Course objectives: Acquisition of some fundaments of the functioning of tropical forests with emphasis on the French Guyana case and fieldwork. Make students aware of preservation issues of biodiversity in the wet Tropics within a scientific, verifiable corpus of knowledge.

Course contents: Lectures: (1) Specificities of and stakes in French Guyana: General presentation; Smallholder farming systems; The wood industry. (2) Functioning of tropical forests with emphasis on French Guyana: Biogeography; Vegetation; Botany, Non woody forests products; Geomorphology; Forest typology; Faunal diversity; Pedogenesis, soil identification and plant-soil relationships; Dynamics of forest structure. (3) Forest management: Tropical woods; Planification; Silviculture; Remote sensing. Fieldwork projects: group projects tackle technical or scientific issues related to tree rooting systems, management of woody resources, plant growth-soil interactions, tree inventory, forest typology, standing wood quality, vegetation mapping, and mangrove characterisation.

Teaching and learning methods: Lectures and seminars at AgroParisTech-ENGREF-Kourou (2 weeks). Fieldwork projects (2 weeks, including achievement of a written report and oral defence).

Examination: oral defence and rating of the written report of fieldwork projects.

Competences acquired: Understanding of some principles of functioning and management of a wet tropical forest. Collective implementation of a fieldwork project. Aptitude for living and working in a wet tropical environment.

Course homepage: http://www.agroparistech.fr/en/Training/Emetf/Emetf.htm