The 3rd Nordic course on plant population and community ecology will be held at

This PhD course is organized by the Graduate School in Evolutionary Ecology (Finland), Stockholm University (Sweden), Södertörn University College (Sweden), the University of Oulu (Finland), and the University of Tartu (Estonia). The two former courses were held at Lyckhem, Sweden, November 9-14th, 2002, and at Oulanka, Finland, October 4-9th, 2003.

Until now, our courses have dealt with processes on the population level, and with dispersal and related topics. This time, we would like to focus on processes AFTER dispersal, both on the population (including interactions) and community level. What are the processes behind diversity patterns? What is the relative role of each particular process? How much do the patterns tell us about the processes? Does the knowledge about processes assist us in restoring ecosystems? In particular, we would like to consider the role of competition, herbivory, parasitism and mutualism, as structuring forces in plant communities.