LAD-32806 Landscape Properties and Variability

Course

Credits 6.00

Language of instruction:

English

Assumed knowledge on:

MAT-15303 + MAT-15403
LAD-10806 Soil and Water I
SOQ-22306 Chemical Processes in Soil, Water, Atmosphere

Contents:

The landscape is a complex system characterized by numerous properties that often vary in space as well as in time. We can learn about the functioning of a landscape by studying its properties and their variability. This course teaches how variability in landscape properties can be measured, modeled and explained. It addresses the interaction between environmental (i.e., physical, chemical, biological and socio-economic) processes and properties, unravels how scale effects affect landscape variability and provides geostatistical methods with which to quantify landscape variability. Real-world case studies involving fieldwork and laboratory analysis are used to illustrate the theory and show how it can be used in practice.

Learning outcomes:

After this course, students should be able to:
- provide a general description of the major landscape properties and their variability, with emphasis on soil and land use;
- understand how environmental processes and human influence cause spatial variation in landscape properties;
- design and carry out measurement strategies in field and laboratory to assess environmental processes in combination with spatial variation in landscape properties;
- quantify spatial variation in landscape properties and their interaction using mathematical and geostatistical tools;
- explain why variability of landscape properties varies with scale;
- take landscape variability into account in applied environmental research.

Activities:

Lectures, (field) practical, laboratory work, computer modelling.

Examination:

Report and written exam.

Literature:

Reader and practical manual.