BIOS5411 – Toxicants in ecosystems and humans: Effects
Course description
Schedule, syllabus and examination date
Course content
The course gives insight into how toxicants are taken up by humans and organisms in the environment, accumulation in organisms and food chains, as well as effects on human health and the environment, with a particular focus on individual effects. Toxicants affect many of the same processes in different organisms and the course will discuss similarities and differences between different species. The course includes an ecosystem approach and includes aspects of both ecotoxicology and human toxicology.
Learning outcome
The course will provide in-depth knowledge of how toxicants affect humans and other organisms.
After completing the course, you will:
- Have knowledge of the mechanisms of toxicity for different toxic substances, including endocrine disruption, genotoxicity, reproductive toxicity, immunotoxicity, neurotoxicity, developmental toxicity and behavioural toxicity.
- Have knowledge of the metabolism of toxicants in different species.
- Have knowledge about the effects of toxicants on a molecular and cellular level, on individual health, on populations in nature and on communities, as well as the use of biomarkers.
- Understand the importance of different groups of toxicants for human health and the environment.
- Have experience with sampling fish in a field survey and measurement of biomarkers in their tissues.
- Understand important drivers for distribution and accumulation of toxicants, including environmental, chemical, physical, physiological and ecological factors.
- Understand models for toxicokinetics and -dynamics.
- Understand models for accumulation and statistical tools used in ecotoxicology.
Admission to the course
Students admitted at UiO must?apply for courses?in Studentweb. Students enrolled in other Master's Degree Programmes can, on application, be admitted to the course if this is cleared by their own study programme.
Nordic citizens and applicants residing in the Nordic countries may?apply to take this course as a single course student.
If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about?admission requirements and procedures for international applicants.
PhD-candidates?must register for BIOS9411 – Toxicants in ecosystems and humans: Effects.
The courses BIOS5411 and BIOS9411 have common admission. Applicants are ranked by the following criteria:
- PhD candidates?and master students at the MN faculty who have the course as part of the approved curriculum. Students in Toxicology and environmental science are given priority.
- Other PhD candidates, master students and visiting PhD candidates.
- Students with admission to single courses on master’s level and exchange students
Applicants are ranked by credits in each group; all applicants within 1st rank before applicants in 2nd etc. If admission is limited to a fixed number of participants, admission will be decided by drawing lots for students who are ranked equally
Formal prerequisite knowledge
Recommended previous knowledge
Overlapping courses
- 10 credits overlap with BIOS9411 – Toxicants in ecosystems and humans: Effects.
- 5 credits overlap with BIO4540 – Human Toxicology (discontinued).
- 5 credits overlap with BIO9540 – Human toxicology (discontinued).
- 5 credits overlap with BIO4550 – Ecotoxicology (discontinued).
- 5 credits overlap with BIO9550 – Ecotoxicology (discontinued).
Teaching
- Lectures
- Fieldwork (compulsory): 2 days
- Lab-exercises (compulsory)?
- Discussion groups
Participation in Health and Safety courses are required prior to lab-exercises and fieldwork. The students are required to hold individual insurance to cover field activities. Mandatory course work must be approved before the student can attend the exam.?
Attendance is mandatory for the first lecture. This also applies for those on the waiting list. You will lose your seat on the course if documentation for absence is not provided to the student administration studieinfo@ibv.uio.no prior to the first lecture.
As?the?teaching involves laboratory and/or field work, you should consider taking out a separate travel and personal risk insurance.?Read about your insurance cover as a student.
A student who has completed compulsory instruction and coursework and has had these approved, is not entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework. A student who has been admitted to a course, but who has not completed compulsory instruction and coursework or had these approved, is entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework, depending on available capacity.
Examination
Final written exam which counts 100% towards the final?grade.
This course has mandatory exercises that must be approved before you can sit the final?exam.
It will also be counted as one of the three attempts to sit the exam for this course, if you sit the exam for one of the following courses: BIOS9411 – Toxicants in ecosystems and humans: Effects.
Examination support material
No examination support material is allowed.
Language of examination
You may write your examination paper in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English.
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.
Resit an examination
Students who can document a valid reason for absence from the regular examination are offered a?postponed exam?at the beginning of the next semester.
New examinations?are offered at the beginning of the next semester for students who do not successfully complete the exam during the previous semester.
We do not offer a re-scheduled exam for students who withdraw during the exam.
More about examinations at UiO
- Use of sources and citations
- Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
- Withdrawal from an exam
- Illness at exams / postponed exams
- Explanation of grades and appeals
- Resitting an exam
- Cheating/attempted cheating
You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.