Last modified: 18 Jul 2025 10:16
This course develops the knowledge and skills required to understand, assess, and manage wildlife populations in real-world settings for conservation and management.
Through structured practicals in R (with Rmarkdowns to help you understand the process), students develop confidence in coding, data visualisation, and quantitative analysis, skills that are directly transferable to roles in ecology, research, and wildlife management (and you then have a bank of scripts to take with you and use in future). Guest speakers and a field visit provide direct insight into professional conservation practice, highlighting current challenges, illustrating the application of these tools to current conservation and wildlife management problems, and highlighting career trajectories and the skills employers are after. Debates and workshops alongside the case studies encourage students to build their critical thinking surrounding key conservation questions and issues.
The course uses real-world case studies to explore the complexities of wildlife conservation in varied ecological and social contexts. Structured debates, practitioner examples, and applied assessments challenge students to think critically and propose evidence-based solutions (particularly in the advocacy presentation assessment). Each practical session contributes to a larger ecological narrative, culminating in the development of a final management plan grounded in real conservation issues, where you will seek to save an endangered species with management recommendations.
| Study Type | Undergraduate | Level | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Term | Second Term | Credit Points | 15 credits (7.5 ECTS credits) |
| Campus | Aberdeen | Sustained Study | No |
| Co-ordinators |
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This course examines the key concepts and practical approaches used to conserve and manage wildlife populations. Students are introduced to quantitative methods used to estimate population size and survival rates (Capture Mark Recapture), presence and absence (Occupancy Models). These are then used to assess the viability of populations through matrix models and stochastic scenario-based projections.
The course covers a wide range of species and conservation contexts, from managing overabundant or invasive populations (e.g. red deer, American mink) to conserving threatened native species (e.g. Florida panther, capercaillie). Through weekly case study discussions and structured debates, students examine how ecological knowledge is translated into policy and management, and how stakeholder perspectives may shape conservation outcomes.
By the end of the course, students will apply ecological and analytical tools to real-world data, interpret the outcomes, and use this evidence to inform practical, adaptive wildlife management decisions. Whether pursuing careers in conservation, management, or research, students leave with the applied skills needed to navigate the challenges of modern wildlife management.
Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 48 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
Presentation worth 47.5% of total assessments. Feedback will entail comments and suggestions following presentations.
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 5 | |
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| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
A key part of this module is debate and discussion with guest speakers during case study lectures. |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 47 | |
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| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
Management plan, worth 47.5 of total assessment. Feedback will entail comments and suggestions for improvements on management plan. |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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There are no assessments for this course.
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
Students will repeat whichever elements of the assessment were failed or not completed at first sitting; the marks for elements already passed will be carried forwards. |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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| Factual | Remember | ILO’s for this course are available in the course guide. |
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