Introduction
The Department of Arctic Biology at UNIS is the only European High Arctic situated biology department realizing undergraduate education, graduate research experience and Arctic research on a regular basis.

As the “Gateway to the High Arctic” in the North Atlantic region it provides students and scientists with excellent academic facilities to study Arctic organisms. Of special interest at the high latitudes are adaptations of organisms to extreme physical conditions and the constraints to various biological interactions under these conditions.

The UNIS Arctic Biology Department has active research programs within both marine and terrestrial biology/ecology following the general strategy and scientific focus at UNIS, where functional mechanisms and processes in the Arctic are emphasized and co-operation across traditional disciplines is encouraged.

Research areas
As indicated in the figure above the biological research at UNIS covers four interacting main topics: Biogeography, Winter biology, Sea-Ice and Population dynamics.

Marine research involves ecological studies of ice-associated (sympagic), pelagic and benthic communities with focus on taxonomy, population dynamics, distribution patterns, trophic interactions and energy flow.

Terrestrial studies concentrate on a variety of zoological, botanical and microbiological projects related to the Arctic. Current research includes plant population and community processes, genetic variation in plants, climate impact and plant-animal interactions, as well as general ecology, dispersal and cold tolerance in invertebrates, and studies on the Svalbard reindeer.