Name of course:Quantitative Plant Ecology
ECTS credits: 5
Course parameters:
Language:English
Level of course:PhD course
Time of year: Fall 2016
No. of contact hours/hours in total incl. preparation, assignment or the like: 35/80
Capacity limits: 16 participants
Objectives of the course:The PhD students will be introduced to state-space models and structural equation models, which are becoming increasingly popular for fitting ecological models to empirical data. The aim of the course is to introduce the students to i) the applied use of likelihood functions and Bayesian statistics in plant ecology, ii) setting up advanced statistical models with latent parameters, and iii) making quantitative predictions with a known degree of uncertainty.
Learning outcomes and competences:
At the end of the course, the student should be able to:
- assess the possible value of using advanced Bayesian methods in the students own scientific work
- critically evaluate scientific literature using advanced statistical models
Compulsory programme:preparation, active participation, assignment
Course contents:
- Introduction to plant abundance data
- Introduction to likelihood functions typically used in plant ecology
- State-space and structural equation models
- Fitting models to ecological data using Bayesian MCMC methods
- Ecological prediction
Prerequisites:Plant ecology, population ecology, statistics
Name of lecturer:Christian Damgaard(
Type of course/teaching methods:seminars and exercises
Literature:Electronic notes and supplementary original literature.In the course the software Mathematica will be used. Before the course the student should have installed Mathematica on his or her portable computer and have followed some of the tutorials at “ The software can be bought from “ (student prize ca. 800 kr.), but it can also be downloaded as a free 15-day trial version, which will be sufficient to follow the course (do not download the free trial-version before two days prior to the start of the course).
Course homepage:None
Course assessment:Personalized reports (approximately 20-40 pages, corresponding to a work load of 20 hours outside, and in the week after the end of the scheduled classes) has to be completed and submitted for approval (pass/fail).
Provider:Department of Bioscience
Special comments on this course:There is a small fee to cover lunch etc. All other expenses for accommodation and travel are paid by the individual PhD student.
Time:14/11 – 18/11
Place:Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Vejlsøvej 25, DK-8600 Silkeborg, Denmark
Registration:Deadline for registration is 1/11 2016.
For registration: Christian Damgaard, e-mail:
If you have any questions, please contact Christian Damgaard, e-mail:
Course Program
The topics of the 5 days are as detailed below, and each topic starts with a lecture followed by computer exercises which are carried out in teams of two-three participants. Each participant has to produce a personalized report of the exercises. During the course, the participants should be prepared to work outside the scheduled classes in order to complete the computer exercises.
Monday
10:00 – 10:15Coffee
10:15 – 12:00Lecture 1: Welcome, Introduction to Course and Mathematica
12:00 – 13:00Lunch
13:00 – 15:00Lecture 2: Plant abundance data
15:00 – 15:15Coffee
15:15 – 16:00Discussion
19:00Course Dinner
Tuesday
08:30 – 10:00Lecture 3: Likelihood functions typically used in plant ecology
10:00 – 10:15Coffee
10:15 – 12:00Computer Exercises
12:00 – 13:00Lunch
13:00 – 15:00Lecture 4: Likelihood functions typically used in plant ecology
15:00 – 15:15Coffee
15:15 – 16:00Computer Exercises
Wednesday
08:30 – 10:00Lecture 5: State-space and structural equation models
10:00 – 10:15Coffee
10:15 – 12:00Computer Exercises
12:00 – 13:00Lunch
13:00 – 15:00Computer Exercises
15:00 – 15:15Coffee
15:15 – 16:00Computer Exercises
Thursday
08:30 – 10:00Lecture 6: Fitting models to ecological data using Bayesian MCMC methods
10:00 – 10:15Coffee
10:15 – 12:00Computer Exercises
12:00 – 13:00Lunch
13:00 – 15:00Computer Exercises
15:00 – 15:15Coffee
15:15 – 16:00Lecture 7: Ecological predictions
Friday
08:30 – 10:00Lecture 8: Presenting other cases
10:00 – 10:15Coffee
10:15 – 12:00Student Discussion of Papers
12:00 – 13:00Lunch
13:00 – 14:00Evaluation and departure
Next MondaySubmission of final report by e-mail to Christian Damgaard ()
Til annoncering på webside – til boks i øverste højre hjørne:
PLEASE NOTE
Deadline for registration is 1/11 2016.
If you have any questions, Christian Damgaard, e-mail: