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  6. SS5305: Soils for Food Security

SS5305: SOILS FOR FOOD SECURITY (2016-2017)

Last modified: 28 Jun 2018 10:27


Course Overview

 

This advanced soil science course provides additional teaching of physical, chemical and biological properties of soils in the context of food security. You will learn a variety of processes that affect soil productivity, accompanied by practical sessions that will teach relevant analytical methods. The wide range of soil processes taught will be brought together at the end of the course to provide a working knowledge of agronomy, including the interactions between crops and specific chemical or physical properties of soils.

Course Details

Study Type Postgraduate Level 5
Term First Term Credit Points 15 credits (7.5 ECTS credits)
Campus Old Aberdeen Sustained Study No
Co-ordinators
  • Professor Paul Hallett
  • Dr Gareth Norton
  • Professor Graeme Paton

Qualification Prerequisites

None.

What courses & programmes must have been taken before this course?

  • One of MRes Ecology & Environmental Sustainability or MRes Applied Marine and Fisheries Ecology or MRes Environmental Science or MRes Soil Science or MSc Ecology & Environmental Sustainability or MSc Applied Marine and Fisheries Ecology or Master Of Science In Ecology & Conservation or MSc Forestry (Taught) or MSc Soil Science or MSc Environmental Science or MSci Biological Sciences
  • Either Any Postgraduate Programme (Studied) or BI4015 Grant Proposal (Passed)

What other courses must be taken with this course?

None.

What courses cannot be taken with this course?

  • PL3309 Soils for Food Security (Studied)

Are there a limited number of places available?

No

Course Description

The course examines soil conditions in relation to environmental sustainability and food security.  This will be 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 pH, mineralogy, exchange sites and nutrient/ trace nutrient availability. Contrasting soil types will be used to underpin these concepts. There will be complementary laboratory and field work and data processing.
  • The final stage will be to integrate the first two parts with the plant environment with a specific emphasis on agronomy. The impacts of increasing food production on the environment will also be considered.

Associated Costs

None


Contact Teaching Time

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

Teaching Breakdown

More Information about Week Numbers


Details, including assessments, may be subject to change until 30 August 2024 for 1st term courses and 20 December 2024 for 2nd term courses.

Summative Assessments


The assessment for this course is 100% continual assessment. The assessments are based on three assignments related to the practical sessions with a strong emphasis on data analysis, statistical applications and summarizing large volumes of information.

Formative Assessment

The field trips, tutorials and practical sessions will provide opportunities for student-student and student-instructor interaction. Formative assessment will be provided during these interactions.

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.

Course Learning Outcomes

None.
 

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