spring 2023
BIO-3031 Biophysical Interactions in Marine Ecosystems - 5 ECTS

Type of course

The course is relevant for students belonging to the Master in Biology programme and especially for students taking the Arctic Marine Ecology specialisation. Students are encouraged to take the course during their first year.

The course will not be run if fewer than 5 students register for it (including BIO-8031)

The course is not available as a singular course.


Course content

Through lectures, seminars, labs and data labs the students will learn how physical processes impact marine life on small to large scales. The lectures and seminars will give the students the theoretical background to understand biological-physical interactions and to evaluate how these impact variability in marine production in time and space. During the lab day students will study a biological-physical interaction on small scale. During data labs students will learn how to analyse and present data from selected modern oceanographic instruments, including satellite data and data collected during Bachelor courses BIO-2010 and BIO-2516.

Recommended prerequisites

BIO-2010 Marine Ecology, BIO-2516 Ocean Climate

Objectives of the course

Students who have completed BIO-3031 will be able to:

Knowledge

  • understand biophysical interactions in marine pelagic ecosystems
  • consider how physical processes influence and interact with primary and secondary producers
  • apply the knowledge gained to evaluate spatio-temporal variability in marine systems

Skills

  • evaluate different literature and data sources, and use these skills to understand biophysical interactions in marine ecosystems
  • investigate scientific methods used to obtain and analyse physical and biological marine data
  • use relevant and up-to-date methods in biological-physical oceanography
  • combine physical and biological data into coherent graphs and reports
  • demonstrate how data resolution influences results

General competence

  • work independently and in collaboration with marine scientific data
  • synthesise scientific data and results into written essays and reports
  • prepare a scientific topic for oral presentation
  • discuss and orally present in groups

Language of instruction and examination

English.

Teaching methods

Blocks with 4 hrs lecture, 2 hrs seminars and 4 hrs data lab will be spread throughout the spring semester. The essay and the data lab report will prepare students to actively synthesize the information learned during the lectures. Students will partly work with data collected during the Bachelor education to study meso-scale interactions. They will also learn how to use freely available research data for analysing biological-physical interactions on large scale.

Information to incoming exchange students

This course is open for inbound exchange students with bachelor degree in Biology and who meet the admission requirements.

Do you have questions about this module? Please check the following website to contact the course coordinator for exchange students at the faculty: https://en.uit.no/education/art?p_document_id=510412


Examination

Examination: Date: Weighting: Duration: Grade scale:
Assignment 15/100 A–E, fail F
Assignment 40/100 A–E, fail F
Oral exam 45/100 30 Minutes Passed / Not Passed
UiT Exams homepage

More info about the coursework requirements

Approved work requirements have a duration of 3 years, from the semester in which the work requirements were taken.

Re-sit examination

A re-sit examination will be arranged for students that did not pass the oral examination. No re-sit will be organised for the essay or the report.
  • About the course
  • Campus: Tromsø |
  • ECTS: 5
  • Course code: BIO-3031
  • Tidligere år og semester for dette emnet