The general understanding has been that only adaptive immunity is capable of immunological memory, but this concept has been challenged in recent years by studies showing that innate immune systems can mount resistance to reinfection—as the innate immune system can adapt its function following an insult. Innate immune training offers an attractive approach in intensive fish larval rearing, especially ...

Temporally (1965–2015) and spatially (55°–70°N) extensive records of total mercury (Hg) in freshwater fish showed consistent declines in boreal and subarctic Fennoscandia. The database contains 54 560 fish entries (n: pike > perch ≫ brown trout > roach ≈ Arctic charr) from 3132 lakes across Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Russian Murmansk area. 74% of the lakes did not meet the 0.5 ppm limit to protect ...

Supplementary winter feeding of semi-domesticated reindeer (<i>Rangifer tarandus tarandus</i>) has become more common in Sweden and Norway due to reindeer pasture fragmentation and climatic conditions. With increased corralling and feeding, often associated with animal stress, increased animal-to-animal contact, and poor hygienic conditions, an altered range of health challenges and diseases may ...

Habitat discontinuity, anthropogenic disturbance, and overharvesting have led to population fragmentation and decline worldwide. Preservation of remaining natural genetic diversity is crucial to avoid continued genetic erosion. Brown trout (<i>Salmo trutta</i> L.) is an ideal model species for studying anthropogenic influences on genetic integrity, as it has experienced significant genetic alterations ...

Previous studies of Eurasian tundra reindeer (<i>Rangifer tarandus tarandus</i>) in Norway indicate that their rumen microbiota play a key role in degrading lichen secondary metabolites. We investigated the presence of usnic acid and atranorin in faecal samples from Svalbard reindeer (<i>R. tarandus platyrhynchus</i>). Samples were collected in Bolterdalen valley together with vegetation samples ...

Compound screening in biological assays and subsequent optimization of hits is indispensable for the development of new molecular research tools and drug candidates. To facilitate such discoveries, the European Research Infrastructure EU-OPENSCREEN was founded recently with the support of its member countries and the European Commission. Its distributed character harnesses complementary knowledge, ...

The vast majority of studies in northern lake systems have been carried out on a short-term scale, principally during spring and summer and mostly focusing on a single parasite species. There are few winter studies of fish parasites in the subarctic area, and even less regarding seasonal variations in the sub-communities of intestinal parasites in Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) and brown trout ...

Long-lived species share life history traits such as slow growth, late maturity, and low fecundity, which lead to slow recovery rates and increase a population’s vulnerability to disturbance. The Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) has recently been recognized as the world’s longest-lived vertebrate, but many questions regarding its biology, physiology, and ecology remain unanswered. Here we ...

Increased visitation to protected areas could have adverse impacts on the conservation values in the protected areas, and therefore effective visitor monitoring methods are needed to meet the complex management challenges that arise. Collecting data on human impacts is highly time consuming, thus requiring more effective tools that allow for high-quality and long-term measurements. In this study, ...

Novel species of fungi described in this study include those from various countries as follows: <b>Australia</b>, <i>Chaetomella pseudocircinoseta</i> and <i>Coniella pseudodiospyri</i> on <i>Eucalyptus microcorys</i> leaves, <i>Cladophialophora eucalypti</i>, <i>Teratosphaeria dunnii</i> and <i>Vermiculariopsiella dunnii</i> on <i>Eucalyptus dunnii</i> leaves, <i>Cylindrium grande</i> and <i>Hypsotheca ...