• Learning Arctic Biology •
Want to learn about Arctic terrestrial biology?
Video: Tina Dahl and Marcos Poricres
• Browse by topic •
• Digital Tools •
360° Virtual Field Guides
Explore a variety of locations and learn about its biology, history and more. All in 360 degrees!
ArtsApp - Digital Key
A digital key for Svalbard’s flora, with specific keys for vascular plants and grasses.
Read about...
Arctic plant habitats
Habitats develop in relation to regional climate, snow-distribution, hydrology, soil chemistry, disturbance and nutrient input. These factors vary across the landscape, creating different habitats. At
Climate, topography and spatial heterogeneity
Arctic biodiversity is structured by a range of environmental factors. To understand which environmental factors that are decisive to the species composition in an area,
Adaptations for Arctic conditions
Arctic plants must deal with a range of different challenges. Low temperatures year around slows down metabolic processes and increase the risk of frost damage.
Diversification of Arctic flora and fauna during the Pleistocene
On an evolutionary time-scale, the arctic flora and fauna have had very short time to develop. This partly explains the low number of truly endemic
Colonisation of Svalbard by the invertebrate fauna
The invertebrate fauna of Svalbard is relatively young. There is no evidence that invertebrates survived the last glacial maximum in situ. The islands were covered
Mutualistic fungi
Mutualistic fungi live on other organisms, however in contrast to parasitism, mutualism benefits all involved organisms. The fungi get nutrition, mainly carbohydrates, from their partners,
Global context
The Arctic is an integral part of many global systems. Some examples are: Each year several hundred million birds and fish migrate to the Arctic
Viruses
What is a virus? Viruses are infectious agents that replicate exclusively within a living cell. Viruses can infect all types of organisms, from animals and
Fungi in the Arctic Environment
Fungi are heterotrophic organisms feeding by osmotrophy. Their ecology can be divided into saprotrophs, parasites and mutualists. However, transitions exist between all these groups. Most
Systematics of fungi
Modern fungal systematics is based upon genetic analysis. However, and structure of the hyphal cells are also important. Below you will find an overview of
Fungi in Svalbard
A large number of mushroom species grow in Svalbard. Most are small, some are poisonous, while others are edible and tasty. Fungi have most of
Parasitic fungi
Parasitic and pathogenic fungi obtain their nutrition from other living organisms, and have a negative effect upon the individuals – hosts – they are parasites
What are bryophytes?
Evolutionary origin Bryophytes belong to the embryophytes, which include all land plants. Evidence from structural, biochemical, and molecular data supports the view that bryophytes and all
Life cycle of bryophytes
Like other plants, bryophytes change between two generations with different morphology and function (heteromorphy). Unlike vascular plants, in bryophytes the haploid gametophyte (1n) is the dominating generation.
Diversity of bryophytes
Bryophytes are the second most diverse group among land plants after the flowering plants (Magnoliophyta, ~350 000 described species; Glime 2007). Defining the number of species of
Microbial eukaryotes
Microbial eukaryotes are an evolutionary diverse group that gathers various eukaryotic organisms of often microscopic sizes, such as protist and fungi. Protists, comprise a large
Useful learning resources
bioCEED resource for learning statistics, tutorials for the statistical computing language R and more!
How do you start with academic writing? This is the prefect resources for those who are about to write their first thesis/poster/essay etc. or looking for new tips when it comes to academic writing.
Svalbox is all about Svalbard geology. Svalbox aims to compile and acquire key data sets and publications to provide an interactive 3D geoscientific database of Svalbard.
The UNIS Executable Books page provides an overview of all eBooks available and/or used for teaching at the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS).
