Bi8169 Wetland ecology - practice

Faculty of Science
Spring 2012
Extent and Intensity
0/1. 2 credit(s) (fasci plus compl plus > 4). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Kateřina Šumberová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Kateřina Šumberová, Ph.D.
Department of Botany and Zoology – Biology Section – Faculty of Science
Contact Person: Mgr. Kateřina Šumberová, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Botany and Zoology – Biology Section – Faculty of Science
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
Course objectives
This training course is complementary to the lecture of Wetland ecology and its objective is to make the students acquainted with given questions in a field. The course is devoted to the extension of knowledge about plant ecology and community ecology with specialisation on aquatic and wetland plants and vegetation. There will be demonstrated the specificity of wetland habitats in comparison to terrestrial habitats, from adaptations of various plant groups to general principles of the community pattern respectively. On the visited localities, the students have a possibility to observe various types of aquatic and wetland vegetation and their complexes. To give the students more comprehensive view on the wetlands, attention will be paid also to the animals living in the wetlands and to their interactions with plants. The demonstrations of the influence of a man on the wetlands and discussions to the possibilities of the protection of selected localities are included too. At the end of the course, the student should complete and master the information obtained in lectures. Further, the students should get practical skills, e.g. detection of basic abiotic factors and type of management, recording of phytosociological relevés and transect in aquatic and wetland environment, determination of wetland plant species in various development stages, analysis of abundance and structure in populations of selected species, elaboration of schematic vegetation maps etc. Acquired knowledge and skills facilitate the students their research in framework of bachelor and diploma thesis with wetland specialisation and enable them also the evaluation of wetland localities for institutions of nature protection.
Syllabus
  • 1) What are the wetlands? (definitions, examples, basic features of aquatic and wetland environment).
  • 2) Plant and animal adaptations to the life in aquatic and wetland environment (anatomy, morphology, physiology).
  • 3) Taxonomic groups of organisms occurring mainly in wetlands (in the Central Europe and the world).
  • 4) Life strategies and life forms in aquatic and wetland plants (various classification schemes, examples, occurrence in different types of aquatic and wetland vegetation).
  • 5) Dispersal of aquatic and wetland plants (main types, differences compared to terrestrial plants).
  • 6) Types of aquatic habitats in Central Europe and their plant component (running and stagnant water, natural and man-made wetlands, permanent and temporary wetlands, classification according to trophy levels).
  • 7) Vegetation succession in wetlands (silting of water bodies, succession on exposed pond bottoms).
  • 8) Zonality of aquatic and wetland vegetation and its influencing factors (on different levels – within single water body or watercourse, altitudinal levels in the Czech Republic, zonality of the earth).
  • 9) Aquatic plants and animals – interactions (plants as a housing, place of reproduction, and food for animals; animals as co-producers of the plant’s environment and plant dispersal vectors).
  • 10) Anthropogenic impact on the distribution of aquatic and wetland vegetation (tradition of fish-farming, drying out of wetlands, water pollution, cultivation and use of aquatic and wetland plants).
Literature
  • HEJNÝ, Slavomil. Rostliny vod a pobřeží. Praha: East West Publishing Company, 2000, 118 s. ISBN 80-7219-000-8. info
  • CHYTRÝ, Milan, Tomáš KUČERA and Martin KOČÍ. Katalog biotopů České republiky (Habitat catalogue of the Czech Republic). Praha: Agentura ochrany přírody a krajiny, 2001, 307 pp. ISBN 80-86064-55-7. URL info
  • Plant communities of Slovakia. 3, Wetland Vegetation (Souběž.) : Rastlinné spoločenstvá Slovenska. 3., Vegetácia mokradí. info
  • HEJNÝ, Slavomil. Ökologische Charakteristik der Wasser- und Sumpflanzen in den slowakischen Tiefebenen (Donau- und Theißgebiet) (Ecological characterisation of aquatic and wetland plants in the lowlands of Slovakia (area of Danube and Tisa rivers)). 1st ed. Bratislava: Vydavateľstvo SAV, 1960, 480 pp. info
  • CRONK, J. K. and M. Siobhan FENNESSY. Wetland plants : biology and ecology. Boca Raton: Lewis Publishers, 2001, 462 s. ISBN 1566703727. info
  • BRÖNMARK, Christer and Lars-Anders HANSSON. The biology of lakes and ponds. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998, xii, 216. ISBN 0198549725. info
Teaching methods
Training methods: four-day field excursion in selected wetland region in the Czech Republic with demonstrations of various wetland types and plant andy animal species. On selected localities research work performed by small groups of students. If interesting data will be collected, the students will publish the results in a national specialised journal (the teacher help the students with the article ellaboration).
Assessment methods
Obtaining of the credit: the submission of the data collected in a field (e.g. relevés in database software TURBOVEG). In the case of the publication of the results each student will elaborate selected part of the article (data analysis, text writing, table and picture elaboration etc.).
Language of instruction
Czech
Follow-Up Courses
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught once in two years.
Information on the per-term frequency of the course: Předmět bude vypisován v sudých letech (2004, 2006, ...).
The course is taught: in blocks.
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: 2-4 dny (dle dohody se studenty).
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2008 - for the purpose of the accreditation, Spring 2004, Spring 2008, Spring 2010, spring 2012 - acreditation, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, spring 2018, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2012, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/sci/spring2012/Bi8169