LFU:online

• to comprehend primary literature in Microbial Ecology
• to become familiar with a range of techniques in Microbial Ecology
• to apply this knowledge to a habitat of interest
• to improve oral presentations in English

The course focuses on modern techniques in the rapidly expanding field of microbial ecology.

Five topics will be covered:

1. Bacterial enumeration and isolation
2. Determination of microbial biomass
3. Determination of microbial activity
4. Characterization of microbial communities
5. Decomposition of organic matter

The course will be held in 5 blocks (one for each topic), 3 h each.

Students will be assigned a scientific paper from each of the above topics and will be expected to deliver a 5-7 min presentation on the most important facets. The papers will cover the most recent and most widely used techniques of each topic area. After each student's presentation, time is alotted for discussion.

One specific habitat (e.g. agricultural soil, forest soil, alpine ski runs, a river sediment, water from an alpine stream, compost substrate, a food product, animal guts etc....) will be chosen by each student for the duration of the course. At the end of the course, students will have to submit a table outlining how each of these techniques presented may, or may not, be used in 'their' habitat and what possible advantages/disadvantages are to be expected.