<ol> <li>The fasting endurance hypothesis (FEH) predicts strong selection for large body size in mammals living in environments where food supply is interrupted over prolonged periods of time. The Arctic is a highly seasonal and food-restricted environment, but contrary to predictions from the FEH, empirical evidence shows that Arctic mammals are often smaller than their temperate conspecifics. ...

As global warming makes the Arctic Ocean more accessible, concerns have been raised about the environmental consequences of a possible expansion of commercial fisheries into pristine marine ecosystems. Using a recently released global dataset, we quantify for the first time how fishing activities are responding to diminishing sea ice and a warmer Arctic Ocean. We show that trawling dominates Arctic ...

Understanding and predicting large-scale ecological responses to global environmental change requires comparative studies across geographic scales with coordinated efforts and standardized methodologies. We designed, applied, and assessed standardized protocols to measure tundra herbivory at three spatial scales: plot, site (habitat), and study area (landscape). The plot- and site-level protocols ...

Although metabarcoding is a well-established tool for describing diversity of pelagic communities, its quantitative value is still controversial, with poor correlations previously reported between organism abundance/biomass and sequence reads. In this study, we explored an enhanced quantitative approach by metabarcoding whole zooplankton communities using a highly degenerate primer set for the ...

Parrots are one of the most species-rich groups of birds of which the majority inhabits tropical and subtropical forests. Nearly one-third of parrots are threatened with extinction (IUCN categories CR, EN or VU) and more than half of the world’s parrot species are assumed to be decreasing in numbers. Parrots are popular pets on all continents, mainly due to their colourful feathers, their capacity ...

Såvareverdikjeda i Norge er svært fragmentert samanlikna med land der same firma er ansvarleg for heile prosessen frå utvikling av ny sort til sal av frø. Dette forprosjektet har som mål å definera korleis ein gjennom meir forskningsbaserte frøblandingar og ferdig testa frøblandingar der bonden kan velja ut frå sine dyrkingsforhold og sin driftsmodell, kan auka avling og varighet av engvekstar. Dette ...

In cetaceans, blubber is the primary and largest lipid body reservoir. Our current understanding about lipid stores and uses in cetaceans is still limited, and most studies only focused on a single narrow snapshot of the lipidome. We documented an extended lipidomic fingerprint in two cetacean species present in northern Norway during wintertime. We were able to detect 817 molecular lipid species ...

Predator avoidance and food availability are both factors known to influence habitat selection and site fidelity around calving in caribou and reindeer. Here, we assess habitat selection and site fidelity during the calving period in the solitary, Arctic Svalbard reindeer Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus, which is subject to limited predation risk and human disturbance. In this largely predator-free ...

Large aggregations of the copepod Calanus finmarchicus occur each spring in the shelf-slope-oceanic regions off the Lofoten-Vesterålen Islands where productive fisheries have traditionally supported local economies. The retention and off-shelf transport of populations of C. finmarchicus populations were studied by analyzing ocean color remote sensing, satellite altimetry data, and Lagrangian Coherent ...

Many attempts have been made worldwide to implement community-based conservation to gain a more inclusive protection of biological diversity and ecosystem services. In a recent national reform, the management of protected areas was devolved from the Norwegian government to local conservation boards. The main goals were to reduce local resistance toward conservation and ameliorate threats to biodiversity. ...