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Bilde av Tveit, Alexander Tøsdal
Bilde av Tveit, Alexander Tøsdal
Associate professor (Leader CECO lab) Department of Arctic and Marine Biology alexander.t.tveit@uit.no +4777644401 You can find me here

Alexander Tøsdal Tveit

Job description

I am a microbiologist with a PhD in microbial ecology from UiT, The Arctic University of Norway. I study how changes in microbial physiology can influence carbon cycling. Currently I am leading the projects Cells in the Cold (CECO) and Living on Air, as well as the research lab "Cells in the Cold laboratory" with financial support from Tromsø research foundation and the Research Council of Norway. See "Attachments" tab for CV.

 

  • Andrea Söllinger, Laureen Sarah Ahlers, Mathilde Borg Dahl, Páll Sigurðsson, Coline Le Noir de Carlan, Biplabi Bhattarai et al.:
    Microorganisms in subarctic soils are depleted of ribosomes under short-, medium-, and long-term warming
    The ISME Journal 2024 ARKIV / DOI
  • Tilman John Siegfried Schmider, Anne Grethe Hestnes, Julia Brzykcy, Hannes Schmidt, Arno Schintlmeister, Benjamin Roller et al.:
    Physiological basis for atmospheric methane oxidation and methanotrophic growth on air
    Nature Communications 2024 ARKIV / DOI
  • Shalaka Kiran Patil, Tajul Islam, Alexander Tøsdal Tveit, Andrew Hodson, Lise Øvreås :
    Targeting methanotrophs and isolation of a novel psychrophilic Methylobacter species from a terrestrial Arctic alkaline methane seep in Lagoon Pingo, Central Spitsbergen (78° N)
    Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. International Journal of General and Molecular Microbiology 2024 ARKIV / DOI
  • Mathilde Borg Dahl, Andrea Söllinger, Páll Sigurðsson, Ivan Janssens, Josep Peñuelas, Bjarni D. Sigurdsson et al.:
    Long-term warming-induced trophic downgrading in the soil microbial food web
    Soil Biology and Biochemistry 2023 ARKIV / DOI
  • Alexander Tveit, Andrea Söllinger, Edda Marie Rainer, Alena Didriksen, Anne Grethe Hestnes, Liabo Motleleng et al.:
    Thermal acclimation of methanotrophs from the genus Methylobacter
    The ISME Journal 2023 ARKIV / DOI
  • Victor William Christophe Seppey, Léa Cabrol, Frederic Thalasso, Laure Gandois, Céline Lavergne, Karla Martinez-Cruz et al.:
    Biogeography of microbial communities in high-latitude ecosystems: Contrasting drivers for methanogens, methanotrophs and global prokaryotes
    Environmental Microbiology 2023 ARKIV / DOI
  • Maria Scheel, Athanasios Zervas, Ruud Rijkers, Alexander Tøsdal Tveit, Flemming Ekelund, Francisco Campuzano Jiménez et al.:
    Abrupt permafrost thaw triggers activity of copiotrophs and microbiome predators
    FEMS Microbiology Ecology 2023 ARKIV / DOI
  • Andrea Söllinger, Joana Séneca, Mathilde Borg Dahl, Liabo Lillien Motleleng, Judith Prommer, Erik Verbruggen et al.:
    Down-regulation of the bacterial protein biosynthesis machinery in response to weeks, years, and decades of soil warming
    Science Advances 2022 ARKIV / DOI
  • Åshild Ønvik Pedersen, P. Convey, Kevin K. Newsham, Jesper Bruun Mosbacher, Eva Fuglei, Virve Ravolainen et al.:
    Five decades of terrestrial and freshwater research at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard
    Polar Research 2022 ARKIV / DOI
  • Maialen Barret, Laure Gandois, Frederic Thalasso, K Martinez Cruz, Armando Jauregui, C. Lavergne et al.:
    A combined microbial and biogeochemical dataset from high-latitude ecosystems with respect to methane cycle.
    Scientific Data 2022 ARKIV / DOI
  • Sizhong Yang, Susanne Liebner, Mette Marianne Svenning, Alexander Tveit :
    Decoupling of microbial community dynamics and functions in Arctic peat soil exposed to short term warming
    Molecular Ecology 2021 ARKIV / DOI
  • Kathrin Marina Bender, Mette Marianne Svenning, Yuntao Hu, Andreas Richter, Julia Schückel, Bodil Jørgensen et al.:
    Microbial responses to herbivory-induced vegetation changes in a high-Arctic peatland Download
    Polar Biology 2021 ARKIV / DOI
  • Joana Séneca, Andrea Söllinger, Craig W. Herbold, Petra Pjevac, Judith Prommer, Erik Verbruggen et al.:
    Increased microbial expression of organic nitrogen cycling genes in long-term warmed grassland soils
    ISME Communications 2021 DOI
  • Edda Marie Rainer, Victor William Christophe Seppey, Caroline Hammer, Mette Marianne Svenning, Alexander Tveit :
    The influence of above-ground herbivory on the response of arctic soil methanotrophs to increasing CH4 concentrations and temperatures
    Microorganisms 2021 PROSJEKT / ARKIV / DOI
  • Alexander Tøsdal Tveit, Tilman Schmider, Anne Grethe Hestnes, Matteus Lindgren, Alena Didriksen, Mette Marianne Svenning :
    Simultaneous Oxidation of Atmospheric Methane, Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen for Bacterial Growth
    Microorganisms 2021 ARKIV / DOI
  • Edda Marie Rainer, Victor William Christophe Seppey, Alexander Tøsdal Tveit, Mette Marianne Svenning :
    Methanotroph populations and CH4 oxidation potentials in high-Arctic peat are altered by herbivory induced vegetation change
    FEMS Microbiology Ecology 2020 ARKIV / DOI
  • Lea Cabrol, Frederic Thalasso, Laure Gandois, Armando Sepulveda-Jauregui, Karla Martinez-Cruz, Roman Teisserenc et al.:
    Anaerobic oxidation of methane and associated microbiome in anoxic water of Northwestern Siberian lakes
    Science of the Total Environment 2020 ARKIV / DOI
  • Alexander Tøsdal Tveit, Andrea Kiss, Mathias Winkel, Fabian Horn, Tomáš Hájek, Mette Marianne Svenning et al.:
    Environmental patterns of brown moss- and Sphagnum-associated microbial communities
    Scientific Reports 2020 DOI
  • Alejandro Salgado Flores, Alexander Tøsdal Tveit, Andre-Denis Wright, Phillip Pope, Monica Alterskjær Sundset :
    Characterization of the cecum microbiome from wild and captive rock ptarmigans indigenous to Arctic Norway
    PLOS ONE 2019 ARKIV / DOI
  • Alexander Tøsdal Tveit, Anne Grethe Hestnes, Serina Lee Robinson, Arno Schintlmeister, Svetlana N. Dedysh, Nico Jehmlich et al.:
    Widespread soil bacterium that oxidizes atmospheric methane
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) 2019 ARKIV / DOI
  • Andrea Söllinger, Alexander Tøsdal Tveit, Morten Poulsen, Samantha Joan Noel, Mia M. B. Bengtsson, Jörg Bernhardt et al.:
    Holistic Assessment of Rumen Microbiome Dynamics through Quantitative Metatranscriptomics Reveals Multifunctional Redundancy during Key Steps of Anaerobic Feed Degradation
    mSystems 2018 ARKIV / DOI
  • Carsten Suhr Jacobsen, Tue Kjærgaard Nielsen, Jan Kjølhede Vester, Peter Stougaard, Jeppe Lund Nielsen, Jana Voriskova et al.:
    Inter-laboratory testing of the effect of DNA blocking reagent G2 on DNA extraction from low-biomass clay samples
    Scientific Reports 2018 ARKIV / DOI
  • Andrea Söllinger, Clarissa Schwab, Thomas Weinmaier, Alexander Loy, Alexander Tøsdal Tveit, Christa Schleper et al.:
    Phylogenetic and genomic analysis of Methanomassiliicoccales in wetlands and animal intestinal tracts reveals clade-specific habitat
    FEMS Microbiology Ecology 2016 ARKIV / DOI
  • Stefan Geisen, Alexander Tøsdal Tveit, Ian M Clark, Andreas Richter, Mette Marianne Svenning, Michael Bonkowski et al.:
    Metatranscriptomic census of active protists in soils
    The ISME Journal 27. March 2015 DOI
  • Alexander Tøsdal Tveit, Tim Urich, Peter Frenzel, Mette Marianne Svenning :
    Metabolic and trophic interactions modulate methane production by Arctic peat microbiota in response to warming
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) 2015 ARKIV / DOI
  • Lynsay Blake, Alexander Tøsdal Tveit, Lise Øvreås, Ian M. Head, Neil Gray :
    Response of methanogens in arctic sediments to temperature and methanogenic substrate availability
    PLOS ONE 2015 ARKIV / DOI
  • Mette Marianne Svenning, Alexander Tøsdal Tveit, Tim Urich, Peter Frenzel :
    Microbial communities in permafrost affected peatlands; important players in Earth's carbon cycle
    META 2014 FULLTEKST
  • Andrea Söllinger, Laureen Ahlers, Mathilde Borg Dahl, Pall Sigurdsson, Liabo Motleleng, Eva Marie Breines et al.:
    Is soil microbial biomass depleted of ribosomes under short-, medium-, and long-term warming?
    2023
  • Shalaka Kiran Patil, Andrew Hodson, Francesca Naletto, Nusar Likar, Stefan Thiele, Alexander Tveit et al.:
    Microbial Community Structure in Lagoon pingo, a terrestrial methane seep in Central Spitsbergen
    2022
  • Shalaka Kiran Patil, Andrew Hodson, Stefan Thiele, Alexander Tveit, Lise Øvreås :
    Microbial community patterns from methane seep sediment at Lagoon pingo in Svalbard
    2022
  • Dimitri Kalenitchenko, Tilman Schmider, Pernille Fåne, Franziska Nigel, Annemarie Mol, Mette Marianne Svenning et al.:
    Arctic terrestrial seeps; an overlooked microbial methane sink?
    2022
  • Andrea Söllinger, Joana Séneca, Mathilde Dahl, Liabo Motleleng, Judith Prommer, Erik Verbruggen et al.:
    Physiological responses of soil microorganisms to weeks, years, and decades of soil warming
    2022
  • Yngvild Bjørdal, Kathrin Marina Bender, Liabo Motleleng, Bente Lindgård, Andreas Richter, Victoria Sophie Martin et al.:
    Higher rRNA concentrations lead to elevated methane production rates during cooling in Arctic peatlands?
    2022
  • Kathrin Marina Bender, Andrea Söllinger, Victoria Sophie Martin, Yngvild Bjørdal, Maarten Loonen, Andreas Richter et al.:
    Herbivory-driven vegetation change shapes the soil microbial food web in high-Arctic peat
    2022
  • Andrea Söllinger, Borg Dahl Mathilde, Joana Séneca, Judith Prommer, Erik Verbruggen, Bjarni D. Sigurdsson et al.:
    Central Metabolic Responses of Microorganisms to Years and Decades of Soil Warming
    2021
  • Andrea Söllinger, Alexander Tveit :
    What’s new in Tromsø?
    2021
  • Joana Séneca, Andrea Söllinger, Alexander Tveit, Petra Pjevac, Craig W. Herbold, Tim Urich et al.:
    Soil warming leads to an up-regulation of genes involved in the decomposition of organic N in a subarctic grassland
    2020
  • Andrea Söllinger, Alexander Tveit :
    Metatranscriptomics revealed multi-layered microbial responses to long-term soil warming
    2020
  • Pernille Fåne, Dimitri Kalenitchenko, Alexander Tøsdal Tveit :
    Novel methanotrophic community assemblages in a terrestrial methane seep in Svalbard
    UiT Norges arktiske universitet 2020
  • Mette Marianne Svenning, Alexander Tøsdal Tveit :
    Soil bacterium that lives on air
    20. August 2020
  • Andrea Söllinger, Tilman Schmider, Alexander Tveit :
    Temporal Dynamics of Cold-Adapted CH4-Cycling Microorganisms & Microbial Communities in a Changing Arctic
    2019
  • Andrea Söllinger, Alexander Tveit :
    Natural soil warming of Icelandic grasslands – metatranscriptomic insights – mRNA
    2019
  • Alexander Tøsdal Tveit, Mette Marianne Svenning, Andreas Richter, Thomas Rattei, Rares Luciacu :
    Temperature Adaptations in Arctic Peat Microbiota
    2017
  • M. Barret, L. Cabrol, C. Lavergne, P. Aguilar, F. Thalasso, A. Sepulveda et al.:
    METHANOgenic Biodiversity and activity in Arctic, sub-Arctic and sub-Antarctic Ecosystems affected by climate change Expected results o Survey of the baseline biodiversity and function potentialities of microbial communities involved in methane emission
    2016
  • M. Barret, L. Cabrol, C. Lavergne, P. Aguilar, F. Thalasso, A. Sepulveda et al.:
    Diversity and activity of methane-linked microbial communities in high latitude ecosystems affected by climate change
    2016
  • Alexander Tøsdal Tveit, Alena Didriksen, Hans-Jorg Hellinger, Thomas Rattei, Mette Svenning :
    Regulatory and evolutionary temperature adaptations in globally important methane oxidizing bacteria of the genus Methylobacter
    2016
  • Alexander Tøsdal Tveit, Alena Didriksen, Hans-Jorg Hellinger, Thomas Rattei, Mette Marianne Svenning :
    Regulatory temperature adaptations the in globally important methane oxidizing bacterium Methylobacter tundripaludum
    2016
  • Alexander Tøsdal Tveit, Alena Didriksen, Hans-Jorg Hellinger, Thomas Rattei, Mette Svenning :
    Regulatory and evolutionary temperature adaptations in globally important methane oxidizing bacteria of the genus Methylobacter
    2016
  • Alexander Tøsdal Tveit, Tim Urich, Peter Frenzel, Mette Marianne Svenning :
    Metabolic and trophic interactions modulate methane production by Arctic peat microbiota in response to warming
    2014
  • Alexander Tøsdal Tveit, Tim Urich, Peter Frenzel, Mette Marianne Svenning :
    Metabolic and trophic interactions modulate methane production by Arctic peat microbiota in response to warming
    2014

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    Research interests

    Research interests
    I am a microbiologist with a PhD in microbial ecology from UiT, The Arctic University of Norway. I work with microorganisms that are involved in the production and consumption of methane and carbon dioxide, and how they interact in soils and sediments. In particular i want to understand how climate change influences microbial physiology and the effects on carbon cycling.

    Currently I am leading the research lab and team Cells in the Cold (CECO) laboratory with financial support from Tromsø research foundation and the research council of Norway. In our lab we perform studies in three major directions where the aim of each part is to contribute knowledge about microorganisms with an important role in global carbon cycling.

    I) Physiology and ecology of atmospheric methane oxidizing bacteria and other methanotrophs.

    We have isolated the first pure culture of an atmospheric methane oxidizing bacterium and characterized it phylogenetically, genomically and functionally. These initial findings were published in PNAS in 2019 and the study was awarded the prestigous Cozzarelli Prize by the National academy of sciences, USA (See CV in attachments). Now we are working to identify the phylogenetic distribution of atmospheric methane oxidation and to understand how they are able to live on trace-gases in air. Ongoing experiments will also uncover how these microorganisms react to the atmospheric composition predicted for the future and how they survived under the lower greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere prior to the industrial revolution. From recent findings we also see a large untapped biotechnological potential in these organisms and are preparing for moving in an applied direction in the coming years.

    II) Long-term soil warming effects on microbial metabolisms

    Using geothermally warmed grassland soils in Iceland as a model system we study how the metabolic activities of specific microbial populations are modulated in soils affected by long term warming. Our recent study, published in Science in April 2022 (See CV in attachments), demonstrate that adjustments of the protein biosynthesis machinery is central to how soil microorganisms respond to global warming. This study has attracted alot of attention from our colleagues and may represent critical knowledge for understanding global warming effects on soil ecosystems.

    III) Carbon cycling in Arctic peatlands.

    We are studying how organic matter in Arctic peatlands is degraded, which organisms are involved and how they interact. This includes general physiological responses to temperature, organisms involved in syntrophy and methanogenesis, and also microbial food web interactions. Our work on this springs from three studies published in PNAS and ISME in 2013 and 2015 (See CV in attachments).

    Currently, three topics within this direction are of primary interest to us:

    1) Microbial physiological responses to temperature change, focusing on protein biosynthesis adjustments.

    2) Effects of above-ground herbivory and plant community changes on the microbial foodweb dynamics and methanotrophic community below-ground

    3) Anaerobic carbon dioxide fixation, which may be an important but overlooked process in Arctic peat. 

    Teaching

    I am involved in two courses. In both of these our aim is to provide the students with tasks that demand they learn and use the entire skillset needed to work scientifically within our discipline (adapted to the level of the students - bachelor, master or PhD). Theory is a small but crucial part of the teaching. The other parts are

    - Experiment planning and ability to follow protocol

    - Fieldwork, chemical and process measurements

    - Laboratory technique and use of calculations in daily work

    - Molecular work (PCR, cloning, qPCR, preparation for sequencing)

    - Bioinformatics (phylogeny, blast and data handling)

    - Data analysis, statistics

    - Scientific writing

    Bio 2018 - Were we teach theory and techniques in genetics. 

    Bio 3018 - Here we teach molecular methods and theory for research at the interface of molecular biology, physiology and ecology research.

    ResearchGate

    Member of research group

    Cells in the Cold Laboratory   English content Microorganisms and Plants   English content

    Attachments: