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.
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