Through contemporary shamanism, parts of pre-Christian practices and symbols are incorporated into new contexts and interpretive frames. One such symbol is the sieidi (Sami sacrificial stone) and heritage site Rikkagallo in Lavangen municipality in Troms. Every year from 2012, shaman Eirik Myrhaug has organized a hike to the sieidi to conduct a ritual inspired by the traditions of his Sámi ...

Trophy hunting in the Arctic happened in an intersection between tourism, expeditions and hunting. This study contributes to a discrete history of masculinity within the context of trophy hunting organized from North Norway and to a broader understanding of Arctic masculinity in general. As trophy hunting expeditions are primarily a male, even masculinist, tourist practice, an analysis from ...

The name <i>Psoroma pyxinoides</i>, which has been considered to be a synonym of <i>Pannaria sphinctrina</i>, is shown here to represent a distinct species, differing from <i>P. sphinctrina</i> by thallus characters and in spore and pycnidium morphology. Those characters indicate a relationship with <i>Pannaria allorhiza</i>. Like the latter species, <i>P. pyxinoides</i> is endemic to northern New ...

A key outstanding issue in adaptive evolution is the relationship between the genetics of intraspecific polymorphism and interspecific evolution. Here, we show that the pale/dark ventral plumage polymorphism that occurs in both the pomarine skua (Stercorarius pomarinus) and Arctic skua (S. parasiticus) is the result of convergent evolution at the same locus (MC1R), involving some of the same amino ...

Since 1980, there has been large variation and a recent decline in the mass and body condition of Common Guillemot Uria aalge chicks departing from the nest site in NE Norway. This may be related to deterioration in the feeding conditions off the colony and is alarming considering the critically endangered status of the species in Norway. To measure body condition, earlier studies have caught, weighed ...

Background: Yoik is an old vocal music tradition of Sami, the indigenous people inhabiting Northern Fennoscandia and Kola peninsula in Russia. Studies of music therapy (MT) and especially singing have documented improvements in social and overall functioning in people With severe mental disorders and positive effect on depressive symptoms and sleep quality. Possible connections between yoik and ...

The research “sandpit”, where a cross-disciplinary group of academics and practitioners come together for a short time to create new projects around a given theme, is gaining ground as a way to foster innovation and creativity in research design. While sandpits can spark ideas for novel projects better suited to tackling grand challenges and urgent questions, research from Kate Maxwell, Paul Benneworth, ...

Reproductive timing in many taxa plays a key role in determining breeding productivity, and is often sensitive to climatic conditions. Current climate change may alter the timing of breeding at different rates across trophic levels, potentially resulting in temporal mismatch between the resource requirements of predators and their prey. This is of particular concern for higher-trophic-level organisms, ...

Nordland is Norway’s second largest county, with an areal extent of 38,482 km 2 . In general, Nordland is reasonably well covered in terms of botanical exploration, with few blank areas. No flora covering the entire area has ever been compiled, but floristic surveys are available from several part areas, ranging in size from single localities to large districts. Still, the absence of a ...