Ecological field trip

Gerald Jurasinski, Dierk Michaelis, John Couwenberg

1 week field course near Greifswald (with overnight stay, in recent years in the Gützkower Peenewiesen)

Learning objectives:

• Acquire basic knowledge of autecology, synecology, and ecosystem analysis.
• Become familiar with the approaches, terminology, and methods of ecology.
• Reflect on the living conditions of organisms and the function of ecosystems.
• Implementing learned methods in practice under supervision

Contents:

• Characterizing and mapping vegetation
• Performing peat and peatland classification
• Measuring water levels and water chemistry parameters
• Other field methods of peatland research (slug test, GHG measurements)

Lecture “Introduction to Peatland Science” (former Introduction to Landscape Planning)

Gerald Jurasinski

• Learning objectives: Overview of peatlands, their significance and functioning, good understanding of peatland science, knowledge of options for sustainable peatland management.
• What is a peatland and how does it function?
• Distribution of peatlands
• Peatland classification systems
• History of peatland research
• History of peatland use
• Peatland hydrology
• Biogeochemical processes in peatlands
• (Self-)regulation in peatlands
• Adaptation to life in peatlands
• Rewetting and restoration of peatlands
• Sustainable management of peatlands

Seminar “Scientific research in ecology”

Gerald Jurasinski

Winter semester

• Scientific ethics and good scientific practice
• Literature search and handling scientific literature
• Experiment planning and implementation
• Writing scientific papers

Exercises

Excursions: Natural areas of northeastern Germany

• Introduction to the landscapes, vegetation, and land use types in northeastern Germany using selected examples (forests, peatlands, lakes, floodplains, coastal ecosystems, and grasslands)
• Relationship between soil, vegetation, and land use
• Genesis, regeneration, and restoration of ecosystems
• Discussion of current nature conservation issues using specific examples

John Couwenberg, Dierk Michaelis

Winter Semester

Lecture “Moornaturraumkunde”

• Introduction to concepts of landscape science: topical and chorical approaches
• Peat and mud types, pedotopes, and hydrotopes
• Vegetation types in peatlands
• Ecological and hydrogenetic classification
• Characteristics of Central European peatland types

Lecture “Stoffhaushalt der Moore”

• Peat, peat formation
• Peat formation rates and their determination
• Peat: biomass or fossil?
• Climate effects of peatlands
• pH, soil reaction, acidity
• Redox chemistry, denitrification, pyrite formation, methanogenesis
• Water and peat chemistry
• Organic geochemistry, humus chemistry, humification, carbonization
• Permafrost

Oral exam (25 min)

International Excursion “Peatlands”

Gerald Jurasinski, John Couwenberg, Dierk Michaelis

Summer Semester

• Excursion beyond Germany (e.g., Finland, Poland, Estonia)
• Focus on peatlands and other ecosystems in the respective country
• Focus on nature conservation issues in the respective country

Gerald Jurasinski, John Couwenberg, Dierk Michaelis

Summer semester

• Excursion beyond Germany (e.g., Finland, Poland, Estonia)
• Focus on peatlands and other ecosystems in the respective country
• Focus on nature conservation issues in the respective country

Examination: Presentation (ungraded)

Gerald Jurasinski

Lecture “Peatland Science”

Summer semester

• Peatlands and peat: Definitions
• Peatland classification and terminology
• Peatland distribution
• Importance of peatlands (use, ecosystem services, biodiversity)
• Peatland conservation
• Peatlands in the landscape
• Paludiculture

Exam (60 Minutes)

Practical “Peatland field methods” 

Summer semester

• Leveling with a flexible hose scale
• Vegetation mapping
• Water level determination
• GEST derivation
• Moor drilling
• Peat characterization
• Setting and measuring water levels
• Measuring greenhouse gas fluxes
• Peat analysis
• Landscape interpretation 

Study credits: Protocol (10 pages)

John Couwenberg

Lecture/Seminar “Peatland Utilisation”

Winter semester

• Ecosystem services
• Production functions: peat, drinking water, wild plants, wild animals
• Supporting functions: space for hydroelectricity, water storage, fishing, urban development, infrastructure, military training areas
• Regulatory functions in relation to climate, hydrology, water purification, soil erosion
• Information function in relation to identity and continuity, social contacts and work, free time and recreation, beauty, symbolism, evolutionary and ecological relationships, paleo- and current ecological information, self-organization and self-regulation
• Transformation and option function: Education
• “Wise use” of peatlands: Basics, conflict analysis, limits, guidelines

Exam (60 min)

Seminar “Carbon credits from peatland rewetting”

lecture-free period in the summer semester

• Commodification of ecosystem services
• Peatlands, climate, greenhouse gases
• UNFCCC, Kyoto Protocol, REDD+, Paris Agreement
• IPCC, IPCC guidelines, IPCC guidance, IPCC reporting
• Standards, criteria, and certificates
• Practical examples
• Carbon and co-benefits: MoorFutures 2.0
• Economic aspects of carbon certificates
• Ethics and indulgences

Study credits: Certificate of participation

Franziska Tanneberger, John Couwenberg, Gerald Jurasinski

Seminar “Restoration ecology”

Winter semester

• Literature research and evaluation on ecological restoration
• Preparation and presentation of a topic
• Discussion of the presentation format and content

Examination: Presentation (20 min)

Lecture/Seminar “Peatland restoration”

Lecture-free period winter semester

• Definition of restoration
• History of peatland restoration
• Peatland degradation: history, processes, stages
• Ecosystem services and restoration goals
• Restoration for different goals (nature conservation, climate, paludiculture)
• Planning, goal setting, limitations
• Public participation and stakeholder involvement
• Financial aspects and subsidies

Study credits: Certificate of participation

John Couwenberg

Lecture “Energy and matter dynamics of peatlands”

Winter semester

• Peat, peat formation
• Peat formation rates and their determination
• Peat: biomass or fossil?
• Climate effects of peatlands
• pH, soil reaction, acidity
• Redox chemistry, denitrification, pyrite formation
• Water and peat chemistry
• Organic geochemistry, humus chemistry, humification, carbonization
• Permafrost 

Seminar “Peatland ecohydrology”

Winter semester

• Ecohydrology: Fundamentals of an application-driven discipline
• Plants, water, and peat accumulation
• Site hydrology, matter transformation processes
• Water chemistry, nutrients, and vegetation
• Indicators (Ellenberg), vegetation types
• Groundwater flow and composition
• Hydrological buffer zones and modeling
• Hydrogenetic bog types
• Self-organization and self-regulation in peatlands
• Regional relationships between peatlands, climate, water, and landscape

Examination: Oral examination (25 minutes) on module content

Dierk Michaelis

Lecture/Seminar “Palaeoecology”

Winter semester, every two years

• Time and concepts of time
• Long-term aspects of ecology, long-term research
• Philosophy and fundamentals of paleoecology
• Archives: non-stratigraphic vs. stratigraphic archives, cultural archives, natural archives
• Fossils and taphonomy: archivalia, microfossils, macrofossils, inorganic and organic substances
• Methods: historical ecology, palynology, paleobotany and dendrochronology, paleozoology, inorganic and organic geochemistry
• Dating methods

Examination: Presentation (20 minutes)

Lecture/Seminar/Practical “Quaternary palynology”

Lecture-free period during the winter semester, every two years

• Morphology of the most important Central European pollen and spore types and other remains.
• Analysis and interpretation of pollen samples using a surface transect.
• Production, emission, distribution, deposition, and sedimentation of pollen and spores.
• Pollen associations, pollen diagrams, and their interpretation.
• Palynological analysis of a peat and mud profiles
• Applied palynology: aeropalynology, vegetation history, historical plant geography, climate history, cultural history, dating
• Presentation and interpretation of own analysis results
• Integrative paleoecological case studies

Protocol (10 pages)

Dierk Michaelis

Practical course “Macrofossil analysis”

Lecture-free period in the winter semester, every two years

• Conditions for the preservation of plant residues; preservable plant species, organs, and tissues; growth modes of some peatland plants and the resulting morphology of their residues; characteristic tissue types and their differentiation
• Possibilities and limitations of peat identification in the field; peat and peatland “systematics”
• Laboratory methods
• Characteristic plant remains and their (macro-)morphological and microscopic-histological differentiation: herbaceous peatland plants, mosses, shrubs, woods and bark, fruits and seeds
• Macro-remains analysis of a peat profile

Study assignment: Protocol (10 pages)

Seminar “Peatland ecology”

Summer semester, every two years

• Study of selected topics in landscape ecology and peatland science
• Presentation of results in a presentation

Examination: Presentation (20 minutes)