This course will give you an increased understanding of the scientific process in general and a deeper knowledge base in aquatic ecology in particular. We focuse on the effects of global climate change on aquatic systems. Global climate change has already had strong effects on aquatic systems and this will continue in the future. By studying effects of different aspects of climate change, e.g increasing temperature, ocean acidification, you learn more about the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems and how they may be altered in response to environmental change. The course provide you with a solid ground for PhD studies in limnology and marine ecology, but it is also useful if you want to work within this science field but outside academia.

The course includes lectures and literature seminars, where we read and critically analyse the latest research in the field, as well as a number of practical exercises. These include evaluating global change effects on fish populations using data from national data bases, designing and performing experiments in the laboratory on interactions in benthic and pelagic/microbial food chains and writing a review on a topic of your own choice (but associated to the course theme). When performing the experiments you will work in close collaboration with researchers at the Aquatic Ecology Group, i.e. you get to work with the latest research issues under supervision of active, experienced researchers. The results from the projects are presented as written papers, posters and oral presentations and in a round table debate.