will involve a series of day trips from Aberdeen to introduce and explore a range of terrestrial, coastal and marine habitats, and the techniques that are being used to study and manage the diverse species in these ecosystems.
The field course provides an insight into how scientific research and long-term monitoring underpins our understanding and management of biodiversity, and the different organisations responsible for stewardship and conservation across the UK.
The course explores how natural and anthropogenic environmental change can influence different coastal ecosystems, and the challenges of managing those ecosystems where there are a range of practitioners, stake-holders and end-users with different and potential conflicting priorities.
Importantly, the course provides “real world” experience of ecological fieldwork, with a focus on how to design, plan and safely execute monitoring programmes for a range of different species and habitats.
Dates for 2025/2026 are 18/05/2026 to 22/05/2026.
| Study Type | Undergraduate | Level | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Term | Second Term | Credit Points | 15 credits (7.5 ECTS credits) |
| Campus | Aberdeen | Sustained Study | No |
| Co-ordinators |
|
||
One or more of these courses have a limited number of places. Priority access will be given to students for whom this course is compulsory. Please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions for more details on this process.
The course involves a number of individual and group-based activities that provide training in the identification and monitoring of marine invertebrates, marine mammals, bats and seabirds. Fieldwork in a range of habitats includes sampling, data collection analysis and presentation, and includes a range of formative, summative, qualitative and quantitative exercises carried out either independently or as part of a team.
| Description | Value |
|---|---|
| Contribution to transport costs | 30.0000 |
Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 20 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
There is frequent feedback during the course and also specific feedback provided on written work. |
|||
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
|
|
||
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 50 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
There is frequent feedback during the course and also specific feedback provided on written work. |
|||
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
|
|
||
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 30 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
Field course foodweb. There is frequent feedback during the course and also specific feedback provided on written work. |
|||
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
|
|
||
There are no assessments for this course.
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Conceptual | Apply | Recognise the roles of the different organisations responsible for the management and conservation of different habitats and species around Scotland |
| Conceptual | Understand | • Understand the range of different approaches that can be used to monitor and measure biodiversity in marine, coastal and terrestrial habitats |
| Procedural | Apply | to develop observational and recording skills for organisms in a variety of coastal habitats |
| Procedural | Apply | to develop skills for assessing species, community and ecosystem identification and characterisation |
We have detected that you are have compatibility mode enabled or are using an old version of Internet Explorer. You either need to switch off compatibility mode for this site or upgrade your browser.
