MSc./PgDip. in Biodiversity and Conservation
On this page:
- Course Description
- Teaching Modules
- Entrance Requirements
- Further Information
Course Description
This course will provide in-depth training and experience for those looking to further their career in various aspects of biodiversity and its conservation, for students wishing to pursue further post-graduate research in this area, and for professionals already working in conservation biology wishing to obtain relevant qualifications. The course will be taught in modules, and these are grouped into theoretical components, practical research skills, and modules dealing with individual desk and experimental research projects. Students may omit the individual research project to be awarded a Post-graduate Diploma, those wishing to obtain the degree of Master in Science must complete a four month individual research project.
The School of Natural Sciences has considerable research and teaching capability in biodiversity and conservation, and the course will be taught by staff who are actively engaged in a variety of relevant research projects. Staff from relevant State agencies and institutions who are active in the practical application of conservation science, and biodiversity and conservation policy, will also make contributions to the course teaching. In Spring there will be a residential field course based in Kenya, focusing on practical aspects of biodiversity conservation (the cost of this course is not included in the course fees).
The course will be taught through a variety of methods - lectures, practicals, field-based learning, guided reading and discussion groups and web-based methods. A variety of assessment procedures will also be adopted - essay writing, oral presentations, web-based tests, examinations and assessment of dissertations. The approach will be to develop, progressively, a high degree of independent thinking and academic excellence in students completing the course, providing a smooth transition for those entering both directly from undergraduate degrees, and for those entering the course from industry.
Teaching Modules
Semester One
Introduction to Biodiversity topics
- Definition and measurement of biodiversity
- The biodiversity hierarchy- community, species, genes
- Global biodiversity hotspots
- Rates of biodiversity loss
- Socio-economic aspects of biodiversity
Environmental Policies
- Environmental legislation and its implementation
- Environmental impact assessment
- Integrated pollution control
- National and European biodiversity policy
Introduction to Conservation Biology
- Introduction to population biology
- Population viability analysis
- Island biogeography
- Extinction threats
- In situ and ex situ conservation
- Ecology of mutualisms
Human impacts with biodiversity
- Habitat loss and fragmentation
- Invasive non-native species
- Pollution
- Over-exploitation
- Sustainability
Semester Two
Desk Study: Presentation and reporting
- Introduction to reviewing literature
- Writing reports
- Presenting information
- Desk study topic to be researched and presented in written form and orally
Students learning practical physiological ecology in shrubby vegetation on Gran Canaria.
Data Handling and Analysis
- Distributions, descriptive statistics, t-tests, chi-squared, correlation
- Experimental design, ANOVA and regression
- Multivariate methods- ordination, classification, cladistics etc
Taxonomy and Systematics
- Principles of systematics (theory)
- Angiosperm systematics and taxonomy (theory)
- Arthropod systematics and taxonomy (theory)
- Practical plant identification
- Practical invertebrate identification
- Using fossil material
Project Planning
- Workshop: Presentation of project titles
- Initial literature search
- Workshop: preparing a grant application
- Presentation of research hypotheses and methods
Loading of illegally logged timber in Sumatra.
Impacts of climate change on Biodiversity
- Biogeography
- Paleoecology
- Ecosystem dynamics
- Climate change scenarios
- Biotic responses to climate change
Overseas field course topics
- Field trip overseas- South Africa
Practical Conservation Biology
- Policy implementation
- Monitoring methods
- GIS
- Practical skills
Summer (End September hand in)
Research project (dissertation)
- Research project
Researchers reintroducing plants of Otanthus maritimus to a former site in Co. Wexford. Otanthus is critically endangered in Ireland and is here at the limit of its global distribution. This and many other conservation projects involve close collaboration between National Parks & Wildlife Service and the School of Natural Sciences.
Entrance Requirements
Applications for admission are accepted from
- holders of first or upper-second class honors degrees awarded by recognised universities and institutions, and recognised degree awarding bodies (e.g. NCEA, CNAA);
- holders of other degrees from recognised universities or degree granting institutions who have experienced at least three years of appropriate employment;
- holders of recognised professional qualifications obtained through examinations who have spent four years at least in study and who, in addition, have been employed for two years at least in the work of their profession;
- holders of diplomas obtained through examinations who have spent three years at least in full-time study at a recognised third-level educational institution and who, in addition, have experienced a minimum of five years appropriate employment.
Applicants whose first language is not English must submit evidence of competency in English in a test administered by an institution independent of their own university (e.g. the British Council).
Applications must be made online. For further information on applying to taught courses in Trinity College, see Trinity Graduate Studies. The closing date for applications is June 1st 2012. Late applications from well-qualified applicants may be considered provided all the places on the course have not been allocated.
For further information on applications to taught courses in Trinity College, see: http://www.tcd.ie/Graduate_Studies/prospectivestudents/index.php.
Further information
Course Director: Dr Steve Waldren
Email: swaldren@tcd.ie
Further information on the course and the School of Natural Sciences is available from The School Administrator
Tel.: +353-1-8962920
Email: schnatsc@tcd.ie
For further information on life in Trinity College, see http://www.tcdlife.ie/
For maps of the College campus and central Dublin, see http://www.tcd.ie/Maps/
For information about Dublin, see http://www.dublin.ie/