Program Overview

Course Overview

The course BIO-3020, Fundamentals of Ecotoxicology, is a 10 ECTS course that covers general principles of ecotoxicology through lectures, seminars, and a practical component.

Type of Course

The course is relevant for students belonging to the Master in Biology programme and especially for students taking the Arctic Marine Ecotoxicology specialisation as well as the Arctic Animal Physiology or Arctic Marine Ecology. The course is available as a singular course, with a maximum number of participants being 30.

Admission Requirements

Admission requires a Bachelor's degree (180 ECTS) or equivalent qualification, with a major in biology of minimum 80 ECTS. Local admission, application code 9371 - Master's level singular course.

Course Content

The course deals with environmental contaminants and their fate in the environment, including emissions, transport of contaminants, and effects in biota from cellular to community/ecosystem levels. Lectures provide an introduction to ecotoxicological approaches, toxicity testing, general concepts, and theories. Seminars focus on studying more in detail specific contaminants or approaches.

Objectives of the Course

Knowledge

• Define and discuss specific terms within the field, such as toxicity, bioavailability, bioaccumulation, biomagnification, etc.
• Have knowledge about all classes of contaminants, including their sources and particular effects on living organisms.
• Explain how contaminants interact with organisms from mode of actions to organismal and population/community level effects.
• Be familiar with a range of methods used in toxicity testing and discuss their relevance.
• Have knowledge about the approaches to environmental risk assessment and the responsible authorities.

Skills

• Know standard practical procedures during experimentation, from biological sample collection to data analysis in the laboratory.
• Be able to read and critically execute laboratory protocols on sampling procedures and sample analysis.
• Understand and apply equations in data treatment to transform raw data into final results.
• Be able to perform basic data treatment using Excel to process raw data.
• Be able to write a report in a scientific concise style, including data representation and critically discussing own data in the light of existing knowledge from literature.

General Competence

• Develop the ability to interpret ecotoxicology data within a specific environmental context and problematic.
• Develop teamwork skills in the field and laboratory situations.
• Acquire confidence to work autonomously in the laboratory and take decisions based on few instructions.
• Develop the ability to plan in the context of a long-term project with multiple steps.
• Be able to search and use relevant literature.
• Develop scientific writing skills.

Language of Instruction and Examination

The language of instruction is English. It is allowed for Scandinavian students to write their reports and written exam in a Scandinavian language.

Teaching Methods

The course includes lectures, seminars, experimental work, laboratory work, and home assignments. Participation in at least 3 different days of the practical work is mandatory. Submission of report section drafts on a weekly basis is also mandatory.

Re-sit Examination

A re-sit examination will be arranged for students who did not pass the written examination. However, no re-sit will be organised for the report.

Weighting of Parts of the Examination

• Laboratory report: approximately 50% of the final grade.
• Written exam: approximately 50% of the final grade. Each assessment will be given a grade in percentage (%) according to defined criteria and transformed into a letter (A-F). The final grade will be based on the numerical weighted average of the report and the written exam and expressed as a letter (A-F).