UWFMT12 Forest utilization: materials, processes, and products

Students are able to identify selected wood species, of tropical origin, to explain structure-property relationships of plant tissues with effects on the practical use of wood and non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and to describe important wood species and non- timber products of tropical forests and to recognize their potential for sustainable forest management. They can evaluate the sustainability and further development of technological processes for the use and processing of wood and NTFPs. This includes harvesting, transportation, storage, sorting, and processing.

Contents of the module are

• Anatomy and hierarchical structure of plants, especially wood;
• Identification of tropical woods based on macroscopic anatomical characteristics;
• General harvesting schemes, utilization, and product lines for natural and planted forests with harvesting, transport, positioning, sorting, and processing of wood; and
• production systems for non-timber forest products with socio- economic and technical aspects, including

3 WTH lecture, 2 WTH seminar, self-study.

Knowledge of plant anatomy at Bachelor level is required.
Preparatory literature:
Schweingruber, F.H., Börner, A., Schulze, E.D. (2008): Atlas of woody plant stems. Springer Verlag Berlin, Heidelberg.

The module is a compulsory module in the master’s degree programme in Tropical Forestry.

The credit points are earned when the module examination has been passed. The module examination consists of a non-public oral examination lasting 40 minutes. The examination language is English.

5 credit points can be acquired through the module. The module grade corresponds to the grade of the examination.

The module is offered every winter semester.

The total workload is 150 hours.

The module lasts one semester.