PRACTICALS IN FOREST ECOLOGY AND TAXONOMY
Course Code: FBM 1302
Credit Units: 4 CU
Contact Hours: 60
Course Description
The course exposes students to practical skills in identifying, and manipulating the functions and interrelationships between animal and plant species with the biotic and/or living and the abiotic
environmental factors for sustainable forest management. Students acquire hands-on experience at
field level to identify and classify the organisms and functions at field level.
Objectives
 To enable students undertake practical work and apply appropriate Taxonomic and inventory skills
collect, analyse and present data on functions and relationships existing between organisms..
 To develop students’ field work analysis and reporting skills.
Learning Outcomes
Students should be able to:
 Use the various Taxonomic keys for identifying different organisms.
 Manipulate the ecological relations at field level for forest management.
 Use plant Presses for specimen collection.
Course Outline
Practical in Forest ecology and Taxonomy (240PH)
Mode of delivery:
Field data and specimen collections under the supervision of experienced forester/Faculty staff (240 PH)
Mode of assessment
 On-site field evaluation of competence in data collection= 20%
 Attendance and participation in the field = 20%; Weekly field report = 60%
Basic Reading List
Benzing, D. H. (1990). Vascular Epiphytes. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Chesson, P. L. and Warner, R. R. (1981). Environmental variability promotes coexistence in lottery
competitive systems. American Naturalist 117, 923–943.
Connell, J. H. (1971). On the role of natural enemies in preventing competitive exclusion in some marine
animals and in rainforest trees. In: den Boer, P. J. and Gradwell, G. R. (eds). Dynamics of
Numbers in Populations. Centre for Agricultural Publication and Documentation, Proceedings of
the Advanced Study Institute, Osterbreek, Wageningen, The Netherlands, pp. 298–312.
Connell, J. H. (1978). Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs. Science 199, 1302–1310.
Eggeling, W. J. (1947). Observations on the ecology of the Budongo rain forest,
Forsythe, A. and K. Miyata (1986). Tropical Nature. Scribners, Inc., New York.
Givnish, T. J. (1999). On the causes of gradients in tropical tree diversity. Journal of Ecology 87, 192–210.
Hamilton, A. C. (1982). Environmental History of East Africa. Pp. 328 Academic Press, New York.