ForBio field course: Northern Biodiversity Hotspots, Plants and Insects of Skibotn

This course will include two options running in parallel groups. One provides training in identification of Boreal and Arctic groups of flowering plants and another is in collection and identification of main groups of insects with a focus on Diptera. The course will take place in Skibotn area with remarkably high species number for such northern latitudes (68-69 degrees N) challenging the general concept that species richness decreases as latitude increases. Daily excursions to both lowland and mountain habitats will be combined with practical work in the class to identify the collected materials using the identification keys and learn diagnostic characters of plant and insect taxa.

Practical experience with morphology based species identification is in high demand in both basic and applied biological research. You will study applied taxonomy, acquire identification and field collection skills, as well as learn how to prepare and mount the specimens for preservation in museum collections.

This course is accredited by the University of Tromsø as amounting 2.5 ECTS. Course code Bio-8024. See pervious course description  here. Please be aware that this is a last year version of the course. UiT webpages were not yet updated for the next semester.  

Instructors: Botany: Andy Sortland andy.sortland@uit.no, UiT; Galina Gussarova galina.gusarova@uit.no, TMU, UiT/ CEES, UiO; Entomology: Elisabeth Stur, elisabeth.stur@ntnu.no, NTNU; Jostein Kjærandsen, jostein.kjarandsen@uit.no

Required previous knowledge/course specific requirements: The course is primarily intended for PhD students and post-docs. However, it is also open for Master students and non-students.

Assessment: Performance during the practical parts of the course and a practical exam (pass/or fail), which will be arranged on the last day of the course. The exam will consist of identification of specimens using keys and documenting the distinct morphological characters of the specimens that are used to classify it to taxa at different taxonomic levels. For entomology group the assessment will include mouting and identification of own collections. 

Registration: Please fill in the online Application here

Find out about how to become a ForBio member here.

Maximum number of participants is 15.

Application deadline is June 15, 2019.

Results announced by e-mail 23 June 2019.

Contact Galina Gusarova (galina.gusarova@uit.no) for more information

Published Mar. 12, 2019 10:46 PM - Last modified May 30, 2019 11:33 PM