Zooplankton provide the key link between primary production and higher levels of the marine food web and they play an important role in mediating carbon sequestration in the ocean. All commercially harvested fish species depend on zooplankton populations. However, spatio-temporal distributions of zooplankton are notoriously difficult to quantify from ships. We know that zooplankton can form large ...

Due to retreating sea ice and predictions of undiscovered oil and gas resources, increased activity in Arctic shelf sea areas associated with shipping and oil and gas exploration is expected. Such activities may accidentally lead to oil spills in partly ice-covered ocean areas, which raises issues related to oil spill response. Net Environmental Benefit Analysis (NEBA) is the process that the response ...

Protected area management can be highly contentious. Information about the acceptability of conservation actions can help environmental authorities design policies that are accepted locally, and identify potential areas of conflict between land users and conservation objectives. In this study, we implemented a spatially-explicit method for eliciting public preferences for land use and conservation ...

Polar cod is an abundant Arctic key species, inhabiting an ecosystem that is subjected to rapid climate change and increased petroleum related activities. Few studies have investigated biological effects of crude oil on lipid metabolism in this species, despite lipids being a crucial compound for Arctic species to adapt to the high seasonality in food abundance in their habitat. This study examines ...

We investigated the population dynamics of a small and little-studied harpacticoid copepod, <i>Microsetella norvegica</i>, in a sub-Arctic Norwegian fjord (Balsfjord 69°N). We sampled with a 90 μm mesh WP-2 net and a 20 L Go-Flo bottle and found that the WP-2 under-sampled all juvenile stages. The abundance and biomass were high, peaking in June with 9349 × 10-³ ind. m⁻² and ...

The reindeer warble fly (<i>Hypoderma tarandi</i>) causes myiasis in reindeer and caribou (<i>Rangifer tarandus and subspecies</i>) and aberrant hosts such as humans. Of 22 human cases reported 1982–2016, 16 were children and 18 were residents in or visited northern parts of Norway or Sweden. Of a series of 39 new human cases in Norway 2011–2016 (reported 2017), 32 were children, 32 were resident ...

Climate change-induced snow thaw and subsequent accumulation of ice on the ground is a potential, major threat to snow-dominated ecosystems. While impacts of ground-ice on arctic wildlife are well explored, the impacts on tundra vegetation is far from understood. We therefore tested the vulnerability of two high-arctic plants, the prostrate shrub <i>Salix polaris</i> and the graminoid <i>Luzula ...

The Norwegian department of agriculture decided to re-evaluate the Regulation No. 951 of 4 July 2003 on fertilizers and soil improvers of organic origin. The Norwegian Food Safety Authority (NFSA) requested VKM for a statement on the use of manure from farms where grey water and human waste (sewage) is disposed of directly to the farm manure cellar. <br> Consideration was given to differences ...

<i>Main message</i>: It seems unlikely that the Australian red claw clayfish will establish reproductive populations under Norwegian climate conditions, but hitchhiker organisms and infectious agents could potentially follow the import, and unless managed, may pose risks to biodiversity and aquatic animal health. This is the conclusion in a risk assessment from the Norwegian Scientific Committee for ...

I forbindelse med forberedelse til implementering av EU-forordning 1829/2003 i norsk rett, er Vitenskapskomiteen for mattrygghet (VKM) bedt av Direktoratet for naturforvalting (DN) om å utarbeide endelige miljørisikovurderinger av alle genmodifiserte organismer (GMOer) og avledete produkter som inneholder eller består av GMOer som er godkjent i EU under forordning 1829/2003 eller direktiv ...