Course Archive

Instructor: Dr. Skip Walker

University of Alaska Fairbanks

BIOL 474, Plant Ecology
Principles and contemporary topics in plant ecology. Autecology, community ecology, ecosystem ecology and evolutionary ecology.
Prerequisites: BIOL 239, BIOL 271, STAT 200.

BIOL 475/689, Vegetation Description and Analysis
Methods of vegetation science including sampling, classification, gradient analysis, ordination, field description, and mapping. Field trips to the plant communities of interior Alaska.
Prerequisites: BIOL 474 or other general ecology course, permission of instructor.

BIOL 492/692, Arctic Vegetation Ecology
Detailed study of Arctic plant communities including their composition, structure, paleo-history, biogeography, major environmental controls, applications of Arctic vegetation methods to current Arctic issues including climate change, wildlife management, and changing land-use in the Arctic.

BIOL 493/693, Arctic Ecosystems
Examination of tundra ecosystems of Arctic Russia and North America. Emphasis is on factors controlling vegetation patterns.
Prerequisite: permission of instructor.

BIOL 697 Independent Study: Vegetation Description and Analysis
Methods of vegetation science including sampling, classification, gradient analysis, ordination, field description and mapping. Field trips to the plant communities of interior Alaska.

Arctic Field School

IARC Field School - 2010
The field school is based on the Dalton Highway field trip offered during the 2008 Ninth International Conference on Permafrost. It's led by experts in permafrost sciences and other disciplines with ties to permafrost (engineering, biology, ecosystem modeling, disturbance, climate modeling, social sciences, and hydrology), who describe the current state of knowledge, disciplinal links, and research gaps, and give an in-depth view of the landscapes and research along one of the most remote and scenic highways in North America. Major themes include permafrost and ecosystem variation along the arctic climate gradient, biocomplexity of patterned ground, and engineering solutions.

Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

Arctic Vegetation Ecology
Understanding of the Arctic tundra biome and its role in the total global system. Emphasis is on factors controlling arctic vegetation patterns.