Høst 2023

BIO-3019 Quantitative methods for molecular systematics and biodiversity analyses - 10 stp

The course is administrated by

Institutt for arktisk og marin biologi

Type of course

Theoretical and practical.

Master course for biology students. The course is available as a singular course.

The course is limited to 20 students (BIO-3019 and BIO-8023).

Course overlap

BIO-8023 Quantitative methods for molecular systematics and biodiversity analyses 10 ects

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 The Arctic University Museum, UiT and leading experts in arctic biodiversity from other research institutions. The course comprises lectures and seminars, laboratory DNA analysis and phylogenetic data analysis practicals in R/R studio and MEGA. 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/.

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

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.