Macroecology

The course Macroecology addresses key questions about large-scale biodiversity patterns, such as why species richness is higher in the tropics or how climate change affects species distributions. Students gain practical skills in macroecological research, analyzing biogeographic and ecological data to model species richness and distributions, and exploring conservation applications. Through individual projects, students apply these methods and present their findings in both written and oral formats. The course also includes seminar discussions on classical and current literature. By the end, students understand the principles and methods of macroecology, can analyze spatio-temporal biodiversity patterns in relation to environmental factors, and critically assess the strengths and limitations of macroecological approaches for conservation.