Ecology Division

The multidisciplinary research activities of the ecology division utilises new methods and technologies to enhance the understanding of ecosystem responses to environmental changes, with an overarching goal of producing a better understanding of how to manage natural resources in an environmentally sustainable way.

Topics of interest include functioning of marine and terrestrial ecosystems, population genomics and evolutionary biology, geographical patterns of biodiversity, fjord ecosystem dynamics, carrion ecology, host-parasite interactions, taxonomy and biosystematics, nature conservation and management as well as climatic and anthropogenic impacts on biodiversity.

Organisms studied include vascular plants, mosses and lichens, insects, various birds and terrestrial mammals, marine mammals and fish, benthic species, zooplankton and seagrass and other key species in terrestrial and marine habitats. Studies of food web and other inter-relationships between these species are of interest.

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Monitoring programmes

• Zooplankton in three fjordsCopy linkCopied

  Almost every year since 1983, the Ecology Division has collected Juday net zooplankton samples and hydrographic profiles twice a year in the two fjords Saltfjord and Mistfjord, and since 2011, also in Skjerstadfjord.

  All the zooplankton samples are stored locally, five replicates in formalin and in recent years also one replicate in ethanol for DNA analysis.

• Soft bottom benthic fauna in the Saltfjord-Skjerstadfjord systemCopy linkCopied

  In deep basins of the Saltfjord-Skjerstadfjord system, the benthic fauna at six stations has been sampled annually since 2013 to reveal the interannual variation of these communities.

  Every year in late spring samples are taken at two stations in Saltfjord (at around 350 m depth), three stations in Skjerstadfjord (550 m) and station outside the fjord systems at around 470 m.

  In addition, we started seasonal sampling in 2025 to study the seasonality in benthic communities at deep (>350 m) and shallow (100 m) sites in these fjords.