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Our research

The GEco group covers several research topics and uses a variety of methods and tools. In addition to the externally funded projects listed on the front page, we also research:

Populations

Hylocomium splendens tagged with colored rings in a small plot. Photo: H.A.Ullerud

Hylocomium splendens demography: Every year since 1980,  a colored-ring tagging technique has been used to follow the lives of Hylocomium splendens shoots several Norwegian natural reserves in connection with the TOV project. This exceptionally long demographic time series is a valuable data source for studying the species itself as well as forest dynamics and interactions over time. (Contact: Rune Halvorsen)

Rare and threatened species: GEco researches high-priority species, such as Cephalanthera rubra (since 2008), Nigritella nigra (since 2014) and Dracocephalum ruyschiana (since 2017). (Contact: Harald Bratli )

Measuring Viola biflora. Photo: Siri L. Olsen

Climate change and plant interactions:  GEco s collaborating with the University of Bergen, NINA and the Norwegian University of Life Sciences on examining the lives of several plant species. These experimental studies address climate change and plant interactions by using gradients in temperature and precipitation in the study design. (Contact: Olav Skarpaas)

Vegetation and landscapes

Norwegian landscapes in gradients from oceanic to continental (x axis) and southern/lowland to arctic/apline (y axis).Souce: L. Erikstad NHM/NINA

Course in methods of gradient analysis: BIOS5210/BIOS9210 (Contact: Rune Halvorsen)

Ecological Climatology

Indirect effects of climate change: Plants are already migrating, but the species respond differently and do not migrate in concert. What changes are due to climate change, and what is due to changing species interactions? GEco is cooperating with the University of Bergen on the INCLINE project to research the indirect consequences of climate change. (Contact: Olav Skarpaas)

Ecology and climate interactions: The climate affects the vegetation on the ground, but the reverse is also true. GEco is connected to LATICE in interdisciplinary research on the interactions between the atmosphere, biosphere, cryosphere and hydrosphere. (Contact: Anders Bryn)

Course in ecological climatology: The Department of Geosciences and GEco members offer a course in climatic ecology: GEO5915/GEO9915

Distribution modelling 

Wollan, A. K., Bakkestuen, V., Kauserud, H., Gulden, G. and Halvorsen, R. 2008. Modelling and predicting fungal distribution patterns using herbarium data. - J. Biogeogr. 35: 2298-2310.

Improving distribution modelling: Distribution models are used to analyse how specific geo-ecological targets are distributed as responses to environmental explanatory variables. Examples of model targets we work with are species,  nature types, and geomorphological features. The goal of modelling a target's distribution may be to obtain a map of predicted geographical distributions, to explore the target's relationship with the environment, or what-if analyses of changes under different environmental change scenarios.

Course in distribution modelling: GEco organizes a biannual course in distribution modelling on Master and PhD level: BIOS5211/BIOS9211

Tags: Modelling, Biogeography, Ecology, Mapping, Landscape ecology, Biodiversity
Published Feb. 16, 2018 9:43 AM - Last modified June 2, 2020 2:59 PM