Browse Hierarchy BIOL7004: Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

International and national obligations require biodiversity targets to be met. These targets are essential for maintaining species and habitats and for facilitating ecosystem services. The module emphasises the importance of ecological principles in biodiversity assessment and prioritisation in a global context and emphasises the importance of the ecological components of ecosystem services for sustainability. Methods and problems of assessing biodiversity are introduced and practiced, including the adequacy of surrogate measures. The importance of ecosystem services for sustainability is considered in relation to the exploitation of natural and highly modified systems. These themes are developed through case studies and in the case of biodiversity through practical work in the application of biodiversity assessment methods.