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ESC-30142 - Module Specification
School of Life Sciences
Faculty of Natural Sciences

For academic year: 2025/26 Last Updated: 04 December 2025

ESC-30142 - Professional Environmental Field Skills
Coordinator: Peter Lawrence
Lecture Time: See Timetable...
Level: Level 6
Credits: 30
Study Hours: 300
School Office: 01782 734414

Programme/Approved Electives for 2025/26

None

Available as a Free Standing Elective

No

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

ESC-20108 Environmental Impact Assessment

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2025/26

There is currently a graduate skills shortage within the ecology and conservation sector. This module aims to address that shortage by providing you with the specialist ecological identification and survey expertise that are so desperately needed. The specialist knowledge you acquire will be supported by a critical understanding of different ecological survey techniques and a deep taxonomic and evolutionary understanding of plant and animal lifeforms.
As part of the module, you will also get the opportunity to complete a FISC, giving you an additional qualification to go alongside your degree. A FISC is a botany test during which your plant identification skills are assessed and graded (grades 0-7). FISC certificates are valued highly by employers in the ecology sector, and this module aims to help you obtain a FISC level of 3, enabling you to carry out Phase 1 (UKHab) habitat surveys.

Aims
This module builds on the broad field skills developed at levels four and five across the environmental science programmes by providing students with specialist ecological identification and field survey skills. Students will learn about, implement and critically evaluate (and communicate) ecological field survey techniques for multiple taxa, including plants, invertebrates, mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles to a variety of audiences.
There will be a particular focus on animals, plants and habitats protected under UK legislation. The primary aim of this module is to provide students with the opportunity to obtain specialist plant and animal identification skills. These specialist skills will be underpinned by a general taxonomic understanding of the diagnostic differences between the major plant and animal phyla.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Deploy taxonomic knowledge to distinguish between different plant and animal phyla.: 1,3
Develop specialist identification skills of plants from a specific habitat and specialist identification skills for one animal taxon.: 1,3
Implement and communicate a range of standard and cutting-edge field survey techniques used within the ecology and conservation sector.: 2,3
Critically evaluate the pros and cons of different ecology and conservation survey techniques.: 2,3

Study hours

The active learning hours for the module = 80 hrs
12 x 5hr – weekly workshops, laboratory and fieldwork sessions
5 x 4hr – workshops and field sessions
The independent learning hours for the module = 220 hrs
60 hrs preparing for animal taxon-specific identification assessment (Assessment 1)
70 hrs working on the herbarium and poster and preparing for the poster session (Assessment 2)
90 hrs on Ecological Survey Methods Portfolio (Assessment 3)

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment

1: Class Test weighted 25%
Animal taxon-specific identification assessment
Students will undergo an identification test for an animal taxon of their choosing. Tests will be taxon-specific. For example, a student choosing butterflies would be given a series of images and asked to identify the species and, if possible, sex. Whereas a student choosing bats would be asked to identify the species primarily based on echolocation calls.

2: Poster weighted 25%
Herbarium and Poster Session
Students must produce a herbarium of ten plants taken from a habitat of their choosing and create a poster that includes the following: 1. An ecological and botanical overview of their chosen habitat. 2. Information about the plant families each herbarium species belongs to, including the diagnostic features of that plant family 2. The diagnostic features of three species included within the herbarium (i.e. what anatomical traits distinguish them from other plant species). 3. Interesting ecological facts about three herbarium species (e.g. Cardamine pratensis is the primary larval foodplant of the orange-tip butterfly; Trifolium repens has nitrogen-fixing bacteria within its roots that help to increase soil fertility). An opportunity to present herbariums and posters will be provided in an informal and interactive conference-style event (subsequent to marking) to ensure anonymity.

3: Portfolio weighted 50%
Ecological Survey Methods Portfolio
Portfolio (total of 3,500 words) consisting of: a critical evaluations (pros and cons) of professional field survey methods, reflections on professional certification process and opportunities for further research. This is conducted within taxa of the students choosing. The portfolio work will be submitted in its entirety towards the end of semester two.

The University undertakes a continuous review of its teaching and research provision to ensure programmes are of a high quality and changes may be made to modules where it is necessary and reasonable to do so. Please be aware that minor changes to modules, such as a change to an individual assessment, can occur up until enrolment, although we endeavour to give you as much notice as possible of any changes. Details about the circumstance in which changes are made to programmes can be found in the Student Agreement, available at: https://www.keele.ac.uk/legalgovernancecompliance/governance/actcharterstatutesordinancesandregulations/studenttermsconditions/

Last Updated: 04 December 2025