BIOS4070 – Biogeochemistry

After completing the course, you will:

• Have knowledge about the development of the biosphere on Earth and the major biogeochemical interactions in air, land and water.
• Have knowledge about the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur and mercury.
• Be able to explain the major processes governing these cycles
• Provide examples on how these cycles are linked
• Be able to explain why and how the biogeochemical system is changing
• Explain how climate and biogeochemical processes mutually interacts
• Have obtained skills in calculation of chemical speciation by use of a speciation programme
• Be able to perform simple mass balance calculations

Students admitted at UiO must apply for courses in Studentweb. Students enrolled in other Master's Degree Programmes can, on application, be admitted to the course if this is cleared by their own study programme.

Nordic citizens and applicants residing in the Nordic countries may apply to take this course as a single course student.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures for international applicants.

The courses BIOS3070 and BIOS4070 have joint admission. Students are ranked by the following criteria:

1. Bachelor´s programme students at the Department of Biosciences and master´s programme students at the MN Faculty who have the course approved in their study plan.

2. Other program students.

3. Single course students and exchange students.

Applicants are ranked by number of credits within each group; all applicants within the 1st group are ranked before applicants in the 2nd group etc. For students who have equal number of credits within one group, admission is determined by random selection.

Following course must taken before the first excursion:

HMS0504 – Field Safety

The teaching consists of:

• Lectures
• Colloquiums
• Computer lab/field work/field excursion (mandatory)
• Mandatory submissions (mandatory)
• Lecture of 30 minutes where you explain how knowledge in biogeochemistry is necessary to understand a freely choosen environmental problem (mandatory)

Mandatory activities must be approved to sit the exam. Approved mandatory course work is valid for 3 years.

Attendance is mandatory for the first lecture. This also applies for those on the waiting list. You will lose your seat on the course if notice is not given to the student administration studieinfo@ibv.uio.no prior to the first lecture.

As the teaching involves laboratory and/or field work, you should consider taking out a separate travel and personal risk insurance. Read about your insurance cover as a student.

Access to teaching: A student who has completed compulsory instruction and coursework and has had these approved, is not entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework. A student who has been admitted to a course, but who has not completed compulsory instruction and coursework or had these approved, is entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework, depending on available capacity.

• Final written exam which counts 100% towards the final grade.

This course has mandatory activities that must be approved before you can sit the final exam.

It will also be counted as one of the three attempts to sit the exam for this course, if you sit the exam for one of the following courses: BIOS3070 – Biogeochemistry, KJM3070 – Biogeochemistry (continued), KJM4070 – Biogeochemistry (continued) and GEO3070 – Biogeochemistry (continued)

Students who can document a valid reason for absence from the regular examination are offered a postponed examination at the beginning of the next semester.

Re-scheduled examinations are not offered to students who withdraw during, or did not pass, the original examination.