Entry requirements

Cell Biology

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course, the student should be able to:

• account for aspects of biodiversity at the genetic, species and ecosystem level under the Convention on Biological Diversity
• account for the organisms' adaptations and interactions as the basis for ecosystem services and biodiversity
• describe the factors and processes that affect ecosystem services and biodiversity locally and globally
• discuss how human activity, including biotechnological applications affect ecosystem services and biodiversity
• discuss ecosystem services and biodiversity from ethical and sustainability perspectives
• summarise the relevant technical/scientific texts in a concise way so that other students can understand them.

Content

The course discusses ecosystem and sustainability from a biological perspective. We focus on biodiversity and ecosystem services, benefits for humans and how these are affected by human activity. Examples of all organism kingdoms and various levels of ecosystem functions are used to highlight these issues. We touch upon social, democratic, legal and economic societal aspects in the conservation of biological diversity and work with ethical considerations regarding these.

Instruction

Lectures and study visit. Literature project including a summary of relevant literature and an ethical reflection, carried out through seminar and student feedback. Role play in the ethics series.

Assessment

Written examination (3 credits) at the end of the course. The Literature project and ethics (2 credits) is reported in writing and through feedback on students' written material.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the disability coordinator of the university.