BIO-3013 Northern food web ecology - 10 stp

Master course for biology students - principally aimed at MSc-students specializing in "Northern Populations and Ecosystems".

The course is available as a singular course.

Boreal forest and Arctic tundra are two northern, cold-adapted biomes that cover about 20% of the globe’s land areas. These biomes harbor ecosystems with unique biodiversity and important ecological functions that currently are threatened by climate warming. In Bio-3013 we demonstrate how studying food webs is a powerful approach to understand the diversity, productivity, and dynamics of northern ecosystems, with an emphasis on how climate change and other stressors impact them. Northern food web ecology provides therefore a scientific basis for answering questions like: How are plant biodiversity and ecosystem functions fundamentally linked and impacted by climate change and other stressors? Can emergent insect outbreaks stop the expansion of tall shrubs and trees into arctic tundra in warming climate? Can management of Arctic herbivores like geese and reindeer cause tundra vegetation state shifts? Will population cycles of lemmings disappear in a warmer Arctic and does it matter? What are the consequences of the reintroduction of wolves to boreal national parks? Are the population declines of Arctic bird species related to increased resources for nest predators such as foxes and corvids? To what extent can ecosystem-based management mitigate climate change impacts on important ecosystem and vulnerable biodiversity?

Food web studies build on theories and methods that aims to uncover how the network of interactions between plants, herbivores and carnivores (including humans) influence the diversity and dynamics of ecosystems. Bio-3013 gives the students a state-of-the-art view on these theories and methods, and especially how they apply to of boreal and Arctic ecosystems and how food web interactions are modified by climate change. The course gives introductions to the principles of adaptive monitoring and management as well state assessment applied to ecosystem subjected to rapid climate change. Hence, Bio-3013 aims to give the student a solid scientific competence that make them well equipped to embark on ecosystem-based research and management of the ecosystems we live in here in the North. The course is closely linked to the Climate-ecological Observatory of Arctic Tundra (https://www.coat.no/), which provides opportunities for MSc and PhD theses within subjects covered by Bio-3013.

Course contents are complementary between BIO-3013 and BIO-3505 through differential biome focus/geographic scope (BIO-3013 = Terrestrial/Boreal and Arctic, BIO-3505 = mainly aquatic/non-Arctic), level of ecological complexity (BIO-3013 = food webs and ecosystems, BIO-3505 = non-trophic species interactions and if trophic then non-Arctic), and anthropogenic drivers (BIO-3013 = climate change, management interventions, BIO-3505 = species introductions and non-Arctic climate change).

Admission requires a Bachelor`s degree (180 ECTS) or equivalent qualification, with a major in biology of minimum 80 ECTS and ecology of minimum 10 ECTS.

Local admission, application code 9371 - Master`s level singular course

Knowledge:

• Overview of the structural and functional ecosystem characteristics and how these vary in time and space in boreal and Arctic biomes.
• The bio-climatic delineation of Arctic tundra and boreal forest and characteristics of the tundra-forest ecotone.
• The bio-climatic sub-zones of the Arctic tundra and the plant growth forms that characterize these sub-zones.
• Key herbivores and carnivores in tundra and boreal forest ecosystems and their ecological functions.
• Modern methods to determine species’ functionality in food webs.
• Components of temporal variation (i.e. dynamics) in northern terrestrial food webs - in particular the role of seasonal and multi-annual cycles in species abundances.
• Theories of external drivers and internal regulatory mechanism of food web dynamics - the role of bio-climate, subsidies, bottom-up and top-down regulation, indirect interactions and trophic cascades, the role of keystone species.
• Theoretical models and empirical cases of reversible and irreversible state shift in boreal and Arctic ecosystems.
• Scientific approaches to test hypotheses on drivers and regulators of food web structure and functioning.
• Why climate change is faster in the north than the global average.
• How climate change currently impacts boreal and Arctic food webs and what are future prospects.
• Principles of adaptive monitoring, management and state assessments of ecosystems subjected to rapid climate change.

Skills:

• How to make maps that depicts food web structure and interactions.
• To outline conceptual models of food web state shifts and climate impact paths.
• To understand the structure of mathematical models of trophic interactions.
• To interpret systematic components of temporal variation in population time series such as multi-annual cycles.
• Plan studies aimed to determine the species functionality in food webs, the impact of human interventions and the impacts of climate change.
• Application of food web ecology as an ecosystem-based approach to research, monitoring and management of biodiversity and natural resources.

General competence:

• Critical assessment of state-of-the-art published scientific results.
• Presenting results and syntheses of published scientific results.
• Workshop and seminar skills in discussing complex scientific issues.
• Understanding of the progress of ecological studies - especially the different and complementary roles of theoretical models, experiments, observational studies/monitoring.
• The role of scientific ecology in adaptive management of ecosystems.
• Natural science-based consciousness and analytical mindsets towards comprehending and acting on the climate crisis impacting terrestrial ecosystems of the high North.