6 EC
Semester 1, period 1
5224MIEC6Y
The vast majority of life on this planet is microbial. Microbial organisms are huge in their numbers, biomass and diversity, and Earth's evolution is tightly linked to microbial evolution and activities. We are also increasingly aware of the importance of microbial ecology in the practical issues of society and the environment; from human health, nutrition and energy supply, to understanding and predicting climate change.
However, our knowledge of microbial diversity and activities in the environment is still limited, which is mostly attributed to the difficulties associated with studying microbes (because of their small size and difficulty to isolate and cultivate them in the laboratory). Fortunately, recent breakthroughs in the application of methods from molecular biology and genomics (including transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics) are now beginning to provide better ways to study the diversity and activities of microbes in their environment.
The course will first provide a brief history of the field of microbial ecology, and an outline of the general characteristics of microbes and microbial communities, and their role in the cycling of chemical elements. It will then proceed to highlight the most important methodological approaches that have been essential to recent advances in microbial ecology. These highlights will pay special attention to the rapid increasing influence of high-throughput sequencing technologies. Subsequently, several important examples will be presented regarding the role of microbial ecology in key environmental issues, including effects of global climate change, pollution and other anthropogenic pressures on ecosystems.
The course nicely complements other courses on macro-ecology and evolution in the Master Programme Biological Sciences, such as Current Trends in Evolution, and Environmental Genomics and Adaptation. Furthermore, it gives a solid basis for performing research projects within the Departments Aquatic Microbiology, and Aquatic Environmental Ecology.
Prerequisite for participation in the course is a BSc.-degree in Biology or equivalent. Knowledge of microbiology and/or ecology is required. Basic knowledge in molecular biology and biochemistry is strongly recommended.
We will hand-out protocols for the practical.
By the time the course is completed, the student should be able to:
The course starts with a series of lectures (hoor-colleges) on different topics in microbial ecology. In addition, scientific articles on particular topics will be read and discussed by the students during seminars (werk-colleges). Subsequently, groups of ca. 4 students will choose a subject related to one of the topics in the lectures, look up relevant literature, summarize this and present it as a short movie. Moreover, the students will have a one-day excursion and a one-day practical in microbiology/microbial ecology.
Activity | Number of hours |
Excursie | 8 |
Hoorcollege | 36 |
Practicum | 8 |
Presentatie | 4 |
Tentamen | 4 |
Werkcollege | 16 |
Zelfstudie | 92 |
The programme does not have requirements concerning attendance (OER-B).
Additional requirements for this course:
Additional requirements for this course:
Attendance at lectures and the literature discussion is highly recommended. Attendance at the excursion and practical is mandatory (from Teaching and Examination Regulations). The literature study will be done by the students as a self-study.
| Item and weight | Details |
|
Final grade | |
|
70% Tentamen | Must be ≥ 5, Allows retake |
|
30% Literature study | Must be ≥ 5 |
The manner of inspection will be communicated via the digitial learning environment.
For at least twenty working days after the announcement of the results of a written examination, the student can, on request, inspect his/her assessed work, the questions and assignments set, as well as the standards applied for marking. The place and time will be announced via Blackboard (from Teaching and Examination Regulations).
discuss scientific articles on specific topics in microbial ecology.
literature study of a topic related to the course. For this purpose relevant literature will be looked-up, summarized and presented as a short, 3-5 minutes movie.
Onderstaande opdrachten komen aan bod in deze cursus:
Dit vak hanteert de algemene ‘Fraude- en plagiaatregeling’ van de UvA. Onder plagiaat of fraude wordt verstaan het overschrijven van het werk van een medestudent dan wel het kopiëren van wetenschappelijke bronnen (uit bijvoorbeeld boeken en tijdschriften en van het Internet) zonder daarbij de bron te vermelden. Uiteraard is plagiaat verboden. Hier wordt nauwkeurig op gecontroleerd en streng tegen opgetreden. Bij verdenking van plagiaat wordt de examencommissie van de opleiding ingeschakeld. Wanneer de examencommissie overtuigd is dat er plagiaat gepleegd is dan kan dit maximaal leiden tot een uitsluiting van al het onderwijs van de opleiding voor een heel kalenderjaar. Zie voor meer
informatie over het fraude- en plagiaatreglement van de Universiteit van Amsterdam.www.uva.nl/plagiaat
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The course schedule can be found at
This course uses a Blackboard-site. Here, you’ll find all the necessary additional information, such as grouping for seminars, information on the assignments, additional literature. Therefore, check out the site regularly!