EU CHOICE 7

The expansion of the urban environment is causing fragmentation/destruction of natural habitats, conservation problems and a change in the relationship between man and nature. However, urban areas can also harbor significant biodiversity in close proximity to humans, which can then be used for conservation, awareness raising, human welfare enhancement and even therapeutic purposes. It is a challenge to work in ecology while denying the existence and consequences of the urban environment and its particularities. The aim of this course is to help future professionals in the field of ecology to find a compromise between urban development and respect for nature. Through courses given by various professionals and an outing in Montpellier, the student will discover where (associations, research departments, communities, ...), with whom and how an ecologist can act in urban ecology.

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"I - Physical characterization and biogeochemical cycles of coastal marine ecosystems II - Biodiversity and functioning of coastal marine ecosystems III - Law of the coast and the sea; Uses, conflicts and integrated management of the coastal zone. This course offers students a systemic approach to the study of coastal marine ecosystems from a multidisciplinary perspective. The physical structure of these ecosystems will be addressed through courses on their geomorphology and hydrology with a particular interest in the hydric couplings with the open sea and their watersheds. Their biogeochemistry will be addressed in particular to describe the fluxes of carbon and nutrients through the water and sediment compartments. Several aspects of their biodiversity will be illustrated to describe the importance of these ecosystems as a living environment for the species they support and in particular the role of this biodiversity in their functioning will be discussed. The coastal zone is densely populated by humans (40% of the world population). Particular interest will be given to human uses (e.g. aquaculture) and their territorial planning and in particular the evaluation of their ecosystem services in an economic context, management and protection measures (e.g. Marine Protected Areas, Natura 2000) and professionals in the management of these environments will present feedback from concrete experiences. Finally, the implications of the law of the sea for the management of the coastal zone will be taught. "

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The courses present 4 aspects of Conservation Biology based on current scientific research in this discipline:  

1. Introduction to Biodiversity Conservation(BC): Definition of Conservation Biology Why conserve biodiversity? Who are the main actors in CB and the role of science in CB. 
2. Species conservation: What are the priority species? How to conserve species? How do you know if a species is "well conserved"? 
3. Space conservation: What are the priority spaces? How to conserve spaces? 
4. Does conservation work?Importance of social acceptability and political commitment. Need for biodiversity indicators and measuring the impact of conservation. 

Students also complete a group assignment in which they present a SA project around the questions: why, what, where, how, how much does it cost and how do we know if it is effective? 

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River Engineering, River Morphology, Hydraulic Modeling, Flows, Hydraulic Works, Flooding, Impacts and Compensation
Discipline: Free Surface Hydraulics

This course provides students with solid skills in hydraulic modeling. The student learns the equations of free surface hydraulics in steady state and non-stationary. They learn how to go from the study field to the hydraulic model: by making topographic and hydrometric measurements, by observing hydraulic indices (flood marks, hydrogeomorphological formations, hydraulic jumps...) and then by establishing in situ hypotheses of river functioning.
Several scales can be explored depending on the chosen subject: the habitat scale, the developed reach scale, the flooding river scale. For each scale, students can study and implement specific structures (fish ladders, lateral weirs, weirs, dams, etc.) in their modeling. The impacts of the developments, maintenance and structures are simulated and analyzed in terms of hydrodynamics and hydraulic continuity.
The study is deployed on the same concrete case, from the field phase to the phase of presentation of the impacts of the developments, through modeling. The work is done in groups.

A field trip allows the students to analyze the terrain and conceptualize it in a topographic and hydraulic model. Hypotheses of in situ functioning are made and they will be confronted with the models and results.

Finally, the course offers students an analysis based on a real case of development or intervention in a watercourse, with an evaluation of the initial state, an analysis of the impacts of the intervention, and proposals for hydraulic compensation if necessary.

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Sustainable development, ERC sequence, green, blue, turquoise grid.

The aim is to present the regulatory and technical frameworks for integrating the environment into projects, plans and programs. The sequence Avoid, Reduce, Compensate, its stakes, the actors involved, will be presented, discussed and illustrated. The green and blue frames and their interface with the turquoise frame will be analyzed as tools for improving the preservation of biodiversity in land management and development operations.
The students will have to step back from the methods and know-how used to apply this ERC sequence in different fields, linked to plans, developments, programs and having impacts on the environment.

A field trip is an opportunity to meet the actors, the ERC actions deployed, to draw a diagnosis and perspectives.

The applications will focus on the turquoise frame associating biodiversity law and water law file and on the ERC deployment of the development file.

Finally, the EU offers learners a real critical analysis of know-how and the production of innovative and integrative solutions.

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Behavioral Ecology approaches the study of behavior from an evolutionary perspective to study the mechanisms, function, and contribution of behavior to evolutionary and ecological processes. The work carried out in Behavioral Ecology helps to understand other phenomena observed in other disciplines of life biology, because all animals, from unicellulars to the most complex vertebrates, exhibit behaviors.

The module allows students to be exposed to the different basic concepts, as well as to the multitude of tools that can be used (observations and experiments in natural populations or on captive individuals, comparative analyses, use of tools from modeling, ecophysiology, molecular biology, biochemistry, embedded electronics...). Part of the training is based on specific discussions on the research approaches that can be used, the tools used and the limits of inferences that can be made. An active participation of the students will be required at these different levels, notably through critical discussions of articles.

The topics covered range from the exploration of food procurement strategies, mate choice, habitat choice, investment in reproduction, to the study of animal communication and the reasons for living in groups. The historical dimension of the discipline is addressed in the introduction, but also according to the sensibility of the speakers and the themes addressed (meaning and relations between 'Animal Behaviour', 'Ethology', Behavioral Ecology etc...).

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Management of the Aquatic Environment and Flood Prevention
Discipline: Ecology, Hydraulics

This teaching unit allows students to immerse themselves in a real case study, in the field, related to the GEMAPI competence. Actors and managers will be met on the study site in order to appreciate the stakes and the complexity of the territory. The groups of students will work on a concrete project to bring together the management of the aquatic environment and the prevention of floods respectful of ecology, the environment and man. This teaching unit will be an opportunity to implement the knowledge and skills acquired during the previous teaching (ecology, hydraulics, legislation, land use planning...)

The study is deployed on the same concrete case, from the field phase to the presentation phase of the impacts of the developments, through modeling, analysis or concerted management. The work is done in groups.

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The aim of this course is to provide elements of knowledge in law and governance on land use planning, the consideration of biodiversity in environmental law, the awakening of management on the ontologies of the relationship of societies to living organisms. This course is particularly useful for future environmental managers, both at the national and local levels.

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This UE is based on the same pedagogical project as the UE "Salon de l'écologie-1": the organization and participation in the two events "Festi'Versité" and "Salon National de l'Ecologie" (see sheet "Salon de l'écologie-1").

The specificity of the "Salon de l'écologie-2" course lies in the roles and implications of the students in their mission of assistance to the project managers of the two events. In this UE, they are involved in positions of responsibility as administrators of one of the partner student associations: president, treasurer, communication manager, logistics manager, eco-responsibility manager, festivities manager, congress manager, forum manager. They will coordinate the highlights of the events, the actions of the different teams and the work of the students and volunteers involved in the implementation through the EU "Ecology Fair 1".

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The module presents lessons around the identification, quantification and modeling of interactions between climate, marine species and their exploitation.

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The goals of this course are to deepen the key concepts related to climate change, to illustrate important concepts in ecology and evolution in the light of climate change, in many different ecosystems, and to synthesize the different scientific and societal questions and issues raised by CC.

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Climate change, global changes, Prospects, Adaptation, Resilience, Hydrology modeling, Future climate simulation, Water resource availability, Extreme events, Impacts on ecosystems, ecological issues

This course provides students with an introduction to the climatic, environmental and anthropic changes that impact our hydro-eco-socio-systems today and tomorrow.

The activities offer a focus on certain aspects, not exhaustive, of this vast field whose knowledge is constantly evolving.

Beyond the presentation of issues, figures and concepts, students learn about hydrological modeling tools that allow the development of future scenarios of resource evolution. They analyze a concrete subject by crossing disciplines and approaches. They discuss the possibilities of adapting to the impacts of changes.

The activities consist of 3 parts: The course activity, the modeling activity, and the bibliography activity.

- During the course, the principles of climate modeling, the construction of climate change scenarios and their limits are explained. The orders of magnitude of the main changes are stated, as well as the major issues of sustainable development, climate change and global change. A particular focus is proposed around the French Mediterranean watersheds (climate change hot spot, decreasing availability of water resources, agricultural practices and adaptations, irrigation, tourism...).

- The concepts of hydrological modeling and calibration in a non-stationary or poorly gauged context are taught and an introduction to hydrological modeling is carried out with an application case. The students manipulate general hydrological models allowing to evaluate flows and balances (of type GR, HEC-HMS or WEAP), to feed them with outputs of climatic models, to generate future scenarios of flow and balance, then to criticize the scenarios thus built. The modeling work done in small groups is the subject of an oral presentation.

- Finally, the bibliography done in class and completed independently should allow students to specialize around a concrete case of the study of a change occurring in a compartment of a natural or urbanized hydro-eco-system (that the students choose). They carry out a literature review to identify the societal or environmental issues arising from these changes, as well as the scientific questions inherent in the implementation of measures to reduce their impacts or to adapt. They must identify how their case study is similar to other cases, but also how it differs from them. Finally, they open their analysis to a more general methodology that can be applied to other case studies to characterize these changes, their impacts and the adaptation measures. The students write

a synthetic note for operational purposes (bibliography, similar studies, controversies, operational tools, protocols, orders of magnitude). Then they make a pitch of their results to the class.

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The objective of this course is to introduce students to:
1. the functioning of communication services of different types of organizations involved in the field of research and scientific culture or its application (research institutes, local authorities, associations, NGOs, companies, etc.)
2. the methodology for developing a communication strategy and plan as well as a press kit.
The teaching will be based on the interventions of communication services managers of different organizations and on tutorials leading the students to analyze and design communication strategies and plans and to write press kits from real projects submitted by the communication services managers.

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