This course introduces plant ecology. Through lectures, exercises and excursions, students will gain a broad vision of the cutting edge topics that are being researched and studied at the Department of Environmental Systems Science at ETH and WSL. This will be the base for a future dialog between the field of landscape architecture and the field of sciences.
Learning objective
Students acquire basic knowledge in plant ecology focusing in its application in the field of landscape architecture. Temporal and physical scale, research methods, units of measurement, lexicon, modes of representation and critical literature form the framework for the joint discourse.
Content
The fundamental course “Plant Ecology” is an introduction to the field of living systems, starting with the history of ecology, followed by an introduction to plant physiology. The course will also introduce students to the specifics of the rhizosphere, disturbance ecology and forests. Lastly, the course will focus on the specifics of tree structure and function.
Lecture notes
Course material will be provided.
Literature
The course material includes a reading list.
Prerequisites / Notice
The fundamental course is organized with the Fundamental Studio I as a joint two-week module. The weekly schedule is provided with the course documents.