Die Studierenden erwerben die Grundlagen und Konventionen des wissenschaftlichen Schreibens in den Naturwissenschaften. Sie lernen, wissenschaftliche Literatur gezielt zu recherchieren und effizient zu verwalten, sowie wissenschaftliche Texte kritisch zu analysieren. Das erworbene Wissen wenden sie beim Verfassen eines eigenen wissenschaftlichen Textes an.

The course teaches knowledge and experimental techniques to study and evaluate pools and processes underlying nutrient fluxes in soil-plant systems. Theory and methods concern i) nitrogen dynamics in soil, ii) the use efficiency by crops of nitrogen added with fertilizers, iii) the fate of fertilizer nitrogen not taken up by the crop and iv) symbiotic N2 fixation by legumes.

This course provides an overview about the applicability of stable isotopes (carbon 13C, nitrogen 15N, oxygen 18O and hydrogen 2H) to process-oriented ecological research. Topics focus on stable isotopes as indicators for the origin of pools and fluxes, partitioning of composite fluxes as well as to trace and integrate processes. In addition, students carry out a small project during lab sessions.