Course Contents

• Ecosystems, basic characteristics of ecosystems, Levels of Organisation: From Species to Ecosystems, Types of ecosystems - Introduction
• Forest Ecosystems: Importance, types of forests, functioning of forest ecosystem
• Vegetation sampling techniques – field data collection
• Maps, cartography, Geographic information system
• Spatial data – Introduction, brief introduction to Remote sensing, GIS
• Remote sensing data classification - Assessment of different land uses
• Field Data collection – Quantification of biomass (transect based quadrat sampling)
• Carbon sequestration, quantification of carbon sequestered in the terrestrial biomass
• Understanding pollination services, seed dispersal services, groundwater recharge
• Soil – types, characterization, soil degradation, conservation and management
• Watershed, flood plains, buffer zone – treatment and management
• Understanding vegetation, hydrology, ecology and biodiversity linkages
• Quantification of Ecosystem Goods and Services
• Valuation of Goods and Services
• Provisioning services, Regulating Services from Forest Ecosystem, Information services
• Field data collection – quantification
• Guest lectures and presentation of working group (participants),
• Waste management (mandatory)

Learners (GSDP participants) on successful
completion of the courses will be able to:

• demonstrate an informed understanding of techniques for ecosystem monitoring (grid based approach), ecosystem condition assessment
• describe basic ecosystem assessment techniques, and their applications in conservation
• prepare or co-ordinate ecosystem assessments
• Carry out spatial analyses (vector and raster data)
• Implement land use land cover assessment
• Identify natural resources important regions in a district based on the attribute data (compiled from field as well as secondary sources)
• Carryout valuation of ecosystem goods and services (select)

Skill Development

The course will empower the candidates in
(i) field data collection – Grid based monitoring (chosen for NES)
(ii) spatial analyses – mapping and collection of attribute information
(iii) remote sensing data analyses
(iv) quantification of ecosystem goods and select services
(v) valuation of ecosystem goods – provisioning services Whom will the course benefit
GSDP aids in the capacity building of unemployed youth (graduates – science, economics and engineering) and students pursuing PG /Ph.D, In-service working professionals (forest department, biodiversity board and NGO’s)