Winter ecology and climate

The importance of weather and the impact of future climate change is a common thread. In particular we focus on the role played by snow cover, depth and structure (formation of ice layers) on plant phenology, biomass and growth, survival and reproduction of herbivorous insects  (birch forest moths), small rodents (voles and lemmings) and large ungulates (directly through access to resources in winter and indirectly through phenology and vegetation quality in summer). This is carried out at various sites with different climates (from oceanic-boreal to high Arctic), and is done in collaboration with the Norwegian Meteorological Institute.