Olav Skarpaas
Academic interests
I am interested in the ecological processes governing the distribution and dynamics of Nature's diversity, and employ statistical and mechanistic modelling based on field studies and experiments in my research. I am concerned with the relevance and applicability of knowledge and I have broad experience in applied ecological research on, e.g., climate change, land use and invasive species.
Courses taught
BIO4115/9115 - Distribution modelling
GEO5915/9115 - Ecological climatology
BIO4120 - Norwegian nature
BIOS2200 - Botanical diversity
Background
PhD (Dr. scient.) University of Oslo 2003. Postdoc at Penn State University and CEES, UiO 2003-05. Researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) from 2006, adjunct position at NINA from 2017. Professor at NHM, UiO from 2017, head of the Geo-Ecology research group (GEco) from 2019.
Research projects and partners
I am involved with different roles (Principal Investigator, Work Package Leader, Researcher, Supervisor) in a number of research projects with partners in Norway (e.g. the National Biodiversity Information Centre, NINA, NIBIO, SSB, UiB, NMBU, NTNU) and internationally (primarily partners in Europe and North America).
Project and network examples: Climate change effects on plant populations and communities (SeedClim, INCLINE), Land-atmosphere interactions in cold environments (LATICE), Nature in Norway (NiN), Nature Index (NI), Urban ecosystem accounting (URBAN EEA).