BIOS9312 – Alpine Ecology

After completing the course you should

• Have a good understanding of what characterizes subalpine and alpine environments
• Know what factors that affect the biodiversity and community structure in alpine areas
• Understand key physiological, morphological and life-history adaptations of different organisms to alpine environments
• Know what animals and plants that are dominating the alpine zones
• Have an understanding of how climate fluctuations and change affect populations and communities of alpine organisms
• Have training in obtaining knowledge from scientific articles and presenting their essence, and be able to discuss this with others
• Have experience from writing a short research proposal and reviewing such proposals from peers

The course is held in collaboration with University of Bergen (UiB) at Finse Alpine Research Center, and is organized by UiB in odd years and UiO in even years. We aim for an even distribution of UiB and UiO students each year (maximum 26 students in total). We also welcome students from other universities to apply for the course.

PhD candidates from the University of Oslo should apply for classes and register for examinations through Studentweb.

If a course has limited intake capacity, priority will be given to PhD candidates who follow an individual education plan where this particular course is included. Some national researchers’ schools may have specific rules for ranking applicants for courses with limited intake capacity.

PhD candidates who have been admitted to another higher education institution must apply for a position as a visiting student within a given deadline.

The courses BIOS5312 and BIOS9312 have joint admission. Applicants are ranked by the following criteria:

1. PhD candidates from UiO and UiB.

2. Master students from UiO and UiB.

3. Other PhD candidates with status as visiting PhD candidate.

4. Other master students with admission to single courses on master’s level.

Applicants are ranked by credits in each group; all applicants within 1st rank before applicants in 2nd etc. Admission will be decided by drawing lots for students who are ranked equally.

The courses will be offered only if there is a minimum enrollment of 10 students.

The field course has a fee on 150 NOK per day, 750 NOK in total.

We cover accommodation, meals and travel by train Oslo - Finse, return (or cheaper tickets). Other travel expenses will not be reimbursed.

Oral exam counting 100% of the grade.

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: BIOS5312 – Alpine Ecology (discontinued)