Vigdis Vandvik to be Coordinating Lead Author on next IPCC report

After her role as coordinating lead author for the IPBES Invasive Alien Species Assessment,  Vigdis Vandvik will now contribute to the upcoming seventh IPCC report and be co-responsible for a chapter on how climate change affects biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services on land and in freshwater. The Coordinating Lead Authorship will be shared with Denis J. READ MORE

MSc thesis: The role of belowground fungi in the carbon cycle

Background Belowground fungi are key players in the decomposition of plant litter, and therefore in regulating the carbon cycle. Despite their importance, we still know relatively little about how these fungi respond to climate change, and how such responses, in turn, influence decomposition rates across Norway.   Using cutting-edge molecular approaches, such as metabarcoding, we can READ MORE

In-depth study of microclimate manipulations in a global warming ecology experiment

In this project you get to work with climate data from microclimate loggers, and local climate stations. We use these data to fully disentangle the effect of mini-greenhouses, called Open-Top Chambers (OTCs) that are being used in climate change experiments in alpine and arctic ecosystems worldwide to investigate the effect of climate warming on vegetation. READ MORE

Fieldwork blog: My trip around Norway

Picture from front left to right: Kristine Birkeli, Viljar Storvik, Vendula Spackova, Elias Skaslien Hi! I’m Elias Eide Skaslien, and I am a master’s student in Between the Fjords. For my master’s project I have been travelling with Kristine Birkeli and Durin around Norway to investigate diurnal fluxes in different macro- and microclimates in Norwegian READ MORE

Germination patterns of heathland dwarf shrubs (Durin)

Often when we characterize plant growth and development, we focus on adult’s that are already established. However, one of the most critical life-phases is germination and early seedling establishment. Here we focus on the important coastal heathland ecosystems of Norway, and using seed of Calluna vulgaris collected from across latitudinal gradients, different heathland land-use histories, READ MORE

MSc thesis: opportunities in the NatuRA Project

Background Mountain grassland ecosystems support a wide range of ecosystem functions and services, including provisioning services via grazing pastures for wild and domesticated herbivores, supporting services, especially clean water and carbon sequestration, and cultural services through supporting traditional livelihoods. World wide, alpine ecosystems have traditionally been managed as communal rangelands inhabited by indigenous people and READ MORE