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LSC-20093 - Module Specification
School of Life Sciences
Faculty of Natural Sciences

For academic year: 2022/23 Last Updated: 19 January 2023

LSC-20093 - Biodiversity Crisis
Coordinator: Ellie Harrison Room: 174
Lecture Time: See Timetable...
Level: Level 5
Credits: 15
Study Hours: 150
School Office: 01782 734414

Programme/Approved Electives for 2022/23

None

Available as a Free Standing Elective

No

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2022/23


Aims
To understand the different levels on which biodiversity operates and identify its past, present and future threats.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Define the term biodiversity and explain how it is measured: 1,2
Critically evaluate changes in biodiversity and extinction over time: 1,2
Identify and discuss the main drivers of the biodiversity crisis, and communicate to a target audience how a taxonomic group is threatened: 1,2

Study hours

Scheduled learning
14 hours of live tutorials
Independent study hours
36 hours of engagement with asynchronous content (assumes ~3hours of watching videos, reading core texts and writing notes, etc., for each of the 12 topics)
18 hours of journal club preparation
12 hours of data analysis and write-up of IUCN exercise
18 hours of research, reflection and write-up of journal club exercise
52 hours of private study

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment

1: Portfolio weighted 40%
IUCN Red List `big dataż analysis
Students will query the IUCN Red List database to determine the status of a specified taxonomic group. Data will be analysed and presented in a proforma, and the key findings communicated to a lay audience as a 500-word summary.

2: Portfolio weighted 60%
Evidence-based evaluation of papers in journal club
Through the semester, students will be allocated a series of publications on the biodiversity crisis that are linked to the core curriculum content. Students are expected to contribute to a journal club during the tutorial sessions, initiate and engage in discussion of the paper (this could be online or in a group tutorial). At the end of the module students will collate reflections on discussions of three of the papers (750 words each) and submit them on a proforma.

Please note that for the 2022/23 Academic Year programmes may be adapted to operate in accordance with a flexible, digital approach. This means that there may be some changes made to how modules are delivered and assessed. The latest information will be provided to you by your School in module handbooks. We endeavour to give you as much notice as possible of any changes and details about the circumstance in which changes are made to programmes can be found in the Student Agreement, available at: https://www.keele.ac.uk/student-terms-and-conditions/

Last Updated: 19 January 2023