2020 should have been an excellent year. But just three months into it, everything came to a standstill. Covid-19 has impacted many, including scientists working in the Arctic.
In Norway, salmon farming is considered to threaten wild salmonids mainly in two ways. First, fish that escape from captivity might crossbreed with wild salmon. Second, farmed fish often carry a parasite – the salmon sea louse. But salmon farms are also plagued by another sea louse…
A polar bear in the wild is a delight to behold. A polar bear gnawing on the seat of a snowmobile, or demolishing costly equipment, or breaking into a cabin is more nuisance than delight. Norway’s policies in Svalbard aim to minimise the risk of undesirable encounters between humans and polar bears.
The process of translating scientific knowledge into policy is not straightforward. In the Arctic, the speed of change and the complexity of multiple environmental stressors makes this process particularly challenging. The science on multiple stress is growing, but has it been translated into policy?
It’s never good to talk about someone behind their back, but it can be especially perilous where researchers in Tromsø are concerned. There’s a substantial risk that the person you’re gossiping about is the significant other of one of your listeners.
For 25 years, Eldbjørg Sofie Heimstad has been the foremost champion of cooperation at the Fram Centre. And if the occasion demands, she will go to great lengths for her team.
Although we humans have blacklisted them, a number of animals benefit from the fact that they swim up Norwegian rivers. Perhaps pink salmon are not the villains you thought they were?
Arctic environments are changing rapidly. Clearly this poses challenges to ecosystems, but we do not yet understand the consequences in their full complexity. However, we know that the first response to sea ice decline, ocean acidification, and warmer waters happens at the level of unicellular algae.
Norwegian playgrounds and artificial turf pitches are a source of pollution in the sea. Scientists have now worked out how much and how toxic rubber granules can be.