Infectious pancreatic necrosis (IPN) is a highly contagious disease which causes huge economic loss to the salmon farming industry world wide. The causative agent, the IPN virus (IPNV), is a dsRNA, non-enveloped virus with two genomic segments encoding five viral proteins, VP1-VP5. <br>Available vaccines against this disease give only partial protection. In order to optimize vaccine efficacies, ...

The Amphipod-genus Metopa is a relatively large genus, with currently 55 accepted species. This PhD thesis consists of redescriptions of 23 of these species based on typespecimens or specimens collected and identified by the original authors; this has been done to create consistent descriptions that could form a basis for a phylogenetic analysis of Metopa. For some species Scanning Electron ...

Environmental pollution emerged as a major concern in the mid-20th century primarily due to the unrestricted release of industrial chemicals and pesticides. Among wildlife species, apex predators, like raptors, have been heavily exposed to environmental pollutants such as organo-halogenated contaminants (OHCs) and metals (e.g., mercury). Due to their high trophic position, harmful levels of these ...

Given the key role of large herbivores on species and functional plant diversity, we aimed at better understanding the relationship between herbivory and plant communities mainly at a fine-scale, in order to reconcile objectives of population management and plant conservation. For this purpose, we used both taxonomic and functional approaches, and studied interactions at the inter- and intra-specific ...

What drives asset prices in the financial market? How can we predict these prices? Finding the relationship between different factors or between different variables could help to answer these questions. First, links between asset pricing models and other market microstructure variables can be used to investigate sources to explain asset prices. Second, rapid changes in the microstructure ...

The global demand for the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA is increasing, and the traditional sources of these fatty acids, fish oils, are no longer able to sustain the demand. This shortage is mainly a result of the surging requirement of EPA and DHA as ingredients in fish feed for aquaculture, and as dietary supplements for human consumption. As a result, there is an increased interest ...

The waters south and north of Iceland vary greatly both oceanographically and biologically with the rather stable and warm Atlantic waters south and west of Iceland and the more variable and cold Arctic and sub-Arctic waters, north and east of Iceland. The aim of this study was to increase the knowledge on the role of Calanus copepods and trophic relations of the key components of the oceanic ...

This thesis examines efficiency in the retail industry in two different directions. In the first setting, the link between inventory efficiency and performance is examined in relation to firm characteristics and exogenous explanatory variables. More specifically, in addition to general firm-specific characteristics, the effects of chain affiliation and time trends within retail chains is examined. ...

Ottesens doktorgrad fokuserer på hva det innebærer å være markedsorientert for bedrifter i fiskerinæringen. I næringsmessige debatter blir det ofte påpekt at norsk fiskeindustri må bli mer markedsorientert. Mens begrepet markedsorientering har blitt et moteord som brukes av både politikere og næringsliv, blir det sjelden klargjort hva dette innebærer. Resultatene fra avhandlingen avdekker hvordan ...

Recent Arctic studies contradict a long-held paradigm of winter quiescence by documenting activity at many trophic levels in the marine food web even during the darkest months of winter. Previous studies have failed to identify which species are performing patterns of vertical migrations during polar night in Kongsfjorden (Svalbard). In the present study, acoustic data supplemented by zooplankton ...