|
See our University website for current research activities at www.uib.no/rg/EECRG/research/research-at-eecrg
Our
research activities can be broadly grouped into the six following
themes:
1. Biodiversity - patterns and processes One of the fundamental goals of ecology is to uncover the processes
Romdal, T.S. & Grytnes, J.-A. 2007. An indirect area effect on elevational species richness patterns. Ecography 30: 440-448. Grytnes, J.-A. & Beaman, J.H. 2006. Elevational species richness patterns for vascular plants on Mount Kinabalu, Borneo. Journal of Biogeography 33: 1838-1849. Telford, R.J., Vandvik, V. & Birks, H.J.B. 2006. Dispersal limitations matter for microbial morphospecies. Science 312: 1015. Vandvik, V. & Goldberg, E. 2006. Sources of diversity in a grassland metacommunity: quantifying the contribution of dispersal to species richness. American Naturalist 168: 157-167. Hatteland, B.A., Hauge, E., Kirkendall, L.R. & Solhøy T. 2005. Dispersal abilities and breeding periods of ground beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae) in coastal Central Norway. Norwegian Journal of Entomology 52: 49-56.
Chitra Baniya, Hilary Birks, John Birks, Arguitxu de la Riva Cabellero, John-Arvid Grytnes, Bjørn Arild Hatteland, Marianne Presthus Heggen, Fride Høistad, Kari Klanderud, Jenny Kovisto, Torstein Solhøy, Richard Telford, Vigdis Vandvik, Gaute Velle, Ole Reidar Vetaas, Kathy Willis 2. Climatic and environmental change - reconstructing the past and assessing impacts
Willis, K.J. & Birks, H.J.B. 2006. What is natural? The need for a long-term perspective in biodiversity conservation. Science 314: 1261-1265. Smol, J., Wolfe, A.P., Birks, H.J.B. & 23 others 2005. Climate-driven regime shifts in the biological communities of arctic lakes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102: 4397-4402. Heegaard, E. & Vandvik, V. 2004. Climate change affects the outcome of competitive interactions - an application of principal response curves. Oecologia 139: 459-466.
Many European ecosystems of high conservation interest have emerged
Velle, L.G. & Øpstad, S.L. 2007. The Norwegian feral sheep - a bearer of Norwegian culture. In: 10th EU Heathland Workshop Fieldguide & Abstracts (eds: Måren. I.E. & Nilsen, L.S.) University of Bergen, pp. 44-46. Losvik, M.H. 2006. Thick moss layers and high cover of grasses: Potential threats to herb diversity in hay meadows in Norway. Norwegian Journal of Geography 60: 312-316. Vandvik, V. & Goldberg, E. 2006. Sources of diversity in a grassland metacommunity: quantifying the contribution of dispersal to species richness. American Naturalist 168: 157-167. Myklestad, Å. & Sætersdal, M. 2005. Effects of fertilisation and afforestation on community structure of traditionally managed hay meadows in western Norway. Nordic Journal of Botany 23: 593-606. Vandvik, V.,
Heegaard, E., Måren, I.E. & Aarrestad,
P.A. 2005. Managing heterogeneity: the importance of grazing and
environmental variation on post-fire succession in heathlands.
Journal of Applied Ecology 42:139-149. Researchers involved John Birks, Kari Hjelle, Peter Emil Kaland, Mons Kvamme, Inger Måren, Brith Natlandsmyr, Vigdis Vandvik, Liv Guri Velle, Ole Reidar Vetaas, Kathy Willis Invasive
species are one of the most severe threats to biodiversity and
environmental services worldwide, often with large economic
cost. Norwegian landscapes are threatened by several invaders,
including exotic conifers and slugs. The EECRG collaborates with
other research groups to investigate what traits make species invasive,
and ecosystems invadable. We use this information to help understand
the ecology of invasive species in Norway, and how they can be
controlled.
Haukeland, S., Solhøy, T. & Anderson, A. 2006. Bekjempelse av snegler. Bioforsk Fokus 1(3): 114-115. Måren, I.E. Vandvik, V. & Ekelund, K. (Submitted) Restoration of Bracken-invaded Calluna vulgaris heathlands: Effects on vegetation dynamics and non-target species.
Bjørn Arild Hatteland, Christian Mong, Inger Måren, Heidi Saure, Torstein Solhøy, Ole Reidar Vetaas 5. Development-related research
Andersen, G.L. & Krzywinski, K. 2007. Mortality, recruitment and change of desert tree populations in a hyper-arid environment. PLoS ONE 2: e208. 10.1371/journal.pone.0000208 Miehe, G., Miehe, S., Vogel, J., Co, S. & La Duo 2007. Highest treeline in the Northern Hemisphere found in Southern Tibet. Mountain Research and Development 27: 169-173. 10.1659/mrd.0792 Måren, I.E. & Vetaas, O.R. 2007. Does regulated land use allow regeneration of keystone forest species in the Annapurna Conservation Area, central Himalaya? Mountain Research and Development 27: 337-345. Bhattarai,
K.R. & Vetaas,
O.R. 2005. Do fern and fern-allies show similar response to climatic
factors along the ecological
gradient in the Himalayas? Bulletin of the Department of Plant
Resources 26: 24-29. Researchers involved Inger Måren, Richard Telford, Vigdis Vandvik, Ole Reidar Vetaas, Brooke Wilkerson 6. Quantitative methods - from transfer functions to mixed effects modelling Statistics is a major tool for biologists, allowing biological interpretations to be made, hypotheses to be tested, and uncertainties to be estimated. The EECRG has a long tradition in developing and applying rigorous statistical tools for applied and basic ecological science - from the development of transfer functions to assess past environmental conditions from fossil biotic assemblages to recent developments in mixed effects modelling that help us understand how different processes can contribute to patterns in diversity over space and time. In our biostatistical work, the EECRG collaborates closely with the Department of Mathematics at UIB.
Heegaard, E. & Nilsen, T. 2007. Local Linear Mixed Effect Models - Model specification and interpretation in a biological context. Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics 12: 414-430. 10.1198/108571107X228134 Heegaard E., Økland R.H., Bratli H., Dramstad W.E., Engan E., Pedersen O., Solstad H. 2007. Regularity of species richness relationships to patch size and shape. Ecography 30: 589-597. Telford, R.J. 2006. Limitations of dinoflagellate cyst transfer function. Quaternary Science Reviews 25: 1375-1382. 10.1016/j.quascirev.2006.02.012 Telford, R.J. & Birks, H.J.B. 2005. The secret assumption of transfer functions: problems with spatial autocorrelation in evaluating model performance. Quaternary Science Reviews 24: 2173-2179. 10.1016/j.quascirev.2005.05.001 Heegaard, E. 2004. Trends in aquatic macrophyte species turnover in Northern Ireland – which factors determine the spatial distribution of local species turnover? Global Ecology and Biogeography 13: 397- 408 Heegaard, E. & Vandvik, V. 2004. Climate change affects the outcome of competitive interactions – an application of principal response curves. Oecologia 139: 459-466. Birks, H. J. B., Line, J. M., Juggins, S., Stevenson, A. C., and ter Braak, C. J. F. (1990). Diatoms and pH reconstruction. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 327: 263-278.
John Birks, John-Arvid Grytnes, Richard Telford |
|---|
controlling
the patterns of diversity and abundance that we observe in nature.
How does diversity emerge, and how is it maintained?
The EECRG seeks to develop empirical approaches that test and
quantify the relative importance of different potentially important
processes, such as dispersal and other neutral processes versus
niche processes. Important insights can be gained from looking
across traditionally distinct disciplines; today we are, for
example, seeing convergent discussions on these issues in macroecology,
metacommunity theory, and microbial biogeography. We approach
these fundamental questions at a broad range of spatial and temporal
scales, from centimetres to continents and from snapshots to
millennia.
Humans are putting increasing
pressures on the world's ecosystems. We are already seeing strong
impacts of habitat loss and changes
in nutrient cycling whereas climate change is likely to have increasingly
strong impacts during the next century (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
2005, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2007). These current
trends can only be understood with reference to the past. Our palaeoecological
research has contributed to the understanding of impacts of acidification
(i.e., the "Acid Rain" debate), eutrophication, and climate
change. We complement these long-term data with experiments and
correlative studies to understand the ecological processes controlling
responses to environmental change.
under
continuous low-intensity land-use. The biodiversity and ecosystem
functioning of these systems often depend on the traditional
land-use practices such as grazing, mowing, or fire. The discontinuation
of these practices now represent a major threat to the conservation
value of these ecosystems. Cultural landscapes pose special ecological
and legal challenges for biodiversity conservation, but they
are also dynamic ecosystems that readily lend themselves to general
ecological research.
Many of the basic and applied ecological questions the EECRG seeks
to address in Norway, are also relevant in developing countries,
where biodiversity is often far higher than it is in Northern
Europe. The EECRG collaborates with local scientists in countries
such as Nepal, Tibet, Sudan and Uganda to undertake basic ecological
research. In our collaboration with scientists in developing
counties we build on the research capacity in both nations by
exchanging expertise and ideas with our partners. By contributing
to the science-base of the host nations we also lay the foundations
of future research collaboration.