Empetrum nigrum is a native evergreen shrub distributed in alpine and circumpolar areas that is currently encroaching into new habitats. This is an allelopathic plant that releases secondary metabolites, which has a negative impact on seed germination and seedling growth. The species has been recorded to expand in altitude and latitude parallel to a warmer climate and is encroaching into new habitats. ...

Kelp forests are in decline worldwide due to increasing anthropogenic pressures. Along the coastline of Northern Norway, spanning 15,000 kilometers, sea urchins have transformed the seabed from biodiverse kelp forests into barren grounds dominated by sea urchins. To address this issue, the initiative The Guardians of the Kelp engages volunteer divers in Northern Norway in monthly clearing events to ...

With the expansion of fisheries into deeper waters and climate change, it is increasingly important to determine the status of the species affected by these changes. One of these species is the spinytail skate Bathyraja spinicauda, an understudied skate species with vulnerable life history traits such as slow maturation and a low number of offspring. To address the lack of basic knowledge about the ...

Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) is a non-invasive method providing high- resolution information about marine mammal acoustic presence. Multi-species PAM studies can increase our understanding of temporal changes in species diversity and assemblage and is especially useful in remote areas such as the Southern Ocean. This study was based on 16 months of acoustic data spanning two austral autumns and ...

Crumb rubber (CR) produced from end of life vehicle tires is widely used on artificial sports fields and to create urban artificial surfaces. It is also used as a surrogate for tyre wear particles in experimental studies simulating the behaviour and effects of car tyre particles in the environment. It is known to contain a wide range of organic chemicals and metals, some of which are only just being ...

Car tire rubber particles (CTRPs) are a major source of microplastic pollution to the environment, originating from abrasion during driving or the use of crumb rubber granulates made of discarded tires. However, large knowledge gaps remain regarding the distribution and presence of CTRPs in marine environments and interaction with marine organisms. The aims of this thesis were to investigate the ...

The highly rhythmic environment caused by the rotation of the earth has driven the evolution of an intrinsic timekeeping mechanism in most organisms known as circadian clocks. As climate change drives the expansion of southern species into northern latitudes, their circadian clocks are challenged by the novel light conditions they encounter. In contrast to the clear day and night in southern latitudes, ...

The cosmopolitan apex predator killer whale (Orcinus orca) is one of the species worldwide with the highest levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in their tissues. The knowledge of how POPs may affect the species is limited, likely due to the ethical, legal, and practical challenges of researching toxicology on free-ranging marine mammals. The use of in vitro models has proved to be a ...

Seasonal rhythms in humans are fascinating but studying them is inherently challenging due to the need for data that covers multiple years. Due to the experimental obstacles, it remains debated whether humans exhibit seasonal fluctuations in aspects such as activity levels and libido. To approach these topics through indirect digital measures, this thesis used multi-year data from Google Trends ...

In 2019, a new species of sucking louse was observed in arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) on Svalbard and Northern Canada. Abnormal patterns of fur loss, inconsistent with normal moult, were observed across the neck, shoulders and back, raising concerns as to how the animals would cope with damaged fur during the cold Arctic winter. This study investigates the impact of these lice on Svalbard arctic ...