Ecological and Evolutionary Biology

After successfully completing his/her studies the graduate is able to:

• name the major taxonomic groups of organisms (in particular eucaryotic ones) and to describe their phylogenesis and the resulting systematic position.
• explain the basic terms and principles used in plant and animal systematics and, in particular, in phylogenetic systematics;
• describe major evolutionary trends, body plans of major taxa from the cell to organs and their systems to entire organisms and their colonies, mode of reproduction;
• give typical representatives of the major taxa and characterise them in terms of ecology and typical behavioural traits
• define ecology as a scientific discipline, describe its major subdisciplines and explain the fundamental terms used;
• describe the major abiotic ecological factors and processes connected to energy flow and the cycling of elements/nutrients (in particular the major biochemical cycles);
• describe the conditions and processes in aquatic and terrestrial (soil) environments and the corresponding adaptations of organisms (on a general level);
• describe the major types of interactions between individuals, populations and species (incl. technical terms), major traits of populations and types of their ecological strategy;
• define the terms community, succession, ecosystem and biome, describe the major biomes of the Earth and types of ecosystems in Europe;
• list and explain major antopogennic threats for nature (conservation of species, habitats/ecosystems and processes);
• explain the conservation relevance of edge effect and the theory of island biogeography as well as the terms biodiversity, minimum viable population and minimum dynamic area;
• excerpt relevant information from technical literature (incl. such in foreign languages), make a critical synthesis and cite sources correctly;
• propose a methodological approach for a simple research project, to conduct this research including a basic statistical data analysis and its interpretation;
• put his/her results into a wider context and to present them in writing and orally, complying with formal standards and using technical language in an appropriate way.

The student should work on his/her thesis as independently as possible. The supervisor or other experts can assist with those tasks/problems that are more complicated, such as the identification of difficult taxa or the analysis of data by more sophisticated statistical methods. However, even in such cases it is expected that the student does most of the data collecting, identification, analytical and synthesis work independently and will have a good understanding of all parts of the thesis, including those which he or she did not elaborate fully independently. Parts not done by the student alone, e.g. statistical analyses, shall be clearly stated in the acknowledgements.

Additionally to the uploading of the electronic version to the MU's Information System and to submitting two bound copies, the student also hands over one copy of the thesis (in any type of binding agreed upon with the supervisor) together with a CD with the raw data and analyses directly to his/her supervisor.