Program Overview

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Program Overview

The University of Copenhagen offers a comprehensive program in biology, including the course "Organismernes diversitet - Livets træ" (Diversity of Organisms - The Tree of Life).

Course Description

The course provides an overview of the diversity of living organisms and their interrelationships, focusing on Danish organisms. It covers four main areas: algae, plants, fungi, and animals.

Course Content

• The course includes a common lecture series and exercises divided into four sub-courses:
  • Algae: characteristics, thallus types, life cycles, and importance for humans.
  • Plants: morphology, phylogeny, and adaptation to function.
  • Fungi: structure, systematics, life cycles, and nutritional strategies.
  • Animals: systematics, morphology, embryology, development, life cycles, and reproduction.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Describe the overall classification of selected organism groups and their relationships within eukaryotes.
• Describe a range of selected organisms as representatives of important systematic groups.
• Use the concepts and terms of the field.
• Explain the principles of biological classification and naming.
• Describe the characteristics of major organism groups and their classification.
• Locate and describe significant morphological features of selected organism groups.
• Describe and explain functional environmental adaptations.
• Describe life cycles of selected organism groups.

Teaching Materials

Teaching materials are available on Absalon. Students are required to bring a magnifying glass, scissors, scalpel, tweezers, and needles to exercises.

Teaching Methods

The course consists of 25 lectures and approximately 84 hours of integrated exercises and lectures, including fieldwork. A common excursion to Charlottenlund Fort and two common lectures on phylogeny and phylogenetic analysis are also included.

Workload

• Category:
  • Lectures: 25 hours
  • Preparation (estimated): 287 hours
  • Practical exercises: 84 hours
  • Excursions: 15 hours
  • Examination: 1 hour
  • Total: 412 hours

Feedback

Feedback is provided through:

• Ongoing feedback during the teaching period
• Feedback at the final examination (in addition to the grade)

Examination

• The examination is a 20-minute oral exam with 20 minutes of preparation without aids.
• The exam covers one of the four sub-courses, determined by drawing lots immediately before the examination.
• The oral exam accounts for 100% of the grade.
• No aids are allowed during the examination.
• The assessment form is a 7-point scale.
• There is no external censorship, but multiple internal assessors are used.

Re-examination

The re-examination follows the same format as the ordinary examination.

Course Information

• Language: Danish
• Course code: NBIA09017U
• Points: 15 ECTS
• Level: Bachelor
• Duration: 1 block
• Placement: Block 1
• Schedule group: All schedule groups
• Course capacity: 235

Study Board

The study board for the Biological Area is responsible for the course.

Offering Institutes

The course is offered by the Department of Biology and the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences.

Offering Faculty

The course is offered by the Faculty of Science.

Course Responsible

Niels Daugbjerg is the course responsible.

Teachers

The course is taught by a team of instructors, including Hans Henrik Bruun, Niels Daugbjerg, Flemming Ekelund, Marianne Ellegaard, Anders Garm, Jens Høeg, Andreas Kelager, Rasmus Kjøller, Øjvind Moestrup, Søren Rosendahl, Katrine Worsaae, Michael Poulsen, Per Juel Hansen, Bent Vismann, and teaching assistants.