Læringsutbytte

After completing the course, the students should have the following qualification regarding knowledge, skills, and general competence:

• Have knowledge about how biodiversity and species richness can be quantified
• Have knowledge about variation of species richness in Scandinavian mountains
• Be able to quantify relationships between species richness and measured environmental and variables
• Be able to perform numerical analyses of vegetation data
• Be able to interpret results of ordination analyses
• Be able to use plants as environmental variables by the use of plant indicator values

Innhold

The following topics will be covered:

• Present climate and temperature measurements
• Models of global climatic change
• Holocene vegetation and climate history
• Relation between forest limits and climate
• Phenology as an indicator of climate change
• Ecological changes in alpine areas as a result of climate change
• Methods in biodiversity research
• Measurement of biodiversity
• Variation in alpine biodiversity in relation to environmental variables
• Gradients in alpine plant diversity
• Use of numerical methods in vegetation ecology
• Changes in species richness and distribution patterns as a result recent of climate change

Arbeids- og læringsformer

Lectures, computing courses, seminars with student presentations and a mandatory individual report (essay). The computing courses are mandatory.

36 h lectures, 20 h with computing exercises.

The candidate will have to submit an individual report (essay) on a selected subject where the candidate will have to present results based on several recent scientific papers. This review also has to be presented in public.

Vurderingsformer

• Task (report and presentation), 25%
• Written exam, 4 hour, 75 %

Grade pass/fail. To pass the course, both the report and the examination must satisfy grade B or better.

Det tas forbehold om mindre justeringer i planen.