Course introduction

Introduction

This free course, An introduction to floodplain meadows, explores how these traditional landscapes can deliver a range of nature-based solutions that will improve our environment. The course will help you to learn about this unique environment, increasing your ecological knowledge, developing your skills in critical reasoning, and offering you an opportunity to contribute to future research priorities.

There are seven sessions in this course, each requiring between 10 and 15 minutes of study time. Six of these provide introductions to issues where floodplain meadows can make a positive contribution to our environment:

• the need to adapt to our changing climate and the role that floodplain meadows can play in reducing damage, while mitigating against future warming of our planet
• the ability of the ground surface to absorb water, and the role of floodplains in managing flood risk
• the rationale for why floodplains can become an important element of sustainable food production
• the significance of biodiversity for resilience within plant communities in floodplain meadows
• the relationship between nature and our health and wellbeing, exploring the potential for de-stressing, exercise, learning and action, but also eco-anxiety in the light of our changing climate and loss of habitats and biodiversity
• the increase of nitrogen and phosphorus in water courses, and how management of floodplains can trap and use these nutrients in a positive way, including for food production and habitat provision.

The course is divided into seven sessions on different but related topics that you might be interested in. The sessions in this course are as follows:

• Session 1: Biodiversity [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)]
• Session 2: Climate change
• Session 3: Flood risk
• Session 4: Food security
• Session 5: Connection to nature
• Session 6: Water quality
• Session 7: Next steps

You can study each of these sessions independently, but they are linked in the sense that, together, they offer an introduction to the values of floodplain meadows. The advice is to study each of the six sessions listed above before you study the seventh.

The seventh session is an exercise. You will be given an opportunity to rank research priorities for future floodplain meadows research. At the end of the course you will also have the opportunity to provide feedback in an optional anonymous survey.

This OpenLearn course was produced with financial support from Anglian Water.

The authors consulted with the representatives from the Dadima’s Community Interest Company, and teachers from Denbigh School in Milton Keynes in selecting content for this course.