Syllabus
Origins and evolution of polar regions (plate tectonics, glacial periods, fossils as evidence of climatic and environmental changes. History of discovery, exploration and research in the polar regions.
Glacial cycles (factors influencing changing of warm and cold periods), changes in oceanic and atmospheric circulation, origin and evolutions of glaciation in polar regions, proxy data from ice cores, fundamentals of glaciology and glacier typology, hydrological cycle.
Polar climate (distribution and circulation of air masses, temperature and precipitation courses, ozone anomaly, microclimate and vegetation microclimate, climate change, methods of study of current and past climate).
Rocks and soils (origins and evolution of periglacial environment, permafrost, active layer, ground ice, periglacial processes - regelation, frost weathering, patterned ground, mass movements, influence of snow and vegetation, soil crusts, cryptoendolitic communities).
Comparison of Arctic and Antarctic ecosystems (energy exchange between temperate zone and Arctic/Antarctic Region, dispersal of organism to newly deglaciated areas).
Ecology of polar oceans and seas (ocean currents, polynias, Antarctic Divergence and Convergence, productivity of polar ocean ecosystem, benthic and pelagic assemblages, life in sea ice, primary and secondary producers of polar seas, parasites and symbionts of invertebrates and vertebrates).
Freshwater ecosystems (lakes, seepages, creeks and streams, life on glacial surfaces, cryoconite, lake typology in polar regions and their evolution, food webs in polar lakes, comparison of Arctic and Antarctica).
Cyanobacteria and algae and their adaptations to polar environment (dominant taxonomic groups in different habitats, adaptations to extreme environment, psychrophiles and psychrotrophs, endemism).
Vascular plants and their adaptations to polar environment (tundra, tree line, length of vegetation period, polar desert, peatbogs, Antarctic plant communities, evolution of vegetation in postglacial period, phytogeography, morphological and physiological adaptations of plants).
Animals and their adaptations to polar environment (overview of the main taxonomic groups of terrestrial, freshwater and sea fauna, metabolic and physiological adaptations, food pyramids, autochtonic and allochtonic nutrient sources, food web relationships).
Vulnerability of polar nature and its legal protection (Antarctic Treaty, Svalbard Treaty - conservation principles in the Arctic and Antarctica).
Organisation of research in polar regions. Arctic indigenous people.
Annotation
Introduction to polar ecology presents a basic overview of environmental/biological diversity and adaptations of organisms to environmental conditions in polar ecosystems. It introduces all basic scientific disciplines involved in ecological research in polar regions.
The lecturers have a long-term experience with field research both in the Arctic and Antarctic.