BIO-8024 Northern Biodiversity Hotspots: taxonomy field courses - 5 stp

Biodiversity loss, often referred to as biodiversity crisis, is a global environmental problem causing international concern and demanding urgent counteracting measures. Biodiversity is commonly defined in terms of a number of species present in a particular environment, or in total in the world. This makes species not only one of the fundamental biological concepts but also a focus of global conservation efforts. That is why practical experience with morphology based species identification is in high demand in both basic and applied biological research. During the year 2020 we offer two options for the field courses.

The courses are organized and funded by ForBio - Research school in Biosystematics http://www.forbio.uio.no/ Part 1. 13-18 July, 2020 "Genetic Monitoring of arctic plant-insect networks", NIBIO Svanhovd research station.

Students will receive hands-on training in sampling and identification of plants and insects in different habitats in the northern forest-tundra ecotone, as well as an understanding of the uses of the latest genetic methods in research on the structure and functioning of arctic plant-herbivore-parasitoid and plant-pollinator networks. This field course provides a good complement for ForBio courses on barcoding and metabarcoding methods. Svanhovd station is coordinating a research project on barcode-based monitoring of northern environments and insect communities.
Applications of DNA barcode data on the diverse insect communities inhabiting the forest-tundra ecotone will be discussed during the lectures. See additional information on ForBio webpages: https://www.forbio.uio.no/events/courses/2020/ForBio_NIBIO_Genetic_monitoring.html Part 2 . 9-14 August, 2020 "Vascular plant flora of central Sweden" is run at the field station Tovetorp, Stockholm University (58°56'50''N, 17°08'56''E ) in Södermanland 40 km SW of Södertälje, there will be excursions during day-time and teacher-led lectures combined with student presentations and hands-on exercises in e.g.

Case studies during evenings. Tovetorp is strategically located with species rich habitats as seashores, rich fens, calcareous rocks, broadleaved deciduous forests and coniferous forests as well as bogs and lakes nearby.

See additional information on ForBio webpages: https://www.forbio.uio.no/events/courses/2020/vascular%20plant%20field%20biology-forbio-slu-2020.html ForBio members that are MSc-, PhD-students or PostDocs in Norway can have travel and living costs covered (contact ForBio) http://www.forbio.uio.no/events/

Registration deadline for PhD students at UiT - The Arctic University of Norway who has got the course approved in their instruction component: September 1st (for autumn semester) / February 1st (for spring semester).

Application deadline for other applicants: June 1st (for autumn semester/December 1st (for spring)

Due to the planning of the field course you also need to sign up for the course here before 1st of June:

Apply for BIO-8024

Who can appy:

• UiT PhD students who wants to take a course that is not approved in their instruction component
• PhD student enrolled at another institution than UiT
• Applicants who have completed a Master degree
  

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.

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

Other applicants apply for admission through SøknadsWeb. Application code 9301.

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 15 participants.

If more than 15 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 enrolled at PhD programmes a UiT can contact Ingjerd Gauslaa Nilsen at the BFE-faculty  for questions regarding registration to the course.

Singular course applicants must contact opptak@uit.no regarding questions to their application.

Oral exam.
Examination will include identification of collected specimens (from the groups not mentioned during this course) using published keys in Norwegian or English. Grade: Pass/Fail

Re-sit exam 
There will be a re-sit examination for students that did not pass the previous ordinary examination.