Fjæreplytt (Calidris maritima) er verdens nordligste overvintrende vader og oppholder seg gruppevis i fjæresonen i Tromsøområdet gjennom vinteren. En flokk fjæreplytt ble observert å konsekvent bytte beitehabitat mellom dag og natt. Ved hjelp av radiosendere og individuelle ringmerker ble natthabitat avdekket og flokken verifisert som den samme i begge habitat. For å undersøke hva som kunne styre ...

Hibernation is a physiological and behavioural adaptation that permits survival during seasonal periods of energy shortage via a combination of pre-hibernal energy storage and hibernal metabolic depression, i.e. torpor. The central mechanisms in the brain that control torpor expression and arousal from it has been under investigation since the dawn of hibernation research but remains unknown. Recent ...

Plant-soil feedbacks receive increasing attention as impactors of plant performance and drivers of plant community composition. How plant-soil feedbacks act in introduction events regarding both native and foreign species is a topic requiring more research. In this aspect, two particular theories are of interest, Home-field advantage, and Enemy-release. The former predicts that plants perform best ...

In the last nine winters, a humpback whale feeding aggregation has been observed in the nearshore waters and fjords of northern Norway. This seasonal humpback whale occurrence is presumably driven by a shift in the overwintering distribution of Norwegian spring spawning (NSS) herring into these coastal areas. Eastern North Atlantic humpback whales feed during summer in relative remote regions in ...

Current knowledge of the Arctic marine ecosystem is based primarily on studies performed during the polar day on the pelagic and benthic realms. Both the polar night and the hyperbenthic layer remain substantial knowledge gaps in the understanding of the marine system at high latitudes. To help address these knowledge gaps, this project investigates the hyperbenthic food web structure in Kongsfjord, ...

Polyploidization can be a rapid path to speciation and is considered an important evolutionary mechanism. Some predict that all plants have undergone a polyploidization event during their evolutionary history, and the frequency of polyploid species increases with latitude. The Arctic-Alpine Saxifraga oppositifolia, an autopolyploid, has two polyploids that have successfully established themselves ...

Hydropower is among the largest renewable energy sources globally. However, it can have drastic environmental and socio-economic impacts on dammed lakes (i.e., reservoirs) and rivers where water levels are regulated due to hydropower operations. Water level regulation in hydropower reservoirs is known to be a large environmental problem, leading to changes in the abiotic conditions, which subsequently ...

Apicomplexa parasites, including Toxoplasma gondii and Plasmodium falciparum, contain a secondary endosymbiosis-derived plastid like organ, called apicoplast, which is an anabolic hub. This apicoplast is fueled by phosphate translocator (APT), which transport phosphorylated sugar molecules in exchange of inorganic phosphate. Disruption of APT in T. gondii was found to be lethal for parasite. Beside ...

The use of lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus L.) as cleaner fish in salmonid aquaculture for the biological control of sea lice infestation levels has increased in recent years. The species is relatively new to aquaculture and susceptible to various infectious agents. The health situation for lumpfish is currently considered poor, indicating the necessity for developing more efficient vaccines. Studying ...

The Svalbard rock ptarmigan displays a seasonal change of body mass as a selectively beneficial adaptation for survival in the high Arctic. This physiological change is sensitive to photoperiod (daylight duration in a 24h cycle) but little is known of the mechanism through which changes in photoperiod affects body mass in this species. We exposed winer adapted Sv. rock ptarmigan to a simulated ...