Ecosystem biology

The follow-up Master's degree programme in Ecosystem Biology provides education of students in the problems and methods of contemporary ecology, focusing primarily on the mechanisms determining the character and behaviour of ecological systems. These include functional relationships and processes in ecosystems and watersheds, biogeochemical and biological cycles, basic stoichiometric principles, and relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem function. Emphasis is placed on the study of the impact of environmental change and anthropogenic stresses on nutrient and energy fluxes and interactions in ecological communities. An understanding of the theoretical foundations and principles of the field, necessary for developing applications, forms a common general knowledge base for all students in the program.
Due to the breadth of topics and the different methodological approach, the programme includes three main streams: ecological analysis and modelling, hydrobiology and soil biology. The Ecological Analysis and Modelling strand covers the more general aspects of the study of processes within ecosystems, with an emphasis on the interactions between organisms and their environment. It emphasises the integration of the theoretical foundations of the field with experimental work, the ability to evaluate relationships statistically, describe and model them mathematically, and to use models to predict the behaviour of organisms in an ecosystem under different conditions (with particular emphasis on global climate change and anthropogenic pollution). Hydrobiology focuses on freshwater ecosystems, the interactions between organisms within food webs and the relationships between the aquatic ecosystem and its catchment, explaining the mechanisms of processes as the basis for modifying and controlling the evolution of the freshwater ecosystem in a desirable direction. Soil biology focuses in particular on the processes of nutrient transformation, greenhouse gas production, the formation and stabilisation of soil organic matter, the role of soil organisms in these processes and their interaction with other components of the soil environment, vegetation and the aquatic environment.