| Forest & Landscape | |||
| Earliest Possible Year | MSc. 1 year to MSc. 2 year | ||
| Duration | One block | ||
| Credits | 7.5 (ECTS) | ||
| Course Level | MSc | ||
| Examination | Final Examination oral examination All aids allowed Description of Examination: Oral examination based on two questions from the curriculum. The student is granted 30 minutes of preparation immediately prior to the examination with all aids allowed. Weight: Each examination question counts 50 %. 7-point scale, external examiner | ||
| Organisation of Teaching | |||
| Block Placement | Block 4 Week Structure: C, Field trips may include hours outside standard module hours. | ||
| Teaching Language | English | ||
| Optional Prerequisites | Basic knowledge of ecology, plant geography and forest ecosystems | ||
| Areas of Competence the Course Will Address | |||
| Basic science: - Familiarity with major issues and methods in contemporary silviculture of temperate forests. - Knowledge of the factors that influence tree growth, wood quality and forest dynamics, including plant-soil interactions. - Knowledge of, how such factors can be investigated, quantified and modelled for the testing of specific hypotheses. - Understanding of major silvicultural models and theories. Applied science: - Familiarity with the evaluation of alternative silvicultural strategies and their application. - Application of silvicultural principles to problem solving in forestry practice and at the forest policy level. - Ability to identify compromise solutions to conflicts over the application of alternative silvicultural practices. Ethics & values: - Awareness of and ability to discuss scientific and ethical issues in silviculture. - Ability to discuss relevance, reliability, validity and interpretation of empirical silvicultural observations. - Ability to quantify and model the effects of silvicultural practices to understand their limitations with regard to human utilisation and the sustainable use of temperate forests. | |||
| Course Objectives | |||
| The objective of the course is to provide students a comprehensive understanding of silvicultural principles and practices for the sustainable management of temperate forests. Throughout, the course emphasizes and demonstrates scientific knowledge, derived from long-term field experiments and other empirical investigations, as a solid foundation for silviculture. | |||
| Course Contents | |||
| - Brief overview of temperate forest ecosystems, forest development types and major tree species (bio-geography, vegetation history, forest ecology, anthropogenic influences / the role of pines, spruces, oaks, beeches, poplars and other tree species in temperate forest ecosystems). - Silviculture as a means of achieving management objectives and a basis for sustainable forest management. - The silvicultural practices of regeneration, tending and harvesting. - Forest production and long-term productivity. - Regeneration and afforestation (natural regeneration, direct seeding, planting, site preparation, choice of species, managing game, rodents, weed, nutrition, fertilizers and other biotic and abiotic factors). - Managing forest productivity, stand density and wood quality (major determinants of forest productivity, initial spacing, thinning regime, harvesting operations, pruning, modelling effects of site, species, stand density and forest type, planning of operations at strategic and tactical level, implementation of operations and quality assurance). - The layout and design of managed forests (sustained yield, risk management, aesthetics, forest recreation). - The protective functions of forests (erosion, water, deadwood, biodiversity, cultural remains, amenity values). - Management of forest health (biotic and abiotic factors, climate change). - Classical silvicultural systems in a contemporary context (objective-oriented and site-specific silviculture, coppice and high forest systems / clearcutting, shelterwood systems, selection systems, conversion / intercropping / the 'normal forest' concept vs. nature-based silviculture and near-natural forest development). - Summarizing the silvicultural practices of regeneration, tending and harvesting for major forest production systems and forest development types (pines, spruces, oaks, beeches, poplars, other tree species). - Adjusting silviculture to forest policy demands, technologies available for forest operations, and administrative practices, illustrated by case-studies on certification, forest conservation, and bioenergy. | |||
| Teaching And Learning Methods | |||
| Lectures: 3-6 hours per week. Classroom exercises: 1-2 hours per week. Field trips, including open-air lectures and practicals: 4-8 hours per week. Students are required to participate in practical problem solving, write brief essays and compile reports for presentation during classroom exercises and field trips on a regular basis throughout the course. Results from these form an integral part of the curriculum for the final examination. | |||
| Learning Outcome | |||
| Stipulated in section above on Areas of competence. | |||
| Course Litterature | |||
| Part of the course is based on selected scientific papers and extracts from international textbooks. All course literature, except books, will be made available as pdf files. The course literature includes: - Matthews, J.D. 1989: Silvicultural systems. Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 0-19-854670-X. - Skovsgaard, J.P. 2008: Silviculture of temperate forests - Lecture notes. | |||
| Course Coordinator | |||
| Jens Peter Skovsgaard, jps@life.ku.dk, Danish Centre for Forest, Landscape and Planning/Forestry and wood products, Phone: 35331707 | |||
| Study Board | |||
| Study Committee NSN | |||
| Course Scope | |||
| |||