Last modified: 23 Jul 2024 11:08
This advanced soil science course provides additional teaching of physical, chemical and biological properties of soils in the context of food security and climate change. You will learn a variety of processes that affect soil productivity, accompanied by practical sessions that will teach relevant analytical methods. Plant interactions with soil, in the context of food security and land restoration, are major course topics.
There are two practical sessions with assignments, a debate and a final exam.
| Study Type | Undergraduate | Level | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Term | First Term | Credit Points | 15 credits (7.5 ECTS credits) |
| Campus | Aberdeen | Sustained Study | No |
| Co-ordinators |
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The course examines soil conditions in relation to environmental sustainability and food security. This will be put into context of soil management, inherent soil properties and major limiting factors such as water availability.
The first stage will consider the soil physical environment through aspects of structure, mechanical behaviour and the relationship with water. This will be supplemented with practical laboratory work to examine the impact of inherent soil properties and soil management.
The soil chemical environment will focus on plant nutrients and environmental challenges such as salinity. There will be complementary laboratory work and data processing. Further teaching will explore biological processes in the root zone, including microbiology, resource capture by roots and tropic interactions between plants and other organisms.
The final stage will be to integrate the first two parts with the plant environment with a specific emphasis on crop productivity and wider environmental impacts. The impacts of increasing food production on the environment will also be considered.
Main Learning Outcomes:
• An understanding of the underpinning factors of the soil physical and chemical environment.
• An ability to develop experimental procedures to analyse the soil physical and chemical environment.
• The capability of processing data associated with soil physical and chemical measurements and an understanding of the limitations and uncertainties associated with such data.
• The ability to integrate the plant environment with soil physical, biological and chemical parameters.
• A working knowledge of the interaction between crops and different soil physical, biological and chemical parameters, building to a broader global understanding of food security issues related to soil.
Taught topics covered include:
• Soils in the context of food security
• The soil physical environment
• Interactions between plant roots and soil physical processes
• The soil chemical and biological environment for plant growth
• Nutrients and plant-soil interactions
• Stresses affecting food security, including salinity and environmental change
• Environmental modelling of soils for security
| Description | Value |
|---|---|
| Students should possess a Howie laboratory coat and safety glasses. Further details of requirements can be found on the course's MyAberdeen page. The cost listed here is approximate. | 23.0000 |
Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 25 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
Students will get generic verbal feedback on each laboratory report and during tutorials in relation to progress on tasks. Each student will receive individual feedback and a grade for each laboratory report. Feedback will be provided as written comments. |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 40 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback | ||||
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
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| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 25 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
Students will get generic verbal feedback on each laboratory report and during tutorials in relation to progress on tasks. Each student will receive individual feedback and a grade for each laboratory report. Feedback will be provided as written comments. |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
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| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 10 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
Students will get generic verbal feedback on each laboratory report and during tutorials in relation to progress on tasks. Each student will receive individual feedback and a grade for each laboratory report. Feedback will be provided as written comments. |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
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There are no assessments for this course.
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
Students will repeat whichever elements of the assessment were failed or not completed at first sitting; the marks for elements already passed will be carried forwards. |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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| Factual | Remember | ILO’s for this course are available in the course guide. |
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