The name <i>Psoroma pyxinoides</i>, which has been considered to be a synonym of <i>Pannaria sphinctrina</i>, is shown here to represent a distinct species, differing from <i>P. sphinctrina</i> by thallus characters and in spore and pycnidium morphology. Those characters indicate a relationship with <i>Pannaria allorhiza</i>. Like the latter species, <i>P. pyxinoides</i> is endemic to northern New ...

Increased human activity and climate change are expected to increase the numbers and impact of alien species in the Arctic, but knowledge of alien species is poor in most Arctic regions. Through field investigations over the last 10 years, and review of alien vascular plant records for the high Arctic Archipelago Svalbard over the past 130 years, we explored long term trends in persistence and ...

In this article I will analyse the variants of the melody used for the song Petter Dass wrote around 1690 about the 5th commandment. There exist about 100 variants of this melody in different archives in Norway, but not in Sweden or Denmark. It is possible to follow the melody in oral tradition through the 19th and 18th centuries. We don’t know if the melody dates back to Petter Dass himself, ...

The genus Canaridiscus M. R. Alonso & Ibáñez, 2011, endemic to the Canary Islands, has a curious taxonomic history and is currently defined based only on the peculiar anatomy of its genital organs. Its relationship to European Discus species and other members of the family Discidae is unclear and its status as a distinct genus remains tentative. In the present study we include a species of Canaridiscus, ...

Background In their quest to understand and interpret nature, people have frequently sought religious or divine origins for plant species and their characteristics. Less often, historical events or persons are involved. This study comprises eleven cases of the latter kind, all claiming that plant species have been introduced by foreigners or at least from foreign lands. Methods Based on literature ...

Both climate change and anthropogenic disturbance affect vegetation composition, but it is difficult to separate these drivers of vegetation change from one another. A better understanding of past vegetation dynamics is necessary to disentangle the influence of different forcing factors and assess future vegetation change. Here we present the first multi-proxy palaeoecological study combining ...

Two subspecies of the Great Cormorant breed in Norway, the continental Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis in the south, along the Skagerrak coast, and the marine P. c. carbo from central Norway and northwards. Here we review the information existing until 2017 on population status and trends, breeding performance and diet of these two subspecies in Norway. The most recent national population estimates are ...

The Lofoten-Vesterålen archipelago (67°30’ - 69°30’N) is a chain of mountainous islands dissected by cirques, glacial valleys, and fjords that extends from northeast to southwest into the Norwegian Sea (Figure 1). Vesterålen is the northerly chain of islands and the seven islands of Lofoten lie to the south. The climate of Lofoten is mild despite this high latitude location. Temperatures ...

To identify priorities for management of seabirds during the breeding season, it is important to understand the ecological mechanisms driving chick growth and survival. In this study, we examined the effects of diet and prevailing weather on the growth and survival of chicks of black-legged kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla over a 10 yr period at Anda, a seabird colony in northern Norway. We show that ...