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 ...

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 ...

Infectious diseases represent an urgent public health problem globally. Particularly healthcare-associated infections are often complicated by antibiotic resistance and presence of recalcitrant microbial biofilms. On the hunt for effective antibiotics with novel mechanisms of action (MOA), researchers look into largely unexplored natural environments with high biodiversity like the oceans, rich in ...

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are often established for conservation objectives. Benefits provided by MPAs exceed pure biodiversity conservation as they may include contributions to social and economic benefits of local communities. And though it is still debated, MPAs may provide a management tool for sustainable fisheries and/or solving conflicts of interests between users of marine resources. It ...

Price and quantity numbers, which we are observing in a market place, occur because of an interaction between supply and demand. An understanding of what drives supply and demand is therefore important in order to understand the market in itself. This dissertation focuses on determining the impact of exogenous factors on salmon biomass growth and how producers respond to price changes. Furthermore, ...

Purpose: In light of the increasing numbers of overweight children observed today who follow inadequate diets, this dissertation mainly explored how children are socialised as food consumers. An additional purpose was to explore the advantages of using participatory photo interviews while researching children’s attitudes and behavioural patterns with respect to two food contexts, namely, lunch in ...

Studying the spatial patterns of microbial diversity is crucial in order to assess the relationship between community structure and ecosystem function. However, due to methodological limitations in the past, relatively little has been known about the biogeography of microbial communities. The introduction of next generation sequencing technologies from 2005 was a game changer, as DNA sequencing ...

The highly adapted parasitic plants of the genus Cuscuta infect other plants to steal their water and nutrients. They do so by developing specialized organs called haustoria that grow into the tissue of the host plant establishing interspecies connections through which the parasite feeds. Although it has long since been suggested that some manner of modification to host cell walls is necessary to ...

Uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) into the world’s oceans is increasing seawater acidity in a process termed ocean acidification. This is predicted to have harmful effects on a variety of marine organisms. With the greatest and fastest changes in pH expected to occur the Arctic seas over the next 100 years, the need for understanding the effects of low pH on Arctic marine organisms is ...

Recent Arctic studies contradict a long-held paradigm of winter quiescence by documenting activity at many trophic levels in the marine food web even during the darkest months of winter. Previous studies have failed to identify which species are performing patterns of vertical migrations during polar night in Kongsfjorden (Svalbard). In the present study, acoustic data supplemented by zooplankton ...