This course provides an introduction to the rapidly growing field of ecological and environmental modelling. Students will become familiar with most of the basic equations used to represent ecological processes. The course will also provide a comprehensive overview of the population and dynamic biogeochemical models; prey-predator, resource competition and eutrophication models will be used as illustrations. Emphasis will be placed on the rational model development, objective model evaluation and validation, extraction of the optimal complexity from complicated/intertwined ecological processes, explicit acknowledgment of the uncertainty in ecological forecasting and its implications for environmental management.