Høst 2018

BIO-8023 Arctic Biodiversity and Systematics - 10 stp

The course is administrated by

Institutt for arktisk og marin biologi

Type of course

Theoretical and practical. The course can be taken as a singular course.

Course contents

Biodiversity research addresses how new species are formed, the genetic, ecological and evolutionary processes that maintain such a wide variety of organisms, and why organisms become extinct. Our knowledge of diversity is structured through the study of systematics, which seeks to understand the history of life through the phylogenetic and genetic relationships of organisms. With a focus on arctic biodiversity, we are taking a historical perspective, which helps to interpret current patterns and project into the future. At the core of this approach are phylogenetic trees and "tree thinking" for the synthesis of genetic data and other biological and comparative observations. An appreciation of diversity and knowledge of the principles and procedures of systematics are essential in ecology, and underlie all work in resource utilization and conservation biology. The course is taught jointly by researchers from Tromsø Museum, University of Tromsø and leading experts in arctic biodiversity from other research institutions. The course comprises lectures and seminars, laboratory DNA analysis and phylogenetic data analysis practicals. The course builds solid foundation relevant to various biological research tasks, which can be further advanced via other courses in Biosystematics run at UiT, eg BIO-8024 and BIO-8025, as well as those run by the Research School in Biosystematics (FORBIO) http://www.forbio.uio.no/events/

Application deadline

Registration deadline for PhD students at UiT - The Arctic University of Norway: June 15.

Application deadline for other applicants: June 1.

Admission requirements

PhD students or holders of a Norwegian master´s degree of five years or 3+ 2 years (or equivalent) may be admitted. PhD students must upload a document from their university stating that there are registered PhD students. This group of applicants does not have to prove English proficiency and are exempt from semester fee.

Holders of a Master´s degree must upload a Master´s Diploma with Diploma Supplement / English translation of the diploma. Applicants from listed countries must document proficiency in English. To find out if this applies to you see the following list:

Proficiency in English must be documented - list of countries

For more information on accepted English proficiency tests and scores, as well as exemptions from the English proficiency tests, please see the following document:

Proficiency in english - PhD level studies

Maximum 20 participants, minimum 5 participants.

If more than 20 applicants, priority will be given as follows:

Participants admitted to the PhD programme at UiT
Participants in the Associate Professor programme (Førstelektorprogrammet)
PhD candidates from other universities
People with a minimum of a Masters degree (or equivalent), who have not been admitted to a PhD programme

PhD students at UiT register for the course through StudentWeb. The registration for autumn semester starts in the middle of June.

Other applicants apply for admission through SøknadsWeb. Application code 9303.

Contact Ingjerd Gauslaa Nilsen at the BFE-faculty if you have troubles or questions regarding registration to the course.

Objective of the course

After the course, the students should have knowledge about:

You learn fundamental principles and theories about biodiversity patterns and genetic, ecological and evolutionary processes behind them, with a focus on Arctic region. You also learn about key components of systematics: taxonomy (identification and nomenclature) and principles of biological classification.

Skills:

You will acquire laboratory (DNA extraction, PCR and sequencing) skills for implementing DNA barcoding and quantitative analytical skills for tree building and multivariate ordination for morphometric and species community comparisons.

General competence:

You will be able to evaluate a scientific problem and to set up and implement problem-solving strategy of experiments or observations. Interpret available data and effectively communicate relevant answer to the question and suggest solutions, in an academic context as well as in practical applications.

Language of instruction

English

Teaching methods

Teaching will include lectures, seminars for the theory part, laboratory group teaching and data analysis practicals.

Assessment

One written research project with presentation (weighted 30 %) and one written exam (weighted 70%). 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.

Date for examination

One wirtten exam 13.12.2018;One written assignment hand in date 07.12.2018

The date for the exam can be changed. The final date will be announced at your faculty early in May and early in November.