Bryophytes: basic knowledge on the morphology, ecology, biogeography and endangerment of byrophytes; knowledge of common species; skills in the determination of bryophytes; field trip.Ferns: basic knowledge on the life cycle, morphology, evolution and ecology of ferns; identification of Swiss ferns; field trips.

The first part on bryophytes introduces the systematics and morphology of the hornworts, liverworts and mosses. Aspects of the ecology, geography, diversity and endangerment of bryophytes are also discussed. The emphasis of the second part on pteridophytes is on evolutionary processes and breeding systems of club mosses, horsetails and ferns. This is a lecture with practical part.

The course introduces the basic concepts of conservation genetics, such as inbreeding, inbreeding depression, adaptive genetic diversity, hybridization, or fragmentation. The course shows how genetic methods are used in conservation genetics and potentially applied in practical management, and it critically discusses the benefits and limits of conservation genetics.

This five-day winter school aims at teaching advanced Master students, PhD students and postdoctoral researchers on aspects of the genomics of environmental adaptation. It provides both theoretical background and hands-on exercises on major topics of contemporary environmental genomics such as signatures of selection, outlier analysis, genotype-environment associations, or GWAS.

In this seminar, students meet with professionals from conservation management. The students and the professionals consider current concepts and problems in nature conservation. Professionals give input presentations, and students partly treat relevant problems in more detail.