High-Altitude GeoBiology and GeoEcology Interdisciplinary Training Courses in the Swiss Alps
The courses are a combination of fieldwork, lectures, and tutorials on geobiological processes during the evolution of high-altitude ecosystems. They address questions like:
- how formerly glaciated areas become habitable under conditions where harsh temperature fluctuations, strong radiation, and active weathering prevail;
- how organisms, mostly microbes, and plants, conquer and colonize the initially nutrient-poor environments, and
- how organisms respond to the challenges of rapid and long-term changes.
2021 courses: August - September
Website: http://www.microeco.ethz.ch/geobio/GeoBiology_field_courses_Kurt_Hanselmann_ETHZ.html
Movie: http://www.microeco.ethz.ch/geobio/movies/Biogeoscience_Field_Course_Joeri.mp4
2021 Course topic:
Zur Rolle der Alpen im globalen Kohlenstoffkreislauf / The role of the Alps in the global Carbon Cycle
and other topics that are well illustrated in the course area:
- self-trophication of glacial lakes,
- soil formation on different bedrocks, its development in altitudinal transects,
- erosion colloids and nanoparticles, e.g. clays, as links between the abiotic lithosphere and life,
- habitability of newly opened spaces,
- microbiomes that first colonize "empty" habitats,
- development of potentially toxic cyanobacteria in glacial lakes,
- the chemical hydrology in shale rocks and many more (see below).
Sample collection and documentation are offered for those participants who aim to follow up with a research project at their home institution.
Course Location
- Biogeoscience Arena JÖRI-SILVRETTA™ (Davos, Klosters, Susch, Scuol, Alvaneu, Switzerland)
Courses, Sign-up, and Dates 2021
- The basic courses are scheduled for September 04 - 09. If needed, we will offer a second course from August 30 to September 04, depending on allowed group sizes as demanded by Corona safety measures.
- If a course is over-booked priority for acceptance is given to participants who need the course for the fulfillment of a study requirement. Other participants are offered places in the additional course (August 30 - September 04).
- Signing-up for most courses ends at the end of June. Students from Swiss Universities and the University of Tübingen sign up at their home institution.
Participants
- Students (upper BSc, MSc, Ph.D., and others) and early-career scientists and Gymnasium Teachers
Language: English / Deutsch
A Brochure about High Mountain Biogeoscience Summer School Courses can be downloaded here.
