Do you want to develop the skills and knowledge needed to help preserve tropical coastal ecosystems? These habitats provide goods and services for hundreds of millions of people but human activities have led to their global decline. TROPIC101x will introduce you to the incredible plants and animals that create these unique ecosystems. You will go on to explore the challenges these ecosystems are facing such as overfishing, coastal pollution, ocean warming and acidification, then learn about some techniques being used to tackle these problems. Lectures will be delivered by leading experts. Many of them were filmed on-site in the Great Barrier Reef, at The University of Queensland's research station on Heron Island. The course concludes with an innovative virtual ecology project, where you will have the option to take part in a citizen science project. Join us on an exciting journey, as you develop new knowledge and skills, during this beautiful and engaging course!

What you'll learn

A basic understanding of the value, vulnerability, dynamics and sustainable management of tropical coastal ecosystems
Basic experimental design skills plus some simple analytical and statistical techniques
An understanding and appreciation of the local and global threats to tropical coastal ecosystems
An understanding and practical use of spatial planning tools
The process of designing and implementing an experiment in a virtualecology project