Høst 2016

BIO-2006 Plants and Ecosystems - 10 stp

The course is administrated by

Institutt for arktisk og marin biologi

Type of course

The course is available for students at the study program Biologi, klima og miljø and aimed at MSc-students specializing in "Northen pupulations and ecosystems". The course is also available to exchange students at a biology study program. The course is available as a singular course.

Course overlap

NAB-2005 Plants and the Ecosystem 10 stp

Course contents

Plants have a central role in their terrestrial ecosystems because they are producers of food for all terrestrial herbivores as well as for soil organisms and several organisms internal to them like e.g. fungal endophytes. Also, plants are important to ecosystems for both creating and modifying habitat conditions to all organisms of their ecosystems, including the plants themselves. This course will give theoretical and empirical insight to the central role of plants in ecosystems, and how ecosystem management and climate change may modify this role. Most examples will be from northern ecosystems.

Application deadline

Applicants from Nordic countries: 1 June for the autumn semester and 1 December for the spring semester. Concerns only admission to singular courses. Exchange students and Fulbright students: 1 October for the spring semester and 15 April for the autumn semester.

Note! All students need to enroll for the field course in addition to ordinary course registration.Information about enrollment and deadline will be published later this spring

Admission requirements

Nordic applicants: Admission requirements are generell studiekompetanse + REALFA.

Application code: 9336

International applicants: Higher Education Entrance Qualification and certified language requirements in English. A list of the requirements for the Higher Education Entrance Qualification in Norway can be found on the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education website - nokut.no

All applicants: The course requires basic knowledge in biology and ecology at university level. Basic knowledge in chemistry and mathematics is an advantage.

Objective of the course

Students that have completed Bio-2006 should be able to:

Read and understand scientific literature in the format of scientific papers
Have knowledge of different types of scientific papers, i.e. review papers, meta-analysis papers, empirical papers and theoretical papers
Have improved their ability to discuss and give both oral and written presentations of scientific topics
Complete a small scientific project, including data sampling, data analysis and discussion in presented in the format of a scientific paper
Explain through their field experience the role of plant functional types in a northern ecosystem
Explain various ways of defining biodiversity
Explain various ways by which plants play active roles in ecosystems
Explain ways by which plant role of ecosystems may change
Explain how knowledge on plant role of ecosystems is essential to land use management

Language of instruction

The language of instruction is English and all of the syllabus material is in English. Examination questions will be given in English, but may be answered either in English or a Scandinavian language. When only Scandinavian students attend, language of instruction is Scandinavian.

Teaching methods

Teaching will be based on a 4-day field course, lectures (24 hours), colloquiums (12 hours) and thematic journals (3). Students will write a project report based on data gathered under the field course. Necessary safety training will be given.

Assessment

The students will be assessed on the basis of the project and the oral exam. The project has to be passed in order to take the oral exam. A graded scale of five marks from A to E for pass and F for fail.
There will be a re-sit examination for students that did not pass the previous ordinary examination. The re-sit exam consist of an oral exam only.