Ecology Division

Our research aims at understanding and predicting how climate change and other anthropogenic or natural influences affect marine benthic systems and to apply this knowledge to sustainable ecosystem management.

The understanding of what determines species distribution in benthic environments and how that affects ecosystem functioning and processes is a key element of our research. We are using modeling methods, field and experimental studies to investigate how benthos communities respond to climate change, anthropogenic impacts and natural variability.

Another research focus of the unit is on networks among benthic species, specifically food web interactions. Benthic species constitute a main food source for higher trophic level species, but specific knowledge about their role in the food web is scarce. Therefore, we study food webs with different methods in several regions of the NE Atlantic. This knowledge will contribute to our understanding of how exploiting one component in the food web (e.g. by fishing) could affect others.

Our research activities focus on ecology and nature management in alpine, boreal and cultural landscapes. We explore the impacts of global change and human activities such as hunting on terrestrial ecosystems and how such impacts cascade further into life history, species interactions, community dynamics and ecosystem functioning. Focal research areas include forest ecology, lichen taxonomy and ecology, avian and mammalian population ecology, seed dispersal and carcass ecology.

We play an important role in the conservation of regionally, nationally and internationally important or threatened species and habitats. Much of our recent research is based on extensive field studies. We are building on existing knowledge by gathering complementary data from remote sensing, spatial analysis and genetic markers. Longstanding collaborations with NINA, NTNU, Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre and Natural History Museum continue and be strengthened going forward.

Two examples of ongoing projects involving several members of our group are the REINCAR and the Taiga Bean Goose Projects. 

We believe the application of new technologies and novel analytical tools are central to resolve ecological variability across different scales in the North Atlantic and Arctic.

Our approaches include the use of optical plankton counters in combination with size-spectrum theory to investigate vital rates of zooplankton, simulation of ocean circulation systems and implications on the spreading of marine organisms, as well as the temporal and spatial components to the ecology and dynamics of important organisms in the marine food web.

Marine molecular ecology is a vast and rapidly developing field that focuses on the study of the interactions and evolution of marine organisms at the molecular level.

We apply a range of molecular genetics techniques to address questions in the population genomics, evolutionary biology and conservation genetics among all kinds of marine organisms ranging from microbes to vertebrates. 

The main research activities focus on the ecological and evolutionary responses of marine organisms to anthropogenic changes such as climate changes and exploitation.

​Our research centers around global, regional and local patterns of marine biodiversity in space and over time. We apply this knowledge and our analyses to the effects of climate change on biodiversity, including effects of food webs, and mapping where it would be optimal to protect biodiversity in Marine Protected Areas. How fisheries and aquaculture may need to adapt to climate change is also being studied.

We are interested in all kinds of species and associated habitats, pelagic and benthic, all latitudes and depth zones, and comparisons with freshwater and terrestrial biogeographies.

We use a variety of datasets and sources, particularly global databases such as the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS), World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), World Register of introduced Marine Species (WRiMS), Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). These primary data are used to model species ranges and potential distributions in the past and future.

One ongoing project involving several members of our group is the Horizon Europe funded Marine Protected Areas Europe Project​. ​

The quality of the seafloor habitat is an important barometer for marine ecosystem health. In order to accurately measure the quality, GEANS (Genetic tools for Ecosystem health Assessment in the North Sea region) will mainstream implementation of fast, accurate and cost-effective DNA-based assessments. This will enable national authorities to improve the management of human activities and protection of the marine environment across the North Sea Region in a transnational coherent way.

GEANS will conduct pilot studies concerning environmental impact assessments (renewable energy, aquaculture and sand extraction and suppletion), and concerning monitoring in relation to European directives (non-indigenous species and hard substrates). These pilots will be conducted in close cooperation with stakeholders.

GEANS is a European research project (the Interreg North Sea Project GEANS), coordinated by Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO). Scientists from all North Sea countries participate.

MPA (Marine Protected Areas) Europe will map the optimal locations for marine protected areas in European Seas.

Using a holistic range of measures that include the range of biodiversity from species to ecosystems, including habitats, areas will be prioritised using systematic conservation planning software.

This enables alternative weighting of variables and multiple scenarios and thus support wider marine spatial planning. The project is funded by Horizon Europe.

In REINCAR, the project team uses a holistic approach to study how animal carcasses impact their environment (from soil biogeochemistry to vegetation and vertebrate communities) and ecological processes and mechanisms (e.g. fear ecology, endozoochory).

The Taiga Bean Goose (Anser fabalis fabalis) is protected under several international wildlife protection treaties. Important breeding and moulting areas for a small population of this subspecies are found in the northern part of Trøndelag County. In collaboration with the conservation authorities, we have since 2010 studied this population using GPS-based radio-transmitters and genetic markers. The main goal is to gather information that can be used in a conservation perspective. The project is a collaboration with researchers at NINA Trondheim and SLU in Sweden.