e-Learning portal for Arctic Biology

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Want to learn about Arctic terrestrial biology?​

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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.

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Adaptations for Arctic conditions

Cold tolerance For the invertebrates on Svalbard winter lasts for almost 10 months of the year (Convey et al. 2018). In the majority of winters

Bryophyte habitats

Bryophytes are found throughout the world from the harsh environments of Antarctica to the lush conditions of the tropical rainforests. Despite their small size, they

Soil-invertebrate decomposers

Decomposition, the breakdown of soil organic matter (SOM) and the release of nutrients and fixed nitrogen, is an essential process in soil nutrient cycling and

Bryophytes as environmental indicators

Many bryophyte species are very sensitive to certain environmental conditions – both naturally occurring and imposed by anthropogenic activity. Bryophytes are used as indicators and

Microbiology in the Arctic

Since the turn of the previous century, when Arctic explorers began to return samples of microbes for culture and study, our understanding of the microbiology

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

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Saprotrophic fungi

Saprotrophic fungi degrade dead organisms or their remains, such as litter or dung. Depending on their mode of breaking down cellulose or lignin, we recognise

Bryophyte adaptations and constraints

Bryophytes are very resilient and have a unique ability to recover from long-lasting extreme environmental conditions (La Farge et al. 2013, Procter et al. 2007). Bryophytes

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,

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

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

Ecosystem role of bryophytes

Bryophytes have many important ecosystem functions in the Arctic. These include: Regulation of hydrology In many habitats, bryophytes control soil and vegetation hydrology (Beringer et

Archaea

Compared to Bacteria and Eukaryotes, Archaean diversity, physiology and ecology is still very little explored. Many Archaea are extremophiles – living in extreme environments –

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.

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).

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