This master’s project delves into the microbial diversity of the Arctic region, with focus on the isolation and characterization of a yeast of the Cystobasidium genus and likely viruses capable of infecting it. The research also shows preliminary results pointing at the movement and chemotaxis capabilities of the yeast, presenting findings that have the potential to shape our understanding of microbial ...

The North Water Polynya is one of the most productive Arctic regions on Earth, sustaining the world's northernmost Inuit communities for millennia. The polynya is a large and persistent region of open water surrounded by sea ice and exhibits high primary productivity, is a biodiversity hotspot, and is a key habitat and migration corridor for Arctic species. Many aspects of the ecosystem structure ...

The biodiversity of benthos is influenced by habitat forming taxa defining Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VME). Such indicator taxa are used to identify and designate VME areas, but their numerical relation to benthic biodiversity is not known. In this thesis I address the relationship between abundance of VME indicator-taxa and megabenthos biodiversity in Norwegian waters. The main objectives were ...

Interest in the deep Arctic Ocean is rapidly increasing from governments, policy makers, industry, researchers, and conservation groups, accentuated by the growing accessibility of this remote region by surface vessel traffic. In this review, our goal is to provide an updated taxonomic inventory of benthic taxa known to occur in the deep Arctic Ocean and relate this inventory to habitat diversity. ...

Background - Studying movement patterns of individual animals over time can give insight into how they interact with the environment and optimize foraging strategies. Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) undertake long seasonal migrations between feeding areas in polar regions and breeding grounds in tropical areas. During the last decade, several individuals have had up to a 3-month stop-over ...

Reciprocal effects of adaptive radiations on the evolution of interspecific interactions, like parasitism, remain barely explored. We test whether the recent radiations of European whitefish (Coregonus spp.) across and within perialpine and subarctic lakes promote its parasite Proteocephalus fallax (Platyhelminthes: Cestoda) to undergo host repertoire expansion via opportunity and ecological fitting, ...

This study aimed to understand how environmental factors, specifically water temperature and oxygen saturation, affect the growth performance and physiology of pikeperch (Sander lucioperca) juveniles in recirculating aquaculture systems (RASs). Given the importance of optimising growth conditions in aquaculture to maximise efficiency, it aims to assess whether different combinations of oxygen ...

Drained lake basins (DLBs) are dominant features in lowland permafrost landscapes of the Arctic. Here, we present a novel approach describing and quantifying the succession progression of recently drained basins using a land cover unit retrieval scheme developed specifically for the Arctic tundra biome. The complementarity between land cover units and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) ...

Improving the predictive power of food web analysis is a major challenge. Identifying the relationships that link topological and dynamical features may help. We used the predictions of loop analysis about the effect of perturbations targeted to the components of Barents sea food web to quantify their sensitivity and community impact, that we summarized in two new indices, NI and NS. Using a ...

Forestalling the decline of global biodiversity requires urgent and transformative action at all levels of government and society, particularly in the Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas where rapid changes are already underway. Amid growing scientific support and mounting pressure, the majority of nations have committed to the most ambitious conservation targets yet. However, without an approach ...