This six weeks course will consist of a mixture of fieldwork (gathering data), lectures, assignments and excursions. In general this course will focus on how to collect, store, process and translate biodiversity data into usable results (i.e. using R and Microsoft Access) to answer biodiversity related questions. The first week of this course will be spend deepening biodiversity theory through lectures and discussion sessions. The second week of the course will be filled with learning about the importance of biodiversity in the field through excursions and lectures on the different Dutch landscapes. These will revolve around questions such as: how were these landscapes created? What was the role of biodiversity in creating them?

Additionally, biodiversity related research skills will be honed during 2 fieldwork weeks (to Schiermonnikoog and an agricultural area close to Leiden). These fieldweeks include an assignment in which students will setup a study, collect data in the field, statistically analyze it and write a scientific report about their study in small groups. The end of the course will be mostly dedicated to prepare for a final exam.

Note that this course includes full day excursions, some of which inevitably start early because of the distance to the destination.

This four-week module has a very strong theoretical and a smaller yet significant practical part. The theoretical part focuses on the ecological processes that impact on biodiversity and vice versa. As such it is strongly connected to the first course in this minor as it investigates the underlying patterns that were discussed during the Orientation course. The course is structured around three key environmental realms: (i) the abiotic environment, (ii) the biotic environment, and (iii) human impacts on the biotic and abiotic environment.

Within these themes the focus will be on the interacting ecological and anthropological processes and mechanisms underlying the core functions of these ecosystems, and how human interactions with these processes results in an collection of environmental problems. The course discusses a broad spectrum of environmental processes including climate change, eutrophication, pollution and ecotoxicology, exotic species, disturbance and fragmentation and their respective impacts on biodiversity. The practical part consists of a GIS- assignment, which will be carried out in small groups and is integrated with the data collection during the field weeks in the first module of the Minor.

This six-week course integrates dimensions of biodiversity in various scales of space and time. The biodiversity that we see today has not always been like this. Many species have originated millions of years ago, and stem from ancestors that have gone extinct. Using examples from zoology, botany and palaeontology, we study the emergence and diversification (speciation/extinction) of biodiversity following different approaches and data (e.g., phylogenies, fossils). These historical processes will be linked to present-day patterns of biodiversity across different spatial scales: continents, regions or ecosystems. The module provides the theoretical background on the evolutionary processes behind these patterns. Particularly geographical, geological and evolutionary aspects are discussed. We will have hand-on practice with different data types (e.g., DNA, phylogeny) and taxonomic groups (e.g., microbes, fungi, cycads, mammals). You will learn how to communicate eco-evolutionary processes in an outreach video, and work in teams on case studies to tackle ongoing hypotheses in this field.

During this course you will utilize the acquired knowledge on biodiversity, it’s origin, importance, threats and what we can do about them from the previous Minor courses, to conduct an analysis and write a report about societal solutions for a biodiversity issue. Additionally, students will create a short influential video report on the same topic. The course will start with introductory workshop about societal issues, such as biodiversity valuation, identifying stakeholders, and conducting interviews. Subsequently, the students will break down into smaller groups which will focus on a specific biodiversity issue. The following weeks will be filled with studying literature, having group meetings with the supervisor and interview stakeholders in order to prepare a written and a video report. This course and the minor will be concluded with a video symposium.