Entry requirements

Admitted to a Bachelor programme in Biology

Learning outcomes

The course will give an overview of boreal and northern temperate ecosystems and their natural history, including the effects of climate, history, geology and human impact. After the course the student should be able to

• describe important groups of organisms and prominent species in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and their adaptations
• explain in basic terms how these ecosystems are structured and affected by climate, physical factors and human impact
• apply some field techniques to assess diversity and abundance

Content

Climate, geology, biogeographic zonation. Coniferous forests. Deciduous forests. Peatlands (fen and bog). Lakes and rivers (oligotrophic forest lakes and eutrophic lakes in the agricultural landscape). Swedish sedimentary rocks and fossils, limestone flora. Swedish mammals, conservation biology. Swedish coasts-exposed coasts, estuaries and other interfaces. The marine rocky and shelly environments. Rocky bottom communities. Soft bottom marine environments (deep and shallow). The pelagic environment, the interstitial environment. Measuring biodiversity.

Instruction

Lectures, seminars and field exercises.

Assessment

To pass the course, active participation in the field exercises and passed group presentation (3 credits) and passed individually written report (2 credits) is required.

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.