Projects

Integrating genetic data into the study of the significance of the North Sea and Skagerrak for wintering auks

This project aims to investigate the impact of recent mass mortality events on auk populations around the North Sea by determining the origin of the birds involved. This will be achieved through a genetic analysis of samples of dead guillemots and razorbills washed up in Norway and Denmark in two main mass mortality events, and comparing them with samples from live birds of known origin.

Interreg-Aurora project: Our Precious Transboundary Waters

The brown trout is a socioeconomically important freshwater fish in both Norway and Finland, where habitat fragmentation, overexploitation, translocations, and stocking have led to nationwide decline especially in populations of large growing, adfluvial brown trout and their genetic integrity. Careful conservation and coordinated, sustainable management of the remaining large growing brown trout populations is crucial. For this purpose, our project focuses on the transboundary Lake Inari-Pasvik River catchment as a bilateral model (reference) system, utilizing and requiring cross-border cooperation between Norway and Finland. We combine information on the genetic status of trout populations in the catchment, introduce new research methods and compare existing stocking programs for providing tools and guidelines to support the knowledge-based conservation and management of adfluvial brown trout populations in Norway and Finland.

RemoTnitor: A project for developing integrated non-invasive molecular-genetic monitoring methods for reindeer, moose, and brown bear populations in the Norwegian High North

Soil Organisms in the Subarctic (SOS)

The main aim of this project, funded by Artsdatabanken, is to collect and identify soil organisms in understudied northern regions, particularly subarctic soils in eastern Finnmark.