Arctic and Alpine Ecology

The course is primarily aimed to students with right to study at biology or geography lines at Nordic universities. Other students can be admitted if there is space and if they have the required qualifications.

The course will introduce students to the life of plants and animals in arctic and alpine environment with emphasis on winter and spring conditions. Also the geological processes that have shaped out the Nordic mountain and tundra landscapes will be dealt with; so will be interactions between animals and plants and the use of mountain pastures by reindeer herding Sámi.

After the course the students are expected to understand:

• the geological processes that have created the Nordic mountain and tundra landscapes
• the spatial distribution of snow and the spatial patterns in its properties and their impact on plant and animal life.
• how the arctic-alpine vegetation varies in realtion to alttude, macrocimate (oceanic vs continental) and bedrock chemistry
• the basics of population dynamics of the most important herbivores of northern mountain-tundra landscapes (reindeer, small rodents, moths) and their impact on the vegetation.
• how humans came into the picture, how large scale, nomadic reindeer husbandry developed, and what challenges this livelihood faces today.

An intensive lecture + demo package in March (week 10) + field course during 5.-17. May on Finnmarksvidda and Seiland.

On the field course the students will be divided into following six theme groups.

(1) arctic and alpine climate in a changing world

(2) snow as a factor influencing microclimate in boreal, arctic and alpine ecosystems

(3) the relation of plants to snow and to the stress caused by early snow melt

(4) the relation between arctic-alpine vegetation and altitude, macroclimate (continental-oceanic) and bedrock

(5) ecology of reindeer and reindeer husbandry and socio-ecology of reindeer herding Sámi

(6) small mammals in the food web of the tundra (this will be primary theoretical because the small mammal densities are currently very low).

After each field day, the theme groups gather the material relevant for their theme and feed it to computer; seminar type papers based on these data will be presented during the last course day (see the scheme for daily activities for details).

In the end of the course the theme groups will decide about titles of their term papers so that the set of papers of each group constitutes a cogent entity and lies within the theme of the group. The students will thereafter start to work on their term papers and when the individual papers are ready, they will write a summery paper which lifts the topic to a more general level. It is up to the members of each theme group to decide whether they will meet physically or interact via Internet only. The papers are due 15.10.2014. Guidance will be provided by teachers.

Language of instruction and examination

Alphabetical grades (A-F). 2/3 of the grade will be based on the course essays (individual papers + summary); 1/3 will depend on a take home exam which will be handed right after the course and is due 15.06.2014.

Participation to all moment on the field course is mandatory, unless the student cannot for medical reasons participate to the more physically straining moments.