The ice-covered seas of the Arctic have two major types of primary producers; phytoplankton growing in open waters and sea ice algae growing within and on the underside of the sea ice. This thesis investigates the controlling role of light availability on Arctic pelagic and sympagic (i.e. ice-associated) algae, and how light-induced responses are modulated by NO3 and pCO2 levels. A combination of ...

Ontogenetic dietary shifts (ODSs), the changes in diet utilisation occurring over the life span of an individual consumer, are widespread in the animal kingdom. Understanding ODSs provides fundamental insights into the biological and ecological processes that function at the individual, population and community levels, and is critical for the development and testing of hypotheses around key concepts ...

This cross‐country study documents policies and practices designed to increase women entrepreneurs’ access to financial capital in Canada, Germany, Ireland, Norway, and the United States. Drawing on feminist theory, we examine assumptions of policy alongside the eligibility criteria, rules and regulations of practices. Our findings reveal that four of the five country policies examined were predicated ...

Because growth of new hairs entails energetic costs, individual condition and access to food should determine the timing of molt. Previous studies on the timing of molt in ungulates have mostly focused on the influence of age class and reproductive status, but the effects of body condition and environmental phenology have not been evaluated. Our goal was to assess how intrinsic traits and environmental ...

Due to their ability to present foreign antigens and prime naïve T cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells (DCs) are referred to as professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs). Although activated macrophages may function as APCs, these cells are particularly effective at directly engaging pathogens through phagocytosis, and production of antimicrobial compounds. On the other hand, DCs possess superb ...

Brucellosis is of worldwide economic and public health importance. Heifer vaccination with live attenuated <i>Brucella abortus</i> strain 19 (S19) is the cornerstone of control in low- and middle-income countries. Antibody persistence induced by S19 is directly correlated with the number of colony-forming units (CFU) per dose. There are two vaccination methods: a ‘high’ dose (5–8 × 10¹⁰ ...

Microorganisms play an essential role in the performance of constructed wetlands (CWs) for wastewater treatment. However, there has been limited discussion on the characteristics of microbial communities in CWs for treatment of effluents from marine recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS). This study is aimed at characterizing the microbial communities of pilot-scale CWs with <i>Salicornia bigelovii</i> ...

Diatoms are generally the dominant contributors to the Arctic Ocean spring bloom, which is a key event in regional food webs in terms of capacity for secondary production and organic matter export. Dissolved silicic acid is an obligate nutrient for diatoms and has been declining in the European Arctic since the early 1990s. The lack of regional silicon cycling information precludes understanding the ...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent of external damage (gear marks, pressure injuries, ecchymosis and skin abrasion) present on trawl-caught cod (Gadus morhua) and to examine whether the extent of damage could be reduced by introducing changes in the gear. We tested whether changing the 2-panel knotted codend used by the Norwegian trawler fleet operating in the Barents Sea today ...

Ruminant livestock is a major source of the potent greenhouse gas methane. The complex rumen microbiome, consisting of bacteria, archaea, and microbial eukaryotes, facilitates anaerobic plant biomass degradation in the cow rumen, leading to methane emissions. Using an integrated approach combining multidomain quantitative metatranscriptomics with gas and volatile fatty acid (VFA) profiling, we ...