Høst 2018

BIO-3013 Northern food web ecology - 10 stp

The course is administrated by

Institutt for arktisk og marin biologi

Type of course

Master course for biology students - principally aimed at MSc-students specializing in "Northern Populations and Ecosystems". The course is available as a singular course.

Course overlap

BIO-8016 Northern food web ecology 10 stp

Course contents

Ecosystems in northern terrestrial biomes "arctic tundra and boreal forest" are increasingly studied using the framework of food web to understand ecosystem structure and functioning. The food web framework builds on well-established ecological theory on trophic interactions (producer-consumer relations) between plants, herbivores and carnivores. Recent methodological developments have provided means to study such trophic interactions more comprehensively within entire ecological communities. The food web approach appears to be especially amenable in case of the relatively simple communities in northern terrestrial ecosystem that often are ruled by a few key interactions. Food webs have also recently shown to be a very fruitful way to study the role of human intervention in ecosystems (harvesting and provision of anthropogenic subsidies) and especially the impact of climate change in arctic ecosystems.

Application deadline

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

Admission requirements

Local admission, application code 9371 - - Master`s level singular course. Admission requires a Bachelor`s degree (180 ECTS) or equivalent qualification, with a major in biology of minimum 80 ECTS.

Objective of the course

To demonstrate how a food web perspective is useful for describing and analyzing ecological dynamics emerging from the trophic interaction in ecosystems.
To give the students a basic understanding of how basic mechanism in populations and communities leads to ecological dynamics through training in the use of simple models to understand such dynamics.
To provide an overview of the structural characteristics of terrestrial food webs and how these vary in time and space in boreal and arctic biomes.
To give an introduction to some modern empirical methods of studying trophic interactions.
To learn what are the key processes and functions in northern terrestrial food webs by means of illustrious case studies.
To train students in reading, presenting and discussing scientific research papers efficiently and critically: student seminars.

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.

Teaching methods

Lectures, seminars, modelling laboratory and a project assignment. The course starts with a 2-day workshop.

Assessment

There is a compulsory project work connected to the model laboratory part of the course that needs to be completed before the exam. Each student is also required to lead a seminar during the seminar parts of the courses.

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.