BIOR62 Mountain Plant Ecology 4 ECTS credits
Course period: July 14-28, 2013.
Application: Between February 1 - 21, 2013 directly to the Department of Biology, Education office. Please contact the study coordinator for more information.
Course description
This course consists of a 14 days long excursion to the Swedish mountains. Traveling through the whole of Sweden you will see almost all vegetations types that could be found here.
Besides the trip to the mountains we will have one or two meetings about mountain plant ecology and practical matters before the spring term ends These meetings are not compulsory you can get the information via e-mail.
This course will give you insight in conservation problems in Sweden outside Scania, for example water power plants and waste spruce plantations and all the problems with rain deer management. With this knowledge you may apply for jobs all over Sweden.
Learning the mountain plants is also a very good compliment to your studies of the flora in Scania and a chance to learn more about the vegetation types north of southern Sweden.
The goal of the course is to get to know most of the mountain plants. You will learn the flora and ecology of calcifobic plants and calciphilic plants and where to find them. During a trip to a Serpentine mountain, which contains large amounts of heavy metals, you will see evolved variants of the normal species. The abiotic factors so prominent in the mountains effect the vegetation and flora. Most prominent abiotic factors are the duration of the snow cover, exposition to wind and the water level in the ground. You will se these effects on vegetation types like heath, meadows and mires.
The journey to the Swedish mountains takes about 20 hours by train. For the first days we will stay in a research station in two and four –bed rooms with very good comfort (lots of showers, washing mashin, dish washer, and lots of drying facilities). Then we will move to another area where we will stay in an old school with just one shower and no other facilities but an astonishing view.
Every day starts by climbing up a mountain to reach above the mountain birch forest. The whole day is spent up in the mountains. We will cook all meals by ourselves; and take turns to feed the rest of the course, so bring your best recipes.
We will have three examinations where you together with a randomly chosen student will identify at least 80% of the species in a plot.
The course fee is 2000 SEK, a contribution for the travel and accomodation, which has to be paid in April. During the excursion you also have to pay for the food, around 600 – 700 Skr. Please notice that the course starts in Stockholm. Thus you have to arrange and pay for the trip to Stockholm yourself.
Page manager: Inger Ekström
Questions about the website: Web Group
Publisher: Department of Biology
Last modified 1 Feb 2013
Lotta Persmark
Student Advisor
Education office
Phone:
+46462223728
E-mail:
Lotta.Persmark@biol.lu.se
Eva Waldemarson
Biodiversity
Phone:
+46462229309
E-mail:
Eva.Waldemarson@biol.lu.se
Mossberg B, Stenberg L 2008 Fjällflora Wahlström och Widstrand
The course will be given in Swedish during the summer.