• Learning Arctic Biology •
Want to learn about Arctic terrestrial biology?
Video: Tina Dahl and Marcos Poricres
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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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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,
Bedrock, soil development and soil disturbance
Glaciation have shaped biodiversity through time, but glaciations also greatly affects habitat and ecosystem development within landscapes. Mountain slopes above the marine limit are covered
Archaea
Compared to Bacteria and Eukaryotes, Archaean diversity, physiology and ecology is still very little explored. Many Archaea are extremophiles – living in extreme environments –
Current status of freshwater systems in Svalbard
There has recently been published a summary of the available knowledge of freshwater systems in Svalbard. With permission from the authors (John E. Brittain, Ann
Invertebrate lifecycles in the Arctic
Arctic regions are characterized by long cold winters and short cool summers. In order to establish invertebrates require more than to be able to tolerate
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
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
Bacteria
Bacteria are the major drivers of the Earths biogeochemical cycles, and therefore very important components of the ecosystems. There are estimations showing that more than
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
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
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
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
Biogeography of bryophytes
History The Pleistocene is the world’s recent period of repeated glaciations between 2.5 million to 11700 years ago. More than 20 cycles of glaciation occurred
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
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
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
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).
