Humans have an increasing effect on global biodiversity through habitat change, pollution, overharvesting, introduction of invasive species, and through our effect on the global climate. This course will give an overview on how humans change the environment and on how biodiversity have been and will be affected by these changes. The main focus will be on climatic changes and its effect on terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity, but also the other factors will be discussed. The course will therefore start by presenting the knowledge status of climate change and how the climate has changed before humans had any impact on the climatic systems. Then we will discuss the observed and predicted impact this have on terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity, before discussing other human-related drivers of ecological change.

The course will be a mix of traditional lectures and class discussions, and the students will be given relevant literature as a base for discussions before each lecture. They are expected to read this and may be given specific assignments for the lectures to enhance the discussions in the class. The final evaluation will be based on an essay/blog that the student writes. The topic of this essay will be discussed with the lecturers before the student starts on the task.