The majority of variation in six traits critical to the growth, survival and reproduction of plant species is thought to be organised along just two dimensions, corresponding to strategies of plant size and resource acquisition. However, it is unknown whether global plant trait relationships extend to climatic extremes, and if these interspecific relationships are confounded by trait variation within ...

Knowledge about the breeding biology and potential threats on the breeding grounds is important for conservation of threatened species. The main breeding range of the Lesser White-fronted Goose Anser erythropus (LWFG) forms a belt along the southern part of the Russian arctic and, although their main nesting habitat has been described based on observations of broods or pairs with breeding behaviour, ...

The main aim of this paper is to address consequences of climate warming on loss of habitat and genetic diversity in the enigmatic tropical alpine giant rosette plants using the Ethiopian endemic Lobelia rhynchopetalum as a model. We modeled the habitat suitability of L. rhynchopetalum and assessed how its range is affected under two climate models and four emission scenarios. We used three ...

Assessing the degree to which climate explains the spatial distributions of different taxonomic and functional groups is essential for anticipating the effects of climate change on ecosystems. Most effort so far has focused on above-ground organisms, which offer only a partial view on the response of biodiversity to environmental gradients. Here including both above- and below-ground organisms, we ...

Polar regions are currently warming at a rate above the global average. One issue of concern is the consequences on biodiversity in relation to the Northward latitudinal shift in distribution of temperate species. In the present study, lasting almost two years, we examined two phenological traits, i.e. the shell growth and behavioural rhythm of a recently re-established species in the high Arctic, ...

The objective of this paper was to compare the growth and gut morphology of juvenile diploid and triploid Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) reared under similar conditions. Individually tagged 36-week old diploid (mean weight 49.3 ± 13.8 g) and triploid (mean weight 43.6 ± 11.2) juvenile cod were measured at intervals during a 29-weeks growth trial. Data for weight, length, condition factor (K), hepato-somatic ...

The increasing human presence in the Arctic shelf seas, with the expansion of oil and gas industries and maritime shipping, poses a risk for Arctic marine organisms such as the key species polar cod (<i>Boreogadus saida</i>). The impact of dietary crude oil on growth and metabolism of polar cod was investigated in the early spring (March–April) when individuals are expected to be in a vulnerable ...

Dense brittle star assemblages dominate vast areas of the Arctic marine shelves, making them key components of Arctic ecosystem. This study is the first to determine the population dynamics of the dominant shelf brittle star species, <i>Ophiura sarsii</i> and <i>Ophiocten sericeum</i>, through age determination, individual production and total turnover rate (P:B). In the summer of 2013, <i>O. ...

Ruminants are dependent on their gut microbiomes for nutrient extraction from plant diets. However, knowledge about the composition, diversity, function, and spatial structure of gut microbiomes, especially in wild ruminants, is limited, largely because analysis has been restricted to faeces or the rumen. In two geographically separated reindeer subspecies, 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing revealed ...

<i>Introduction</i> - Monogeneans of the genus <i>Gyrodactylus</i> were found on the gills of specimens of the bigeye sculpin <i>Triglops nybelini</i> Jensen, 1944 caught by trawl in the Barents Sea in January–February 2016.<p> <p><i>Methods</i> - Morphological preparations of the parasites were examined and photographed under a microscope at magnifcations of×100–1000 and morphometric analyses ...