Rapid changes to the physical environment of Arctic marine systems in recent years impact the structure and function of benthic ecosystems. Exploring the resilience of these systems to perturbations requires a solid understanding of key ecological processes and must be conducted over appropriate time scales due to the slow growth and recruitment of many Arctic benthic organisms. This study addresses ...

Marine recreational and commercial exploitation of salmonids often target a mixed stock consisting of genetically distinct and independent populations with varying abundances, life histories, standing genetic variation, and conservation status. In this study we use SNP markers to investigate the genetic population structure of juvenile brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) from five distinct watercourses ...

Seed banks represent a source from which new vegetation may quickly arise if the existing stand is disturbed. It is increasingly discussed that reindeer grazing modifies the seed banks in northern ecosystems. However no large-scale studies have been carried out to support this hypothesis. Because reindeer could constitute a selective pressure on vegetation recruitment, the present study investigated ...

Estimates of repeatability (R) are an important statistic tool in assessing the consistency of individual differences and thus different phenotypes. A high repeatability of estimates of the daily energy expenditure (DEE), allow for better inferences of the long term energetic effort of individuals, as well as for sound correlations of other traits related to individual performance, such as reproductive ...

The diet of 99 coastal-feeding ringed seals (Pusa hispida), collected in western Spitsbergen, Svalbard (Norway), was analysed via identification of hard-parts in the contents of their gastrointestinal tracts (GITs). The study animals where shot either in spring (n = 30; April-July) or autumn (n = 69; August-October) during four consecutive years (2014-2017). Thirty different prey types were identified ...

There is evidence of a negative population trend for the two neighbouring eider colonies of Håkøya and Grindøya in Troms county, northern Norway. Casual observations suggest that nest predation may be an important factor, and that the hooded crow in particular could be the main egg predator. On this basis, a two year pilot study was conducted to investigate the role of the hooded crow in the nest ...

Male common eiders Somateria mollissima in high-Arctic colonies are known to remain with females during the first weeks of incubation; a behaviour not found in eider colonies further south. Other studies have observed that, whilst adult eiders in northern latitudes experience less predation, there can be much higher levels of predation on their nests and young. The objective of this study was to ...

Bentiske makroinvertebrater i littoralsonen av innsjøer utgjør en stor del av innsjøers økosystem, og samfunnsstrukturen av disse dyrene kan være med å påvirke hele økosystemet. Forskjellige arter av bunndyr har forskjellige livssykluser og tilpasninger til habitatene de lever i og det er rimelig å forvente at sammensetningen av arter endrer seg med forskjellige dyp og bunnsubstrat, og også over ...

Salmon lice are parasitic copepods with three planktonic larvae stages, consisting of two nauplii stages and a copepodite stage. The parasite spread during these stages as plankton, and with the increased number of host represented by salmonid fish in aquaculture it is important to know the concentrations and ecology of the fee-living stages. Both Lepeophtheirus salmonis and Caligus elongatus are ...

The importance of landfast ice as a nursery and breeding ground for Arctic marine invertebrates was studied in Van Mijenfjorden (77°N, 15/16°W), southwestern Svalbard from March to May 2017. The collection of first-year ice cores with stations along a depth gradient allowed the investigation of both temporal and spatial differences in sympagic meiofauna community composition and abundance. Furthermore, ...