BIOR42 River Resoration in Europe 7.5 ECTS credits
Course description
The course is an advanced course in ecology. This course has developed from a SOCRATES (EU) project called “River Channel Design and Environmental Protection in Europe”. The main idea behind the project (and behind this course) is that, in order to accomplish better solutions regarding river restoration and management, it is essential to have professionals with different background working together. Therefore both students and teachers in this course enter the course with different educational and professional backgrounds.
The purpose of this course is to provide the student with key hydraulic, geomorphologic and ecological principles and concepts specific to river ecosystems. The course also aims at providing a “real-life” multidisciplinary environment where the students acquire practical knowledge and experience relating to management of impacted running-water ecosystems, in agricultural, forested and urban environments.
Another important idea in the assignments (and also in this course) is that by bringing together experiences from many European countries, as well as from other regions in the world, we will all come to a better understanding of the various issues and processes involved in river restoration.
Assignments
Two overlapping assignments will be carried out in small groups during the course period.
Assignment I, which is intended as an introduction to recent advances in river management (and associated terminology), consists of a comparative analysis of goals and approaches adopted in various developed / developing regions of the world. This assignment is based on selected readings and questions provided by the course managers, and is concluded by an overall class discussion where the different groups voice opinions on the basis of their analyses. This assignment also sets the background for the second assignment.
Assignment II is a fully applied exercise in river restoration. This assignment will draw on the experience of key specialists involved (invited as lecturers). Each group will operate as a “consulting firm” and will propose and present a technically and ecologically sound restoration plan, which will be discussed with the relevant authorities (pending their respective availability).
Teaching and examinations
The course, conducted one evening a week, is conducted through a combination of lectures (provided by the course managers and invited specialists from the academic, public and private sectors), individual and group-work sessions (during and external of class periods), students presentations and field trips. The course concludes with a written examination.
Excursions
There is a day field trip river restoration sites in Scania and a weekend field trip to some of the bigger restoration projects in Denmark.
Future perspectives
River Restoration in Europe (BIOR42) treats applied aspects of limnology. The course makes up a basis for continued advanced studies within the limnological field for PhD studies and for a professional life as limnologist.
LTH webpage for this course: River Restoration - VVR170
Page manager: Inger Ekström
Questions about the website: Web Group
Publisher: Department of Biology
Last modified 10 May 2012
Lotta Persmark
Student Advisor
Education office
Phone:
+46 46-2223728
E-mail:
Lotta.Persmark@biol.lu.se
Rolf Larsson
Water Resources Engineering
Phone:
+46 46-2227398
E-mail:
Rolf.Larsson@tvrl.lth.se
The course will be given during the spring semester.