This thesis presents a rich introduction to the evolution, life history and physiology of Atlantic salmon, with a special emphasis on the developmental transitions (termed smolting) juvenile salmon pass through has they prepare to migrate from their native freshwater habitat to the sea. The introduction provides a comprehensive background on chronobiology and osmoregulation in fishes and links this ...

The endosymbiosis-derived organelles within a plant cell, plastids and mitochondria, have to be equipped with a certain set of proteins to be fully functional. This set of proteins is encoded by different genomes: the organellar genomes and the nuclear genomes. This setup poses some interesting challenges for the regulation of gene expression and protein transport. On the one hand, the targeting ...

Vaccines are regarded as the safest and most cost-effective strategy to prevent infectious diseases. For some diseases, vaccine improvements are required as protection levels are still inadequate. The key to solving this challenge might lie in the development of more efficacious vaccine delivery systems and adjuvants. Poly (lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) is a biodegradable polymer which has an extensive ...

Environmental change in the Arctic is occurring at an unprecedented rate with a loss of sea ice and warmer sea temperatures, simultaneously as increased human activity in the Arctic poses a risk of petroleum pollution. The potential future of a key Arctic forage fish, polar cod (<i>Boreogadus saida</i>), was investigated using laboratory simulations of oil spills during sensitive life-history stages: ...

Small copepods (≤ 2 mm) are highly abundant mesozooplankton in Arctic and sub-Arctic marine ecosystems. However, small copepods are generally underestimated in zooplankton studies because of the use of large-meshed nets (≥ 180-µm mesh size) and are relatively poorly studied compared to large copepods. This thesis investigates the egg hatching rates, population dynamics and production rates of three ...

We took an experimental approach to study what may contribute to such behavior, and what effect these choices have on individual wellbeing. We used three independent surveys to analyze this, all three measuring positional preferences in a broad spectrum of domains. If left uncorrected, there might be large unintended external effects from positional preferences, which is why this research is necessary. ...

Detailed predictions of the downward particulate organic carbon (POC) flux in a future Arctic are challenging due to the poor understanding of potential drivers. Short-term sediment traps, partly modified with gel-containing jars, were deployed in the Barents Sea (BS) and in Adventfjorden, Svalbard, to determine the downward POC flux and the particle flux (≥ 0.05 mm equivalent spherical diameter ...

The pursuit of a world without poverty is without doubt among the leading global challenges not only for governments but also the poor themselves. This challenge is also in small-scale fishing communities where poverty is persistent and has become a thorny issue to the poor as well as governing actors. Strategies have been formulated and implemented but the results have not been up to the expectations. ...

<p><i>Background and purpose: </i>Lifestyle diseases are the leading cause of life-time disability and death in modern society. Knowledge of the underlying causes and mechanisms of health behavior choices is crucially important when developing health-promoting campaigns and planning health behavior interventions. This dissertation aimed to advance our understanding of the relationship between time ...

The seven species of the genus Pseudocalanus (Copepoda: Calanoida) are difficult to identify because of very small interspecific, and comparatively large intraspecific, divergence of morphologic and morphometric traits. Thus, despite the fact that Pseudocalanus spp. are among the most abundant metazoans in the world, our knowledge of them at the species level is limited. The main objective of this ...