SUMMARY Francisellosis has in the cod farming industry caused big economic losses because of no available vaccine or treatments. Understanding host-pathogen mechanisms is especially important when traditional vaccine strategies using inactivated bacteria are not functional. The focus of this thesis has been to study interactions between the host and the pathogen causing the disease. The bacterium ...

There is an increasing awareness of the importance and diversity of the microbial community in Arctic regions, but their role in the ecosystem is still largely unknown. Sampling was conducted in Svalbard waters with focus on the Adventfjorden-Isfjorden time series station (IsA, West Spitsbergen) that was sampled frequently from December 2011 to December 2012. The community composition of microbial ...

Anthropogenic activities, such as introduction of non-native species, is considered as one of the most significant causes for declining biodiversity, since such introduction may destabilise ecological barriers to gene flow between native populations. In the 1960s a salmonid fish, vendace, was introduced to the upper parts of Pasvik watercourse and during the early 1990s it invaded the entire ...

The PhD project study is about ‘stakeholder participation’ in fisheries governance; a concept that has become acceptable in all areas of decision-making during the last few decades, partly due to dissatisfaction with the performance of fisheries management systems across the world. Among other issues, discarding, especially of marketable fish, is a serious and continuing problem despite the heavy ...

Increasing demand for valuation of ecosystem services has led stated preference methods to be applied to public goods that are increasingly complex and unfamiliar. Traditionally, stated preference surveys were conducted via mail or face-to-face interviews, but over the past two decades internet panels have been used to a larger extent. As we move away from traditional methods of survey administration ...

To maintain and restore the membrane potential that is crucial for normal function of neurons, the brain requires a constant and high energy supply. This supply is mainly covered by oxidative metabolism. When oxygen supply is impaired on a cellular level (hypoxia), such as in the case of stroke, neural energy levels become inadequate to maintain ion balance, leading to excessive ion flux and ultimately ...

The earth is experiencing warming at a rate that challenges the adaptive capacities of many animal species. Because marine mammals can integrate and reflect ecological variation across various spatial and temporal scales, they are prime sentinels of marine ecosystem change. This thesis explores movement patterns and foraging behaviour, and the ontogeny of these behaviours, in harbour seals (Phoca ...

As a consequence of the expected population growth towards 2050, the demand for food, and in particular proteins, will increase. Due to limited resources of arable land and freshwater, this increase cannot come in the agricultural sector alone. At present, the utilization of marine environments for food production is low and should be increased. Seaweeds are fast-growing plants occurring in marine ...

Exotic invasive giant hogweeds are infamous in Europe for their ecological and economic damage; however, the magnitude of their impact on plant diversity has not yet been fully explored. In addition, uncertainties in their source and route of introduction impede management interventions. In such cases, molecular markers may bridge gaps between invasion history and management by providing insight ...

Five species of baleen whales are regularly encountered at their feeding grounds in Icelandic waters during summer. Systematic monitoring of distribution and abundance of cetaceans in Icelandic and adjacent waters was initiated in 1987 as a part of the North Atlantic Sightings Surveys (NASS). In this thesis, the objecive is to summarize the results of these surveys in relation to changes in the ...