Tropical Biodiversity and Ecosystems (Erasmus Mundus, start in Brussels)
This study track is composed as follows:
Semester 1: Basic and specialised introductory courses
Semester 2: In situ experience and specialised field courses
Semester 3: In-depth specialisation semester
Semester 4: Joint master's thesis
In the first semester, students start at the VUB/ULB to acquire similar competences. In the second semester, field experience and courses will take place in a university in a non-EU country. The third semester will cover a specialisation in a European university, different from the first one. Courses vary this semester. In the fourth semester, students return to where they started out for their thesis research.
In each semester, the student is able to choose a course outside the list and in relation to the specialisation provided approval of the jury and of the Tropimundo Steering Board.
Master of Science in Biology: Tropical Biodiversity and Ecosystems
Semester 1: Basic and specialised introductory courses - VUB/ULB Brussels
Compulsory courses (Brussels Courses)
Electives (Brussels Courses)
You choose a total of 15 credits of courses from the following options:
Semester 2: In situ experience and specialised field courses
During the second semester in situ field experience and courses will take place in one of the universities in the south with their specific expertises:
- Université des Antilles (UdA), France: Insular ecology in the tropics (biogeography, terrestrial and semi-terrestrial forests)
- Université de Dschang in Dschang, Cameroon (UDsch): African tropical rainforests and woodlands (sustainable management of forests resources, identification, characterisation and domestication of non-timber forest products, biodiversity evaluation and characterisation)
- Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT): tropical coastal forests, mangroves, seagrasses, coral reefs
- Université d'Antananarivo (ANIVANTA): Ecology of fauna and flora of Madagascar (systematics, physiology, anatomy, evolutionary ecology and adaptation), socio-ecological and behavioural science (primatology, ethnobotany)
- University of Hong Kong (HKU): Rocky shore ecology (behavioural and physiological adaptations of fauna), coral reef ecology (anthropogenic impacts on coral reefs), mangrove ecology (crab and vegetation ecology), seagrass and subtidal ecology (impact of ocean acidification), terrestrial ecology (entomofaunal ecology), freshwater ecology (pollution and other human disturbance), urban ecology (animal biodiversity in cities and behavioural consequences)
- Technical University of Mombasa (TUM)
- Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia (UDEA)
- Université de la Nouvelle Calédonie (UNC)
Compulsory
Field school
You select one of the following options (depending on the tropimundo trajectory)
Tropical biodiversity and ecosystems field school: biodiversity and habitats of the South-Pacific ar
15
Tropical biodiversity and ecosystems field school: South-East Asian terrestrial & coastal ecosystems
15
Tropical biodiversity & ecosystems field school: Trop forest ecosyst of Reunion & SWIndian Ocean isl
15
Tropical biodiversity and ecosystems field school: from montane to coastal ecosystems and landscapes
15
Semester 3: In-depth specialisation semester
The Sorbonne Université, Paris (SU) and the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris (MNHN)
3
Florence: UniversitĂ degli Studi di Firenze
Université de la Guyane
Semester 4: Joint Master's thesis
Total number of ECTS
120