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

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 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

Research is not done in a flash in the best of times. Fieldwork, data analyzes and writing take time. But this time it took over ten years, two doctorates and one baby to get there. We have just published a new article in the scientific journal Ecography. The article describes how grass and grass-like species, READ MORE

Soil carbon stocks

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 heathlands and grasslands? For READ MORE