Learning goals
- You know the habitat characteristics on which you have influence as a manager (forest structure, dead wood, species composition).
- You know how to assess the current habitat quality.
Important note! Throughout the course, we use the European habitat type 9160 'Sub-Atlantic and medio-European oak or oak-hornbeam forests of the Carpinion betuli' (opent nieuw venster)as a working example.
Lesson 1: getting to know the characteristics of a forest habitat on which the manager has an influence (approx. 20 min)
Good habitat quality requires a good status of different habitat characteristics. Some characteristics are difficult to influence as a local manager such as air quality, food richness, acreage. Through the interactive figure(opent nieuw venster) you get to know the habitat characteristics you can influence through your management. View the info in the numbered order with possible links.
Lesson 2: acquiring knowledge of species through microlearning (5 min, daily)
Species knowledge of the herb layer is needed to identify habitat types and assess habitat quality. Learning to recognize species is something you do best by practicing outdoors, but we offer a microlearning alternative here.
During the duration of your online training you can get to know a species on a daily basis by means of an email with recognition tips. Here you can see a first example of a 'spotlight on species'(opent nieuw venster).
Quiz after lesson 2: test your species knowledge
Lesson 3: measurement protocol for habitat characteristics (5 min)
In the first video you will learn how to estimate the relative coverage of plant species during a vegetation recording. In the second video you learn how to measure tree circumference. Both characteristics are part of the quality assessment of vegetation.
Video 'vegetation recording'(opent nieuw venster)
Video 'tree measuring'(opent nieuw venster)
Note for tree circumference: with a tree caliper you measure the diameter and with measuring tape you measure circumference. You can convert between one and the other via the formula 'circumference = diameter x pi'.
Lesson 4: learning to work with a quality assessment sheet for forest habitats (15 min)
In this lesson you will learn the quality assessment sheet for habitat type 9160 by means of an interactive figure(opent nieuw venster). With the material in the previous lessons of this module you should now have a good idea of how to fill it out.