Ecological Engineering for Tropical Ecosystems

2.5 ECTS Montpellier Year 2 Semester 3 Compulsory Integrative/inter/transdisciplinary 10

Content

In this course, ecological engineering is considered inclusively as the implementation of the application of principles of, and knowledge on the functioning and structure of ecosystems, including their self-organization capacity, for the creation of systems or the management and restoration of ecosystems to sustainably deliver ecosystem services in a wide sense (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment). Its current expansion is supported by the need for a truly sustainable management of ecosystems based on financial and physical resources expected to decrease in the mid and long term but supported by on-going, dramatic progresses in fundamental and applied ecology. The application considered here focuses on the ecosystem and landscape levels in tropical areas, keeping in mind that principles of ecological engineering are largely generic. Although lectures focus on ecological aspects, the course supports the necessarily integrated, interdisciplinary approach to any project in ecological engineering, and the combination of both theoretical and practical knowledge.

Lectures

to the basic concepts of ecological engineering and its fields of application (silviculture, ecological restoration and rehabilitation, agroforestry, biodiversity management…)
Specificities of ecological engineering for tropical ecosystems
Methodological and conceptual frameworks of the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) International and of the Restoring Natural Capital (RNC) Alliance

Group work

Design of a project in ecological engineering from a case study
Aspects to be handled: problem and constraints analysis; identification of methods; design of an action plan (ecosystem to landscape scales); critical discussion on social, political and economic dimensions of the proposal

Learning outcomes

Students acquire basements of ecological engineering and understanding of the specificities of its applications in the tropics, and a first experience of project designing in ecological engineering.