Urban Ecology and Conservation

• This MSc Urban Ecology and Conservation course has been designed in consultation with employers and has an applied focus

• We have guest lecturers actively working in consultancy and conservation

• Staff are friendly and accessible

• We have our own Nature Reserve on campus

• We have easy access to urban wildlife sites

• The University is centrally located in the Midlands with easy road and rail access (rail station on the campus)

• Available full or part-time

• A range of awards are available: full Masters degree Postgraduate Diploma, Postgraduate Certificate
  

Urban Ecology and conservation is primarily about promoting wildlife and wildlife habitats within urban areas. With 80% of people in the UK living in urban areas now, and globally 60% by 2030, it is vitally important that towns and cities are healthy places to live, and biodiversity can help. Contact with wildlife has immediate and long-term psychological benefits for humans as well as improving physical health. Vegetation removes pollutants such as particulates from diesel fumes, gasses and chemicals from the air. With climate change on the way vegetation in the form of green roofs and green walls provides insulation so we don’t have to use so much energy in our buildings keeping cool or getting warm, and structural vegetation such as street, garden and parkland trees provides shading. Vegetation also helps stop flash-floods by reducing the speed and amount of water reaching the drains. 
This course gives you the background needed for a career in urban ecology and conservation, and the insights needed to use biodiversity to improve human habitat too.

The course shares several modules with other postgraduate Ecology and Conservation courses at Staffordshire because there are some key areas of knowledge and skills that anyone working in ecology and conservation needs. So, whilst you will share some subjects such as ‘Managing Terrestrial Habitats’ and ‘Managing the Consequences of Climate Change’ with students from other courses, your assignments will be tailored to your course interests. You will also have modules that are specifically urban in context: ‘Sustainable Greenspace’ and ‘Greening the Grey’ and these together with your individual Research Project (if you are taking an MSc) will truly make your course unique.

The course is designed for recent graduates in biological or environmental sciences who are keen on urban ecology and who hope to move into conservation-related careers, and for people currently working in conservation, consultancy, and land management who want to upgrade their professional qualifications.

This depends on which qualification you want.

The MSc in Urban Ecology & Conservation consists of a Research Project and 8 modules:

• Sustainable Greenspace
• Greening the Grey: biodiversity, buildings and sealed surfaces
• Managing Aquatic Habitats
• Managing Terrestrial Habitats
• Habitat Mapping and Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
• Managing the Consequences of Climate Change
• Professional Practice for Ecologists
• Ecological Survey and Identification Skills

The Postgraduate Diploma in Urban Ecology and Conservation is awarded for the completion of eight modules (as above) but does not include the Research Project.

The Postgraduate Certificate in Urban Ecology and Conservation is awarded for the completion of four modules from the list above (excluding the Research Project) but must include either ‘Sustainable Greenspace’ or ‘Greening the Grey’.

To give a feel for the importance of the research project: all modules except the Research Project are ‘worth’ 15 ‘credits’, the Research project is rated at 60 credits.

To gain the MSc you need 180 credits
To gain the Postgraduate Diploma you need 120 credits
To gain the Postgraduate Certificate you need 60 credits

The MSc Course (Full-time)
The course is unusual in that it is 15 months long (most Masters courses are 12 months long). This is because, being a fieldwork-based subject, students usually need to collect data for their project during the summer: after the end of the formal teaching period. As most students collect their data during June, July and August that would leave only just over a month before the project would need to be handed in! So, we extend the duration of the master’s project to ensure that students have enough time to analyse and write-up their data, the project is handed-in at the end of November. So, for example, if you started in September 2010 you would hand in your project and formally finish the course at the end of November 2011. There are no formal taught classes during the Project so you don’t have to come into the University all the time. We do however get students to present their preliminary findings as talks to the new cohort of students when they arrive in September.

Postgraduate Diploma (Full-time)
This course is 12 months long with most of the work being covered in the two teaching semesters of September to December and January to April/May. Some assignments take place outside this period, but all the work should be completed by the end of August. Formal classes are not held outside the semesters, so whilst you may be doing an assignment there are not usually lectures to attend.

Postgraduate Certificate (Full-time)
This course is as for the Postgraduate Diploma, but you would take only half the number of modules. As there is quite some choice in the modules you can take you might find that you spend more time in class one semester than another, and might be doing assignments over the summer as well.

PART-TIME COURSES
If you register as a part-time student there is some flexibility in the length of time you can take to complete it, but we would normally expect the Postgraduate Certificate and Postgraduate Diploma courses to be completed within a 24 month period. We would expect the part-time Masters to be completed in 28 months.

Sustainable Greenspace
Urban greenspace (including parks, recreation grounds, wildlife sites, brownfield sites, road, rail and river corridors) has the potential to be of high biodiversity value and also deliver other environmental goods and services such as: helping towns and cities to adapt and proof against climate change impacts, providing sustainable urban drainage, reducing air-borne particulates and gaseous air pollutants, providing visual screens, reducing noise and light pollution, etc. Greenspace is potentially also of high aesthetic value and can provide opportunities for 'green exercise', mental health improvement and zero-carbon transport. This module investigates the multifunctional benefits and use of greenspace in the urban environment including the policy/strategy framework which supports it.

Greening the Grey: biodiversity, buildings and sealed surfaces (option module)
Green infrastructure is usually seen as referring to the part of the urban environment which is described in the module 'Sustainable Greenspace', but neglects the truly built environment including houses, apartment buildings, shopping centres, office and industrial buildings, car parks, etc. This module is concerned with creating wildlife habitats in and on the built environment using such approaches as green roofs, green walls, doorstop spaces, courtyards, window boxes, permeable driveways, plantings to regulate road speed and driver behaviour, greening plazas, etc. Other features that can be incorporated in buildings to create habitats such as bat bricks, bird boxes, invertebrate roosts, will also be explored. This module also includes an appraisal of the potential for improving the biodiversity value of cemeteries and allotments, and the establishment of community orchards. The strategy and policy environment is also explored.

Managing Aquatic Habitats
This module starts with a brief review of the ecology and hydrology of freshwater lotic, lentic and wetland ecosystems and then gives way to keys themes: These include the importance of the catchment area, and the riparian zone in the ecology and management of systems. Later sections of the module focus on the monitoring and conservation evaluation of aquatic habitats (e.g. SERCON, PSYM, River Corridor Survey and River Habitat Survey). We then focus on the creation and management of aquatic ecosystems, including reedbeds, and a consideration of the impacts of water pollution. We also look at fish conservation and important EU Directives such as the Water Framework Directive.  Other issues covered include conservation/control of aquatic animal species such as otter, mink, water vole, and wetland birds.

Managing Terrestrial Habitats
This module starts with an overview of some of the major terrestrial biotopes (e.g. wetlands, grasslands, woodlands) and their management. This includes the management of agroecosystems and also covers the allied theme of geological conservation. Novel approaches such as large scale conservation (e.g. using the principles elucidated by Franz Vera and applied at Oostvaderplassen in the Netherlands) will be examined. The module will also cover the principles and practice of Management Planning.

GIS(Geographical Information Systems) for Ecology & Conservation 
This module concentrates on learning the skills needed to use digital data in a GIS. After an initial period which introduces the Phase 1 habitat evaluation technique, students carry out a Phase 1 survey of the University Nature Reserve. Students are then introduced to ArcGIS software and other data sources. Using ArcGIS, supplied DGPS data, and their own Phase 1 evaluations, students create habitat maps of the University Reserve within the GIS and an evaluative report.

Managing the Consequences of Climate Change
This module has been created to address the challenges of climate change on biodiversity. The module starts with an overview of the science that underlies global environment change and also the uncertainties inherent in current knowledge and risk quantification. The introductory sessions will also include the ecological and ecophysiological underpinning needed to understand the major problems impacting the management and conservation of biodiversity.
The initial scientific grounding will be followed by themed sessions that will investigate various dimensions of the problem involving coping strategies at local, regional and global levels and over a variety of temporal scales. The nature of the problem necessitates a wide perspective and the module will also touch upon a wide scope of issues ranging from deep green ecology through to emerging politics and policy implementation.

Professional Practice for Ecologists
This module will make use of a series of case studies and lectures by staff and external speakers to introduce students to a range of practical considerations relevant to ecological project management and the working life of a professional ecologist. Topics to be covered typically include: costing and tendering for consultancy projects, working with wildlife legislation, the role of the ecologist in Environmental Impact Assessment and Public Inquiries, public consultation, producing reports to a professional standard, working with volunteers/contractors and project management.

Ecological Survey and Identification Skills
Identification skills are a vital component of being a professional ecologist. The module begins with a brief introduction to the principles of taxonomy, followed by a series of practical workshops involving the morphology of a range of taxa. The student then chooses a group to specialise in (e.g. grasses, lichens, spiders, small mammals) to a taxonomic level and breadth negotiated with the tutor.

A number of survey techniques will also be introduced and practised. Subjects vary but  could include mammals, amphibians, reptiles, terrestrial invertebrates. Other techniques (e.g. Phase 1 habitat surveys, river corridor surveys, and sampling for freshwater invertebrates) are covered in other modules. We also look at how information is obtained via desktop studies and licensing issues when protected species are involved.

Research Project
The research project is the largest individual component of the MSc course, and combines the preparation for the research and the research itself into a cohesive whole. The topic of the research project will depend on the student's personal interests within the broad context of the course, but will usually be carried out in the 'field' and in the summer. The work can be carried out in partnership with an external organisation, inside or outside the UK, subject to supervisor approval. In the past research projects have been submitted as a thesis, but we now ask students to write them up as if they were going to submit them to an international journal, with an additional commentary. Many of our students produce work which is of publishable quality and we hope that by writing projects up in such a format it will encourage them to submit their work for publication.

Most assessments are written assignments/reports but some work is assessed through presentations.  There are some in-class tests which may include identification skills and some essay-type questions, but no formal examinations in big halls filled with other students. Written work may include writing a management plan, a research paper, an article for a journal, etc. In one module a competitive tender for consultancy services is assessed through a presentation.

• Habitat Management and Conservation

• Invertebrate Ecology and Conservation

• Ecology and Conservation

Please click here for the Current Biology Newsletter (PDF, file size: 197.79KB) to download a copy containing articles of interest.

The First Biology Newsletter (PDF, file size: 237.3KB) is also available for download.

The Second Biology Newsletter (PDF, file size: 231.93KB) is also available for download.

The Third Biology Newsletter (PDF, file size: 231.59KB) is also available for download.

The Biology News page may also contain articles of interest.

For more information about Urban Ecology and Conservation please contact: