Suggested thesis topics
MSc project: Anthropogenic nitrogen deposition alters belowground fungal communities and decomposition heathlands
How anthropogenic nitrogen deposition can alter belowground fungal communities and degradation rates in a Norwegian heathland system. Project background The boreal, alpine, and arctic heaths and forests are dominated by dwarf-shrubs along with their symbionts, ericoid mycorrhizal fungi. It remains to explore how their mycorrhizal symbionts mitigate damages resulting from climate change or pollution, since little is known about these plant-fungal interactions. We are currently researching how drought, and changes in temperature and precipitation can influence underground fungal activity. We also want to know if and how anthropogenic nitrogen deposition affects fungal communites. To better understand the complex world of fungal ecology, we use metabarcoding (either short-read or long-read sequencing) and target various climatic gradients in dwarf-shrub dominated areas in Norway. The DURIN project: The DURIN project will assess key roles of dwarf-shrubs, such as carbon, nutrient, and water cycling, species interactions, and how they contribute to ecosystem functioning. This will be done by both experimental and observational studies for four focal species: Calluna vulgaris, Vaccinium myrtillus, Vaccinium vitis idea, and Empetrum nigrum, covering a broad climatic gradient in Norway. Field-sites are set in Kautokeino, Senja, Lygra, and Sognal, and we have both forested and open plots for all localities. The goal is to provide a worked example of an integrated climate response-feedback research workflow, divided into several secondary objectives, such as physiology and functional biology, species interactions, and ecosystem functioning, and climate feedback. Thesis proposal This MSc will be conducted as part of the DURIN project, where the MSc student will have responsibility for conducting research on the effects of short-term nitrogen depositions on carbon cycling and belowground ericoid fungi. The successful candidate will work with litter bags from plots that have been subjected to different nitrogen treatments. One of the main practical tasks is extracting fungal DNA from litter bags, in order to find out which fungi are involved in belowground degradation processes. The candidate will receive training in all steps of the labwork process and bioinformatics pipeline related to fungal metabarcoding. The thesis will explore how different levels of nitrogen affects species compositions and degradation rates of ericoid mycorrhizal fungi and other saprotrophic fungi. You will be part of two dynamic research teams (Between the Fjords and Oslo Mycology Group), gather experience in both ecology and mycology, and learn metabarcoding, a cutting-edge molecular identification technique. Research questions Can key fungal species be linked to fast/slow degradation in soil? If that is the case, one aspect will be identifying those indicator fungi. Will increased nitrogen deposition increase/decrease fungal richness, and can this be correlated to different decomposition rates in the soil? Tasks Labwork related to metabarcoding: DNA extractions of litter bags, PCR, and library preparations. Bioinformatics pipeline: preparing and cleaning raw sequences and assigning taxonomy to operational taxonomic units (OTUs). Statistical analyses using R. Share your results: write a thesis which can be published as a scientific paper. Candidate requirement Bachelor degree in biology/ecology. An interest in mycology. Labexperience from previous projects or courses is preferential, but not a must. Statistical and data management skills. Willingness to be involved in mycological journal clubs and discussions with other research groups in Norway. Practical information The project will be funded through research grants. Start: September 2025. Place of work: Bergen. There will be a close collaboration with the Oslo Mycology Group at the University of Oslo. Supervisors: Mika H. Kirkhus, Håvard Kauserud, and Vigdis Vandvik. The successful candidate will be encouraged to attend smaller courses/conferences related to metabarcoding and mycology.
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 networks (ericoid mychorriza), they play critical roles in carbon sequestration and long-term carbon storage in soils. Despite their broad climatic and geographic ranges and dominant roles across boreal, arctic, and alpine vegetation zones, dwarf-shrub can be quite sensitive to climate changes and climate variability, as shown by their key roles in ‘arctic greening’ and ‘arctic browning’ events. This suggests that dwarf-shrubs may play a critical role in both the responses and the feedbacks between terrestrial ecosystems and the climate system. DURIN will explore the role of dwarf-shrubs in climate responses and feedbacks across biomes and habitats, integrating plant physiology, ecology, ecosystem, and climate science. Using distributed observational systems, field experiments, and growth chamber studies; we will obtain fundamental knowledge on how climate change directly and indirectly affects this important plant functional group, and it’s ecosystem functions and services. This improved process understanding will be integrated in land surface and earth system models to understand the role and contribution of dwarf-shrubs in the feedbacks from terrestrial vegetation to the climate system. Supervisors Sonya Geange Sonya.Geange@uib.no Kristine Bikeli Kristine.Birkeli@uib.no
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 translocation field and lab experiment, aiming to understand range shifts in mountains across ecologically contrasting regions (Norway, Switzerland, South Africa and China). We want to investigate the establishment, growth and reproduction of ten focal lowland species in novel climatic conditions with and without competition. RangeX works at two field sites in Norway near Voss, one lowland and one montane grassland. In 2021, lowland plants have been transplanted beyond their current range limits to higher elevations. We have chosen species that vary in their functional traits but share similar habitat requirements. The goal of this experiment is to disentangle the two factors warming and competition by using open top chambers (OTCs) and a removal treatment of the native vegetation. Opportunities for master students Germination experiment in the lab and / or in the field: How successful are lowland plants in establishing under different climatic conditions, with and without competitors/facilitators? Seedling measurements: Seedling growth traits Physiology measurements (thermotolerance, hydraulics, stomata density) Physiology measurements on adult plants after five years in the field: Thermotolerance, hydraulics, stomata density Native community: Vegetation analysis of native species How much of the total resources can lowland and native species exploit? Belowground: Root traits How much are lowland plant species investing into belowground biomass? We have more detailed descriptions of some of the projects on the website, but if you have questions about the projects or other ideas, feel free to contact us! Supervisors Nadine Arzt, nadine.arzt@uib.no, Sonya Geange, sonya.geange@uib.no Vigdis Vandvik, vigdis.vandvik@uib.no
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 atmosphere. Instead, a fraction may remain in the soil and form a persistent store of carbon. Indeed, soils make up a globally significant carbon sink which is highly relevant for the global carbon balance (Pan et al., 2011). More than 80% of the carbon stored in Norwegian ecosystems is stored in soils (Bartlett et al 2020). The decomposability of the organic matter is determined by a combination of factors related to i.e., biomass quality. Climate (temperature, moisture) is also an important determinant. The FUNDER project aims to assess how climate affects ecosystem functioning above and below ground. Part of the project focuses on decomposition of organic matter and this is where this master project would contribute to it. We have buried fungal necromass (dead fungal mycelia) with different quality in the soils of our experimental plots and we are working on assessing the mass loss of these materials during the incubation period in the field. By collecting and analysing these data, we get better insight into rates of decomposition, the fate of the decomposed carbon (release to the atmosphere or storage) and how these outcomes may be affected by climate. A natural extension of this project will be to identify decomposer communities in necromass remains. This MSc project will identify microbial decomposer communities in remains of fungal necromass from a decomposition experiment. You will isolate DNA , perform PCR and preparation of metabarcoding libraries that will be sequenced to identify microbial assemblages. This will give you extensive training and experience with working in a molecular lab. You will use bioinformatic tools to analyse and assure the quality of your data, and use statistical analyses and modelling to investigate patterns in the microbial communities you identify. Supervisors Peter Groth Farsund (peter.farsund@uib.no) and Vigdis Vandvik (vigdis.vandvik@uib.no) References Bartlett, J., Rusch, G.M., Kyrkjeeide, M.O., Sandvik, H. & Nordén, J. 2020. Carbon storage in Norwegian ecosystems (revised edition). NINA Report 1774b. Norwegian Institute for Nature Research. https://brage.nina.no/nina-xmlui/handle/11250/2655580 Pan, Y., Birdsey, R.A., Fang, J., Houghton, R., Kauppi, P.E., Kurz, W.A., Phillips, O.L., Shvidenko, A., Lewis, S.L., Canadell, J.G., Ciais, P., Jackson, R.B., Pacala, S.W., McGuire, A.D., Piao, S., Rautiainen, A., Sitch, S., Hayes, D., 2011. A large and persistent carbon sink in the world’s forests. Science 333, 988–993. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1201609
UPCOMING – MSc thesis: Quantifying the functional potential of soil microbial communities
Project description Soil microbial communities perform a multitude of ecosystem functions in the soil ecosystem (Crowther et al. 2019). Quantifying the functional potential of microbial communities is useful for studying microbially mediated ecosystem processes such as carbon (Trivedi et al. 2016) and nitrogen cycling (Zhang et al. 2013), how they respond to environmental and ecosystem change, and can improve the accuracy of ecosystem modelling (Graham et al. 2016). The FUNDER project aims to assess how climate affects ecosystem functioning above and below ground. The project is carried out across 12 sites in Western Norway spanning four levels of mean annual precipitation and three levels of mean annual summer temperature, forming a climate grid that lets us to investigate direct effects of climate on soil communities. Additionally, we have conducted a fully factorial plant functional group (PFG) removal experiment across the climate grid to assess indirect effects of climate on soil communities via shifts in plant community composition. We would like to assess the effect of our PFG removal experiment and climate on the functional potential of soil microbial communities. There are various ways of doing this and we are looking into what method is most appropriate and feasible, e.g. by using quantitative PCR or microarray technology. Depending on the method used for quantifying functional potential, this MSc project can involve working in a molecular lab. As you will have access to a lot of data (Vandvik et al. 2022) in addition to that on microbial functionality, the project offers an opportunity to dive into statistical analyses and modelling. Supervisors Peter Groth Farsund (peter.farsund@uib.no) and Vigdis Vandvik (vigdis.vandvik@uib.no) References Crowther, T. W., J. van den Hoogen, J. Wan, M. A. Mayes, A. D. Keiser, L. Mo, C. Averill, and D. S. Maynard. 2019. The global soil community and its influence on biogeochemistry. Science 365:eaav0550. Graham, E. B., J. E. Knelman, A. Schindlbacher, S. Siciliano, M. Breulmann, A. Yannarell, J. M. Beman, G. Abell, L. Philippot, J. Prosser, A. Foulquier, J. C. Yuste, H. C. Glanville, D. L. Jones, R. Angel, J. Salminen, R. J. Newton, H. Bürgmann, L. J. Ingram, U. Hamer, H. M. P. Siljanen, K. Peltoniemi, K. Potthast, L. Bañeras, M. Hartmann, S. Banerjee, R.-Q. Yu, G. Nogaro, A. Richter, M. Koranda, S. C. Castle, M. Goberna, B. Song, A. Chatterjee, O. C. Nunes, A. R. Lopes, Y. Cao, A. Kaisermann, S. Hallin, M. S. Strickland, J. Garcia-Pausas, J. Barba, H. Kang, K. Isobe, S. Papaspyrou, R. Pastorelli, A. Lagomarsino, E. S. Lindström, N. Basiliko, and D. R. Nemergut. 2016. Microbes as Engines of Ecosystem Function: When Does Community Structure Enhance Predictions of Ecosystem Processes? Frontiers in Microbiology 7. Trivedi, P., M. Delgado-Baquerizo, C. Trivedi, H. Hu, I. C. Anderson, T. C. Jeffries, J. Zhou, and B. K. Singh. 2016. Microbial regulation of the soil carbon cycle: evidence from gene–enzyme relationships. The ISME Journal 10:2593-2604. Vandvik, V., I. H. J. Althuizen, F. Jaroszynska, L. C. Krüger, H. Lee, D. E. Goldberg, K. Klanderud, S. L. Olsen, R. J. Telford, S. A. H. Östman, S. Busca, I. J. Dahle, D. D. Egelkraut, S. R. Geange, R. Gya, J. S. Lynn, E. Meineri, S. Young, and A. H. Halbritter. 2022. The role of plant functional groups mediating climate impacts on carbon and biodiversity of alpine grasslands. Scientific Data 9:451. Zhang, X., W. Liu, M. Schloter, G. Zhang, Q. Chen, J. Huang, L. Li, J. J. Elser, and X. Han. 2013. Response of the Abundance of Key Soil Microbial Nitrogen-Cycling Genes to Multi-Factorial Global Changes. PLOS ONE 8:e76500.
MSc thesis: Soil bacterial and fungal abundance in response to plant removals across climatic gradients
Project description Climate change entails global and local shifts in temperature and precipitation, with consequences for biotic communities in above- and belowground ecosystems (Jansson and Hofmockel 2020). Soil bacteria and fungi are two major groups of microorganisms constituting a large part of the soil microbiome. Both groups include partners and parasites of plants as well as primary decomposers of organic material, central to nutrient cycling and productivity in the soil ecosystem (Philippot et al. 2024). The two groups are also functionally different, e.g. in that bacteria are generally efficient at utilizing high quality resources while fungi are better at breaking down complex molecules of lower nutritional quality. The abundance of the two groups can therefore have implications for ecosystem processes such as carbon cycling (Malik et al. 2016). If we are to predict how climate change may impact the dynamics of these two functionally important groups in the future, we need to understand how they are influenced by climate in the first place. The FUNDER project aims to assess how climate affects ecosystem functioning above and below ground. The project is carried out across 12 sites in Western Norway spanning four levels of mean annual precipitation and three levels of mean annual summer temperature, forming a climate grid that lets us to investigate direct effects of climate on soil communities. Additionally, we have conducted a fully factorial plant functional group (PFG) removal experiment across the climate grid to assess indirect effects of climate on soil communities via shifts in plant community composition. We have also collected data on abiotic soil properties such as nutrient content and pH (Vandvik et al. 2022), which are also important in influencing soil bacteria and fungi (Siles et al. 2023). This MSc project will investigate how climate and plant community composition influence the abundance of bacteria and fungi in soil. You will use quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) to quantify bacteria and fungi in the lab, which will provide you with skills and experience necessary to work in a molecular biology lab. You will also have access to a lot of environmental data to use with the microbial data you generate, and this will let you work with different statistical analyses and modelling. Supervisors Peter Groth Farsund (peter.farsund@uib.no) and Vigdis Vandvik (vigdis.vandvik@uib.no) References Jansson, J. K., and K. S. Hofmockel. 2020. Soil microbiomes and climate change. Nature Reviews Microbiology 18:35-46. Malik, A. A., S. Chowdhury, V. Schlager, A. Oliver, J. Puissant, P. G. M. Vazquez, N. Jehmlich, M. von Bergen, R. I. Griffiths, and G. Gleixner. 2016. Soil Fungal:Bacterial Ratios Are Linked to Altered Carbon Cycling. Frontiers in Microbiology 7. Philippot, L., C. Chenu, A. Kappler, M. C. Rillig, and N. Fierer. 2024. The interplay between microbial communities and soil properties. Nature Reviews Microbiology 22:226-239. Siles, J. A., A. Vera, M. Díaz-López, C. García, J. van den Hoogen, T. W. Crowther, N. Eisenhauer, C. Guerra, A. Jones, A. Orgiazzi, M. Delgado-Baquerizo, and F. Bastida. 2023. Land-use- and climate-mediated variations in soil bacterial and fungal biomass across Europe and their driving factors. Geoderma 434:116474. Vandvik, V., I. H. J. Althuizen, F. Jaroszynska, L. C. Krüger, H. Lee, D. E. Goldberg, K. Klanderud, S. L. Olsen, R. J. Telford, S. A. H. Östman, S. Busca, I. J. Dahle, D. D. Egelkraut, S. R. Geange, R. Gya, J. S. Lynn, E. Meineri, S. Young, and A. H. Halbritter. 2022. The role of plant functional groups mediating climate impacts on carbon and biodiversity of alpine grasslands. Scientific Data 9:451.
Master theses related to the projects ECOBUDGETS and ECoMAP
Topic Ground truthing of biodiversity maps for nature accounting Summary In the face of nature loss at the scales we are witnessing today, nature accounting and budgeting starts receiving increased focus. At the basis of such accounts are the physical properties of nature: the extent and the condition of ecosystems. To create a physical nature account, especially at local spatial scales, full area covering map information is needed. Biodiversity- and other nature-related maps are often based on models and/or remote sensing, and thus carry a certain amount of uncertainty. An important approach to both test available maps and improve them is validation and ground truthing. The ECOBUDGETS project seeks to develop nature accounts and budgets for Bergen, which offers opportunities for master theses focusing on validation and ground-truthing of modelled and/or remote-sensing based maps. The theses would span from the design of data collection, via field work, and to validation of maps of the chosen target variables. Examples for target variables/maps are species inventories, alien species, pollination services, or carbon stocks. Veiledere Vigdis Vandvik (UiB, vigdis.vandvik@uib.no), Joachim Töpper (NINA, joachim.topper@nina.no)
Camera surveillance of pollinators in alpine grasslands
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 to address. We have recorded millions of images of flowers introduced to mountain sites in Switzerland, Norway and South Africa. They are a gold mine of information about plant-pollinator and pollinator-pollinator interactions. Projects will involve searching for and identifying pollinators in images, answering questions about the impacts of climate change on pollination and species interactions. In the process, contributors will help to build a collaborative dataset for automated pollinator detection and are likely to be considered authors on a resulting publication. Why contribute? Beyond potential co-authorship on a publication, contributors get to work with a team of international researchers in the RangeX project, an international project about the impacts of range-expanding plants in mountains. They will receive training in image labeling and basic insect identification. We can offer supervision to committed contributors and create a project with independent analysis. We could even offer some insights into statistics with R. Potential project ideas include: Seasonal or day/night visitation patterns of pollinator communities Responses of insect pollinators to warming treatments Characteristics of pollinator communities at high and low elevations Interactions between insect pollinator guilds Tiers of contribution We invite contributions in two tiers, depending on if you want to co-design a research project. Super-contributor: Label at least 5000 flower hours (100 hours of work, following ~25 flowers through their lives). Adopt a research project, with supervision, tackling specific questions. Contributor: Label at least 500 flower hours (10 hours of work) from a cross-section of flowers and regions to co-create the dataset. You may still be invited to co-author a publication. Contact Jamie Alison (jalison@ecos.au.dk) and Nadine Arzt (nadine.arzt@uib.no) for further details!
MSc thesis: Plant community responses to the direct and indirect effects of climate in the Vestland Climate grid
Background Alpine grasslands are vulnerable to climate change, and are currently changing rapidly in both plant functional group dominance (1) and species distributions (2). These biotic shifts contribute to indirect effect of climate change through influencing biotic interactions (3,4). Indeed, research is still needed on the effect of climate on long-term vegetation dynamics (5). Our research group uses a macro-ecological experimental approach to quantify the impacts of climate and biotic interactions on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning of alpine grasslands across factorial broad-scale temperature and precipitation gradients in Norway (the Vestland climate Grid). For example, Althuizen et al. (2018) studied the impact of long-term climate regime on decomposition in alpine grassland soils (6). The FUNDER project Climate change alters not only plants, but also soil communities, and thus interactions across the plant-soil food web. These interlinked changes pose threats to biodiversity and key ecosystem processes and functions, such as carbon and nutrient cycling, and ecosystem productivity. The FunCab project, using a long-term plant functional group removal experiment (fully factorial removals of grasses, forbs and bryophytes, maintained since 2015) in semi-natural grassland replicated across the 12 sites of the Vestland Climate Grid, studied the direct and indirect impact of climate on plant communities. The new project, FUNDER, pursues the work done on FunCab integrating data of the belowground part in order to better understand the impact of climate on the plant-soil food web. The FUNDER project thus continues and expands this research to assess and disentangle the direct effects of climate from the indirect effects, mediated through biotic interactions, on the diversity and functioning of the plant−soil food web. The objectives are to disentangle direct and indirect climate impacts of three major plant functional types in grasslands – grasses, forbs and bryophytes – on plants, soil nematodes and microarthropods, and microbes, and ecosystem processes. We aim to better understand landscape variation and whole-ecosystem consequences of indirect climate impacts as well as climate feedbacks of the plant-soil food web. Thesis proposal This MSc thesis will be conducted as part of the FUNDER project, where the MSc student will have responsibility for assessing plant community responses to the direct and indirect effects of climate. The successful candidate will continue a time-series of plant species composition once a year from 2015 to 2019 in the removal experiments described above. This will complete a unique dataset on the plant community composition in response to climate and plant functional group manipulation over 8 years. The MSc student will identify plant species during the last fieldwork campaign on this experiment before the destructive harvesting for soil sampling planned for the FUNDER project in 2022, which in collaboration with the work carried out by the rest of the FUNDER team will allow comparisons and linkages between plant, animal, and microbial responses. The MSc thesis will explore how the biomass, biodiversity and functional composition three plant functional groups in grasslands respond to changes in climate and biotic interactions. Research questions How does the biodiversity and functioning of grasses, forbs, and bryophytes in alpine grasslands vary along broad-scale climate gradients? Are the responses of these major plant functional groups to climate influenced or modified by biotic interactions among them? Is there a temporal shift in plant species composition and biotic interactions? You will be part of a dynamic research team, gather experience in scientific approach and have amazing fieldwork experience in fjords and mountains in Western Norway. Tasks 3-5 weeks of fieldwork, identifying species and analyzing plant community composition Data management, reproducibility and Open Science practice Statistical analyses using R Share your results: write a theisis which can be published as a scientific paper, and present your work in national/international conferences Candidate requirement Global change ecology background Plant species identification skills, knowledge of Norwegian flora is an advantage Statistical and data management skills Scientific writing skill Team spirit Enjoy hiking in mountains and being outside under both sunny and rainy weather Practical information The project is funded through research grants Start: July 2022 Place of work: University of Bergen Supervisor: Vigdis Vandvik and Morgane Demeaux. To apply, send your CV and motivation letter to morgane.demeaux@uib.no before 15th of May 2022. References (1) Engemann, K., B. Sandel, B. J. Enquist, P. M. Jørgensen, N. Kraft, A. Marcuse-Kubitza, B. McGill, et al. 2016. ‘Patterns and Drivers of Plant Functional Group Dominance across the Western Hemisphere: A Macroecological Re-Assessment Based on a Massive Botanical Dataset’. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 180 (2): 141–60. https://doi.org/10.1111/boj.12362. (2) Kelly, A. E., and M. L. Goulden. 2008. ‘Rapid Shifts in Plant Distribution with Recent Climate Change’. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105 (33): 11823–26. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0802891105. (3) Jaroszynska, F. 2019. ‘Climate and Biotic Interactions – Drivers of Plant Community Structure and Ecosystem Functioning in Alpine Grasslands’. University of Bergen. (4) Vandvik V, Klanderud K, Skarpaas O, Telford RJ, Halbritter AH & Goldberg DE. 2020. Biotic rescaling reveals importance of species interactions for variation in biodiversity responses to climate change. PNAS 17 (37): 22858-22865. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2003377117 (5) Afuye, G. A., A. M. Kalumba, and I. R. Orimoloye. 2021. ‘Characterisation of Vegetation Response to Climate Change: A Review’. Sustainability 13 (13): 7265. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137265. (6) Althuizen IHJ, Lee H, Sarneel J & Vandvik V. 2018. Long-term climate regime modulates the impact of short-term climate variability on decomposition in alpine grassland soils. Ecosystems 21: 1580-1592. doi: 10.1007/s10021-018-0241-5
MSc thesis: Impacts of range-expanding plants on pollinator interactions
Project background As both native and exotic species shift their distributions in response to climate warming and through biological invasions, many expand their ranges across elevational gradients. This expansion results in the reassembly of ecological communities, which meditates the effects of climate warming on biodiversity and key ecosystem functions. RangeX is a multidisciplinary, replicated field and laboratory experiment being conducted in climatically and socio-ecologically contrasting regions (Switzerland, Norway, China, South Africa) that seeks to better understand these range shifts in mountain habitats. We focus on mountain ecosystems as an ideal model system to address our research questions. Mountains are themselves of crucial conservation value, as hotspots of biodiversity, refugia for biota threatened by climate warming, and as key global sources of water, food, and livelihoods, but are experiencing above-average rates of warming and increasing pressures from invasive species and development, making mountains priority areas for sustainability research. Experimental design RangeX field experiments comprise warming treatments, introduction and removal of key plant species, and intensive monitoring of soils, plants and pollinators across multiple elevations. By investigating novel biotic interactions both above and below ground, we aim to: (i) disentangle the drivers of range expansions; (ii) uncover the consequences of range-expanders on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning; and (iii) predict the extent and impacts of future range expansions. Location: montane and lowland grasslands near Voss, Norway. Thesis proposal Question: Do range-expanding plant species disrupt plant-pollinator interactions? Methods: Quantify insect visitation rates of the planted focal range-expanding species and selected native plants in the background community using novel image-based methodology. Images will be collected every minute each day during the growing season using time lapse cameras mounted over flowering plants from bud burst to seed set. At each site, 24 cameras will record focal range-expanding species, and native plants with matched floral traits next to and away from the range-expanding species. Deep learning convolutional neural networks (CNNs) will be used to automatically extract the timing, location, and identity of flower visitors from the images. This will allow us to quantify the importance of visitation rates, and visitor identity and diversity, for seed set of both native and range-expanding plant species. Sweep netting, pan trapping, and direct observation will be used to confirm the identity of observed flower visitors and their status as pollinators. The machine learning models will be trained on a manually labelled subset of images at each site. The field methodology has already been tested at sites in Greenland and Denmark, the analysis pipelines have been developed, and the most appropriate CNN models have been identified. Opportunities As a MSc student working within the RangeX project, you will: • Do field work, and learn how to design and conduct ecological experiments, identify and measure plants and/or insect pollinators, manage and analyze ecological data, write it up as a thesis, and present your work in oral presentations within the team and at conferences. • Be part of the ‘Between The Fjords’ lab group activities • Be part of a large collaborative international research project, where you will participate in project meetings and workshops online and in person. • Get to know and work with a cross-disciplinary group of researchers at different career stages, and see how your work relates to work on different functional groups and trophic levels. • Be given opportunities to present your work at scientific conferences, and you will be supported in publishing your thesis as a scientific article. We have listed multiple thesis options on this website, but if you have other suggestions, don’t be afraid to contact us and ask! Contact information Nathan.Phinney@uib.no Vigdis.Vandvik@uib.no