Are alpine flowers visited more during the day, or during the night? Does the importance of nocturnal pollinators differ with elevation? How do alpine pollinators respond to warming treatments? And is it possible that some pollinators “bully” others away from flowers while foraging? These are all questions that insect surveillance cameras help ...
Carbon storage is an important ecosystem service, yet we know very little about how much our ecosystems store. Semi-natural systems are especially understudied. First results show that these ecosystems might be some of the most carbon rich! Question: How much soil carbon is stored in western Norwegian semi-natural ecosystems, specifically coastal h...
In December 2023, the 7th plant functional traits course (PFTC7) took place in the Drakensberg mountains of South Africa. We were particularly pleased that this led to a collaboration with the RangeX project. During PFTCs, research is usually conducted along an elevational gradient. This time, the highest location at ca. 3000m coincided with the hi...
In November 2023, the RangeX team spend a productive week in Ireland, delving into various tasks, data sets, and papers. Numerous constructive discussions ensued, generating ideas for future project outputs. We outlined the joint field experiment data paper, incorporating data sets from China, Switzerland, Norway, and South Africa. The team members...
Leaf temperatures have a major influence on plant growth and development, e.g. photosynthesis rates, and thermal tolerance limits. However, our ability to measure such important characteristics has until recently been limited. Now with thermal imagery we can measure leaf temperatures directly! Learn to analyze thermal images collected on dwarf-shru...
Often when we characterize plant growth and development, we focus on the above-ground, but less-so the below-ground. Here we focus on the important alpine grasslands of Norway, and we take a dive below to better understand how these communities are utilizing resources such as water and nutrients below-ground, including: 1) Does the biomass of roots...
In the DURIN project, we are investigating how environmental factors and vegetation characteristics impact ecosystem functioning and carbon dynamics in heathland ecosystems. To better understand how dwarf-shrubs are distributing to their above ground carbon resources, we will assess patterns of shoot growth, leaf longevity, and relative investment ...
Are you interested in plant-soil interactions and mycorrhizal associations in nordic environments? Come work with us! Dwarf-shrubs are a dominant plant functional group across the boreal, arctic and alpine biomes, and they play important roles for biodiversity, ecology and ecosystem functioning in the habitats in which they occur. For example, dwar...
Plant Functional Traits Courses (PFTC) offer hands-on training in applications of plant functional trait ecology within a real-life field research project setting. During this 7th PFTC course, students will collect and explore plant functional trait data in the field and use trait-based approaches within community and ecosystem ecology. Following...
Do you have a Master’s degree in Plant Ecology or similar, and are you interested in alpine ecology, climate change, alien species, and functional ecology? We are hiring a PhD student for 3 year to work with us in the RangeX project. Project description: Native as well as exotic species are shifting their distributions in […]...