BIOS9214 – Biogeography and Biodiversity
Course description
Course content
This course explores patterns of geographical distribution of taxa, populations and ecosystem on global and regional scales, the processes that have given rise to these patterns and methods that can be used to infer these processes.
Learning outcome
You learn about basic biogeographical patterns of distribution and their history, and the geophysical, evolutionary and ecological processes behind them. You also learn about methods used for explaining past and current distributions of organisms.?Compared to BIOS5214 offered to Master students, PhD students will study the topics covered by the course deeper: for every lecture, a PDF of a paper will be provided (to be read by the PhD students individually) and at the written exam, there will be an additional question based on one of the PDFs.
Admission to 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 BIOS5214?and BIOS9214?have joint admission. There is a total of 30 seats at these subjects. Applicants are ranked by the following criteria:
1. PhD students and master students at the MN faculty who have the course as part of the approved curriculum.?PhD students and master students at the Department of Biosciences are given priority.
2. Other PhD students and visiting PhD students.
3. Students with admission to single courses on master’s level and exchange students
4. Applicants are ranked by credits in each group; all applicants within 1st rank before applicants in 2nd etc. If admission is limited to a fixed number of participants, admission will be decided by drawing lots for students who are ranked equally
Overlapping courses
- 10 credits overlap with BIOS5214 – Biogeography and Biodiversity.
- 10 credits overlap with BIO4230 – Biogeography and Biodiversity (continued).
- 10 credits overlap with BIO9230 – Biogeography and Biodiversity (continued).
Teaching
Lectures. Classes are compulsory.
The course is given by the?Natural History Museum and includes lecturers from several research groups who will contribute in the fields of their special expertise. The venue for the lectures is the auditorium in the Botanical Museum building (Botanisk Museum),?known as Lids hus, which is located in the Botanical Garden at T?yen.
The first lecture is mandatory. If you can not attend the first lecture, please send a note to studieinfo@ibv.uio.no, before the first lecture.
The course is only given if 3 or more students meet on the first lecture.
Examination
- Final written exam which counts 100 % towards the final?grade.?
PhD candidates get an extra exam question (compared to Master students). This question is based on an additional literature material.?
It is possible to take the exam up to 3 times. If you withdraw from the exam after the deadline or during the exam, this will be counted as an examination attempt. 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: BIO4230 – Biogeography and Biodiversity (continued), BIO9230 – Biogeography and Biodiversity (continued), BIOS5214 – Biogeography and Biodiversity.
Examination support material
Written exam: No examination support material is allowed.
Project report:?All examination support material is allowed.
Language of examination
You may write your examination paper in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English.
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a pass/fail scale. Read more about the grading system.
Resit an examination
This course offers both postponed and resit of examination. Read more:
More about examinations at UiO
- Use of sources and citations
- Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
- Withdrawal from an exam
- Illness at exams / postponed exams
- Explanation of grades and appeals
- Resitting an exam
- Cheating/attempted cheating
You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.