New PhD student: Hanif Kawousi

Hello! My name is Hanif Kawousi. I’ve lived in Bergen for the past seven years, the last five with my wife and dog. Some of you may recognise me from classes or the hallways, as I recently graduated from BIO. I am excited to extend my journey at BIO as a PhD student with the READ MORE

Conference blog: My trip to Oikos Bodø (a student perspective)

Hi! I’m Elias Eide Skaslien, and I am a master’s student in Between the Fjords. For my master project I will be working with Kristine Birkeli and Durin to investigate diurnal fluxes across different macro- and microclimates in Norwegian heathlands. Earlier this spring (April 9th–12th), I had the opportunity to attend the Oikos conference in READ MORE

New season, new intern students

With the start of spring come the preparations for a new field season… and the arrival of new internship students who will get to experience what it is like to work in an experimental field ecology lab! In April, we welcomed interns Marine Dange and Ilko Sijbesma. We asked them to introduce themselves to you: READ MORE

We are hiring: PhD in applied ecology – Ecobudgets

Come work with us! ECOBUDGETS looks at how a budgeting approach to land management can lead to political decisions that take into account national and local goals for nature and climate. Several municipalities are developing methods and tools for using map-based approaches in land management, for example through nature accounts and climate budgeting. Bergen Municipality READ MORE

New projects funded: NatuRA and INTEREST

The Between the Fjords group has received funding for two new research collaborations between Norway and South Africa. These projects build on long-term collaboration with Peter Le Roux (University of Pretoria) and V. Ralph Clark (Afromontane Research Unit at the University of the Free State) in South Africa through the Plant Functional Trait Courses and READ MORE

MSc thesis opportunities in project DURIN

Background Dwarf-shrubs (Ericaceae) are a dominant plant functional group across the boreal, arctic, and alpine biomes, where they play important roles for biodiversity, ecology and ecosystem functioning. For example, dwarf-shrubs provide important food resources for grazers, pollinators, and people, they are habitat for other plants, insects, rodents, and birds, and through interactions with belowground fungal READ MORE

MSc thesis: Disentangling drivers of plant population establishment after range expansion

Background Due to climate warming, plant species are shifting their ranges, trying to track their climatic niches. This can for example be displayed by range expansions or upward shifts of plants from lower elevations. Changes in community composition are occurring with novel lowland species invading into the alpine ecosystem. The RangeX project is an upslope READ MORE

MSc thesis: Identifying decomposers of fungal mycelium across climate gradients and plant removals

Project description Decomposition – the recycling of nutrients from dead organic matter (e.g., plant litter, fungal and bacterial necromass) – is key for ecosystem productivity in terrestrial ecosystems. It liberates carbon and nutrients that can be used to produce new, living biomass. Not all organic matter is fully decomposed and, thus, released back to the READ MORE