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Context The Complementary Habitat Hypothesis posits that animals access resources for different needs by moving between complementary habitats that can be seen as ‘resource composites’. These movements can occur over a range of temporal scales, from diurnal to seasonal, in response to multiple drivers such as access to food, weather constraints, risk avoidance and human disturbance. Within this framework, we hypothesised that large herbivores cope with human-altered landscapes through the alternate use of complementary habitats at both daily and seasonal scales. Objectives We tested the Complementary Habitat Hypothesis in European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) by classifying 3900 habitat-annotated movement trajectories of 154 GPS-monitored individuals across contrasting landscapes. Methods We considered day-night alternation between open food-rich and closed refuge habitats as a measure of complementary habitat use. We first identified day–night alternation using the Individual Movement - Sequence Analysis Method, then we modelled the proportion of day–night alternation over the year in relation to population and individual characteristics. Results We found that day-night alternation is a widespread behaviour in roe deer, even across markedly different landscapes. Day–night alternation followed seasonal trends in all populations, partly linked to vegetation phenology. Within populations, seasonal patterns of open/closed habitat alternation differed between male and female adults, but not in juveniles. Conclusion Our results support the Complementary Habitat Hypothesis by showing that roe deer adjust their access to the varied resources available in complex landscapes by including different habitats within their home range, and sequentially alternating between them in response to seasonal changes and individual life history.

Aim: Distribution modelling is a useful approach to obtain knowledge about the spatial distribution of biodiversity, required for, for example, red-list assessments. While distribution modelling methods have been applied mostly to single species, modelling of communities and ecosystems (EDM; ecosystem-level distribution modelling) produces results that are more directly relevant for management and decision-making. Although the choice of predictors is a pivotal part of the modelling process, few studies have compared the suitability of different sets of predictors for EDM. In this study, we compare the performance of 50 single environmental variables with that of 11 composite landscape gradients (CLGs) for prediction of ecosystem types. The CLGs represent gradients in landscape element composition derived from multivariate analyses, for example “inner-outer coast” and “land use intensity.” Location: Norway. Methods: We used data from field-based ecosystem-type mapping of nine ecosystem types, and environmental variables with a resolution of 100 × 100 m. We built nine models for each ecosystem type with variables from different predictor sets. Logistic regression with forward selection of variables was used for EDM. Models were evaluated with independently collected data. Results: Most ecosystem types could be predicted reliably, although model performance differed among ecosystem types. We identified significant differences in predictive power and model parsimony across models built from different predictor sets. Climatic variables alone performed poorly, indicating that the current climate alone is not sufficient to predict the current distribution of ecosystems. Used alone, the CLGs resulted in parsimonious models with relatively high predictive power. Used together with other variables, they consistently improved the models. Main conclusions: Our study highlights the importance of variable selection in EDM. We argue that the use of composite variables as proxies for complex environmental gradients has the potential to improve predictions from EDMs and thus to inform conservation planning as well as improve the precision and credibility of red lists and global change assessments.conservation planning, distribution modelling, ecosystem classification, ecosystem types, IUCN Red List of Ecosystems, landscape gradients, spatial prediction, species response curves

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. © 2022 The Authors. Ecological Monographs published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Ecological Society of America. Competition between apex predators can alter the strength of top-down forcing, yet we know little about the behavioral mechanisms that drive competition in multipredator ecosystems. Interactions between predators can be synergistic (facilitative) or antagonistic (inhibitive), both of which are widespread in nature, vary in strength between species and across space and time, and affect predation patterns and predator–prey dynamics. Recent research has suggested that gray wolf (Canis lupus) kill rates decrease where they are sympatric with brown bears (Ursus arctos), however, the mechanisms behind this pattern remain unknown. We used data from two long-term research projects in Scandinavia (Europe) and Yellowstone National Park (North America) to test the role of interference and exploitation competition from bears on wolf predatory behavior, where altered wolf handling and search time of prey in the presence of bears are indicative of interference and exploitation competition, respectively. Our results suggest the mechanisms driving competition between bears and wolves were dependent on the season and study system. During spring in Scandinavia, interference competition was the primary mechanism driving decreased kill rates for wolves sympatric with bears; handling time increased, but search time did not. In summer, however, when both bear and wolf predation focused on neonate moose, the behavioral mechanism switched to exploitation competition; search time increased, but handling time did not. Alternartively, interference competition did affect wolf predation dynamics in Yellowstone during summer, where wolves prey more evenly on neonate and adult ungulates. Here, bear presence at a carcass increased the amount of time wolves spent at carcasses of all sizes and wolf handling time for small prey, but decreased handling time for the largest prey. Wolves facilitate scavenging opportunities for bears, however, bears alter wolf predatory behavior via multiple pathways and are primarily antagonistic to wolves. Our study helps to clarify the behavioral mechanisms driving competition between apex predators, illustrating how interspecific interactions can manifest into population-level predation patterns.

The warming trend of the Arctic is punctuated by several record-breaking warm years with very low sea ice concentrations. The nature and reversibility of marine ecosystem responses to these multiple extreme climatic events (ECEs) are poorly understood. Here, we investigate the ecological signatures of three successive bottom temperature maxima concomitant with surface ECEs between 2004 and 2017 in the Barents Sea across spatial and organizational scales. We observed community-level redistributions of fish concurrent with ECEs at the scale of the whole Barents Sea. Three groups, characterized by different sets of traits describing their capacity to cope with short-term perturbations, reacted with different timing and intensity to each ECE. Arctic species co-occurred more frequently with large predators and incoming boreal taxa during ECEs, potentially affecting food web structures and functional diversity, accelerating the impacts of long-term climate change. On the species level, responses were highly diversified, with different ECEs impacting different species, and species responses (expansion, geographical shift) varying from one ECE to another, despite the environmental perturbations being similar. Past ECEs impacts, with potential legacy effects, lagged responses, thresholds, and interactions with the underlying warming pressure, could constantly set up new initial conditions that drive the unique ecological signature of each ECE. These results highlight the complexity of ecological reactions to multiple ECEs and give prominence to several sources of process uncertainty in the predictions of climate change impact and risk for ecosystem management. Long-term monitoring and studies to characterize the vertical extent of each ECE are necessary to statistically link demersal species and environmental spatial–temporal patterns. In the future, regular monitoring will be crucial to detect early signals of change and understand the determinism of ECEs, but we need to adapt our models and management to better integrate risk and stochasticity from the complex impacts of global change. Successive extreme climatic events lead to immediate, large-scale, and diverse responses from fish in the Arctic

Miljøovervåkningsprogrammet «Marin Overvåking Hordaland» omfatter ytre- og indre fjordsystemer i Hordaland. I 2021 består overvåkingsprogrammet av kun vannundersøkelser. Formålet er å beskrive miljøtilstander basert på biologiske og fysiskkjemiske parametere. Vannundersøkelsene ble gjennomført på 14 prøvestasjoner fordelt på 11 ulike kystvannforekomster i Hordaland. Undersøkelsen inkluderer målinger og analyser av siktedyp, næringssalter, planteplankton (mikroalger), salinitet, temperatur og oksygen. Det er samlet inn hydrografiske data fra øvre vannlag (0-30 meters dyp) månedlig gjennom hele 2021. I månedene mai, juli, september og november ble det i tillegg gjennomført målinger av hele vannsøylen på alle prøvestasjonene som inkluderer måling av oksygen i bunnvann. Det er ikke gjort målinger av planteplankton i vintermånedene november, desember og januar. Undersøkelser av løste næringssalter (fosfor- og nitrogenforbindelser) viste perioder med forhøyede nivåer i enkelte områder. Dette gjelder Fusafjorden og Sørfjorden innerst (ammonium), Radfjorden, Sørfjorden Ytre Arna og Fedjefjorden (fosfor) i tillegg til Hjeltefjorden (nitritt+nitrat). Til tross for enkelte perioder med forhøyede nivåer av ulike typer løste næringssalter klassifiseres de undersøkte stasjonene til god eller svært god tilstand samlet for perioden 2016-2021. Målinger av siktedyp sommeren 2021 viser i snitt moderat siktedyp i Sævareidfjorden og innerst i Sørfjorden. Når man ser på de seks sommerperiodene samlet er det 4 stasjoner som skiller seg ut, Radfjorden og de tre stasjonene i Sørfjorden som i snitt har moderat siktedyp. Alle øvrige stasjoner har enten godt eller svært godt siktedyp. Målinger av planteplankton viser generelt gode eller svært gode tilstander i alle undersøkte områder. Det er også målt relativt lave oksygennivåer i de dypeste delene av Sørfjorden (St. 10 og 17). Slike lave oksygenverdier kan ha negativ effekt på bunnfaunaen og den økologiske tilstanden i området. Marin Overvåking Hordaland - Statusrapport 2021 publishedVersion

Understanding how niche-based and neutral processes contribute to the spatial varia-tion in plant–pollinator interactions is central to designing effective pollination con-servation schemes. Such schemes are needed to reverse declines of wild bees and other pollinating insects, and to promote pollination services to wild and cultivated plants. We used data on wild bee interactions with plants belonging to the four tribes Loteae, Trifolieae, Anthemideae and either spring- or summer-flowering Cichorieae, sampled systematically along a 682 km latitudinal gradient to build models that allowed us to 1) predict occurrences of pairwise bee–flower interactions across 115 sampling locations, and 2) estimate the contribution of variables hypothesized to be related to niche-based assembly structuring processes (viz. annual mean temperature, landscape diversity, bee sociality, bee phenology and flower preferences of bees) and neutral processes (viz. regional commonness and dispersal distance to conspecifics). While neutral processes were important predictors of plant–pollinator distributions, niche-based processes were reflected in the contrasting distributions of solitary bee and bumble bees along the temperature gradient, and in the influence of bee flower preferences on the distri-bution of bee species across plant types. In particular, bee flower preferences separated bees into three main groups, albeit with some overlap: visitors to spring-flowering Cichorieae; visitors to Anthemideae and summer-flowering Cichorieae; and visitors to Trifolieae and Loteae. Our findings suggest that both neutral and niche-based pro-cesses are significant contributors to the spatial distribution of plant–pollinator inter-actions so that conservation actions in our region should be directed towards areas: Page 2 of 11near high concentrations of known occurrences of regionally rare bees; in mild climatic conditions; and that are surrounded by heterogenous landscapes. Given the observed niche-based differences, the proportion of functionally distinct plants in flower-mixes could be chosen to target bee species, or guilds, of conservation concern. Keywords: ecological networks, machine learning, plant–pollinator interactions, spatial, wild bees Neutral processes related to regional bee commonness and dispersal distances are important predictors of plant–pollinator networks along gradients of climate and landscape conditions

The fasting endurance hypothesis (FEH) predicts strong selection for large body size in mammals living in environments where food supply is interrupted over prolonged periods of time. The Arctic is a highly seasonal and food restricted environment, but contrary to predictions from the FEH, empirical evidence shows that Arctic mammals are often smaller than their temperate conspecifics. Intraspecific studies integrating physiology and behaviour of different‐sized individuals, may shed light on this paradox. We tested the FEH in free‐living Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus). We measured daily energy expenditure (DEE), subcutaneous body temperature (Tsc) and activity levels during the late winter in 14 adult females with body masses ranging from 46.3 to 57.8 kg. Winter energy expenditure (WEE) and fasting endurance (FE) were modelled dynamically by combining these data with body composition measurements of culled individuals at the onset of winter (14 years, n = 140) and variation in activity level throughout winter (10 years, n = 70). Mean DEE was 6.3±0.7 MJ day−1. Lean mass, Tsc and activity had significantly positive effects on DEE. Across all 140 individuals, mean FE was 85±17 days (range 48–137 days). In contrast to the predictions of the FEH, the dominant factor affecting FE was initial fat mass, while body mass and FE were not correlated. Furthermore, lean mass and fat mass were not correlated. FE was on average 80% (45 days) longer in fat than lean individuals of the same size. Reducing activity levels by ~16% or Tsc by ~5% increased FE by 7%, and 4%, respectively. Our results fail to support the FEH. Rather, we demonstrate that (i) the size of fat reserves can be independent of lean mass and body size within a species, (ii) ecological and environmental variation influence FE via their effects on body composition, and (iii) physiological and behavioural adjustments can improve FE within individuals. Altogether, our results suggest that there is a selection in Svalbard reindeer to accumulate body fat, rather than to grow structurally large. he Arctic, activity, biologging, daily energy expenditure, doubly labelled water, intraspecific scaling, subcutaneous body temperature, Svalbard reindeer to accumulate body fat, rather than to grow structurally large.

As temperatures rise, motile species start to redistribute to more suitable areas, potentially affecting the persistence of several resident species and altering biodiversity and ecosystem functions. In the Barents Sea, a hotspot for global warming, marine fish from boreal regions have been increasingly found in the more exclusive Arctic region. Here, we show that this shift in species distribution is increasing species richness and evenness, and even more so, the functional diversity of the Arctic. Higher diversity is often interpreted as being positive for ecosystem health and is a target for conservation. However, the increasing trend observed here may be transitory as the traits involved threaten Arctic species via predation and competition. If the pressure from global warming continues to rise, the ensuing loss of Arctic species will result in a reduction in functional diversity.

Sustainable wildlife harvest is challenging due to the complexity of uncertain social-ecological systems, and diverse stakeholder perspectives of sustainability. In these systems, semi-complex stochastic simulation models can provide heuristics that bridge the gap between highly simplified theoretical models and highly context-specific case-studies. Such heuristics allow for more nuanced recommendations in low-knowledge contexts, and an improved understanding of model sensitivity and transferability to novel contexts. We develop semi-complex Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) models capturing dynamics and variability in ecological processes, monitoring, decision-making, and harvest implementation, under a diverse range of contexts. Results reveal the fundamental challenges of achieving sustainability in wildlife harvest. Environmental contexts were important in determining optimal harvest parameters, but overall, evaluation contexts more strongly influenced perceived outcomes, optimal harvest parameters and optimal harvest strategies. Importantly, simple composite metrics popular in the theoretical literature (e.g. focusing on maximizing yield and population persistence only) often diverged from more holistic composite metrics that include a wider range of population and harvest objectives, and better reflect the trade-offs in real world applied contexts. While adaptive harvest strategies were most frequently preferred, particularly for more complex environmental contexts (e.g. high uncertainty or variability), our simulations map out cases where these heuristics may not hold. Despite not always being the optimal solution, overall adaptive harvest strategies resulted in the least value forgone, and are likely to give the best outcomes under future climatic variability and uncertainty. This demonstrates the potential value of heuristics for guiding applied management.

Movement ecology is increasingly relying on experimental approaches and hypothesis testing to reveal how, when, where, why, and which animals move. Movement of megafauna is inherently interesting but many of the fundamental questions of movement ecology can be efficiently tested in study systems with high degrees of control. Lakes can be seen as microcosms for studying ecological processes and the use of high-resolution positioning systems to triangulate exact coordinates of fish, along with sensors that relay information about depth, temperature, acceleration, predation, and more, can be used to answer some of movement ecology's most pressing questions. We describe how key questions in animal movement have been approached and how experiments can be designed to gather information about movement processes to answer questions about the physiological, genetic, and environmental drivers of movement using lakes. We submit that whole lake telemetry studies have a key role to play not only in movement ecology but more broadly in biology as key scientific arenas for knowledge advancement. New hardware for tracking aquatic animals and statistical tools for understanding the processes underlying detection data will continue to advance the potential for revealing the paradigms that govern movement and biological phenomena not just within lakes but in other realms spanning lands and oceans. Correction published here, October 2021: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40462-021-00285-3

«Marin Overvåking Hordaland» (MOH) er et overvåkingsprogram som har til hensikt å dokumentere miljøtilstanden i fjordsystemene i Hordaland, samt å fange opp eventuelle trendutviklinger med hensyn til eutrofiering og kjemisk påvirkning av et utvalg akvakultur relevante stoffer. Overvåkningsprogrammet startet opp i 2013, og skal gå over en 10-årsperiode. Miljøovervåkningsprogrammet omfatter ytre- og indre fjordsystemer i Hordaland. I 2020 består overvåkingsprogrammet av vannundersøkelse og strandsoneundersøkelse. Formålet er å beskrive miljøtilstander basert på biologiske og fysisk-kjemiske parametere. publishedVersion

The European eel (Anguilla anguilla) is critically endangered throughout its range. Knowledge about age distribution of future spawners (silver eels) is essential to monitor the status and contribute to the recovery of this species. Determination of age in anguillid eels is challenging, especially in eels from the northern part of the distribution area where growth is slow and age at maturation can be up to 30 years or more. Eels from the river Imsa in Norway have been monitored since 1975, and this reference time series has been used to assess the stock at the European level. Population dynamics in this catchment were analyzed during the late 1980s by estimating ages on whole cleared otoliths. However, techniques for revealing annual increments on otoliths have evolved over the years sometimes yielding significant differences in age estimates. In this study, the historical otolith data were reanalyzed using a grinding and polishing method rather than reading the whole otolith. The new age estimates were considerably higher than the previous ones, sometimes by up to 29 years. Since the 1980s, mean age of silver eels only slightly increased (from 19 to 21 years in the 2010s). This was mainly due to the disappearance of younger silver eels (, We reanalyzed a historical European eel otolith collection using more recent aging techniques. New estimates of age at maturation were up to 30 years higher than previously thought. Since the decline of eels in the late 1980s, mean age of silver eels has only slightly increased, from 19 to 21 years in the 2010s. Growth (30 mm/year) has not changed since the 1980s, although eel density in the catchment has decreased.

1. Due to globalisation, trade and transport, the spread of alien species is increasing dramatically. Some alien species become ecologically harmful by threatening native biota. This can lead to irreversible changes in local biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, and, ultimately, to biotic homogenisation. 2. We risk-assessed all alien plants, animals, fungi and algae, within certain delimitations, that are known to reproduce in Norway. Mainland Norway and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard plus Jan Mayen were treated as separate assessment areas. Assessments followed the Generic Ecological Impact Assessment of Alien Species (GEIAA) protocol, which uses a fully quantitative set of criteria. 3. A total of 1519 species were risk-assessed, of which 1183 were species reproducing in mainland Norway. Among these, 9% were assessed to have a severe impact, 7% high impact, 7% potentially high impact, and 49% low impact, whereas 29% had no known impact. In Svalbard, 16 alien species were reproducing, one of which with a severe impact. 4. The impact assessments also covered 319 so-called door-knockers, i.e. species that are likely to establish in Norway within 50 years, and 12 regionally alien species. Of the door-knockers, 8% and 10% were assessed to have a severe and high impact, respectively. 5. The impact category of most species was driven by negative interactions with native species, transformation of threatened ecosystems, or genetic contamination. The proportion of alien species with high or severe impact varied significantly across the different pathways of introduction, taxonomic groups, time of introduction, and the environments colonised, but not across continents of origin. 6. Given the large number of alien species reproducing in Norway and the preponderance of species with low impact, it is neither realistic nor necessary to eradicate all of them. Our results can guide management authorities in two ways. First, the use of quantitative assessment criteria facilitates the prioritisation of management resources across species. Second, the background information collected for each species, such as introduction pathways, area of occupancy and ecosystems affected, helps designing appropriate management measures. 1. Globalisering, handel og transport fører til en dramatisk økning i spredningen av fremmede arter. Noen fremmede arter er skadelige og truer det stedegne naturmangfoldet. Lokalt kan dette medføre irreversible endringer i det lokale biologiske mangfoldet og økosystemenes funksjon; globalt en homogenisering av artssammensetningen. 2. Vi har gjennomført risikovurderinger av alle fremmede planter, dyr, sopper og alger som reproduserer i Norge og oppfyller visse avgrensninger. Svalbard og Jan Mayen ble behandla som et eget vurderingsområde, adskilt fra Fastlands‐Norge. Risikovurderingene ble gjort i tråd med GEIAA (Generic Ecological Impact Assessment of Alien Species), som benytter et rent kvantitativt kriteriesett. 3. Totalt ble 1519 arter risikovurdert, hvorav 1183 reproduserte i Fastlands‐Norge. Av disse ble 9 % vurdert til å utgjøre en svært høy risiko, 7 % en høy risiko, 7 % en potensielt høy risiko, 49 % en lav risiko og 29 % ingen kjent risiko. På Svalbard forekom 16 reproduserende fremmede arter, hvorav én med svært høy risiko. 4. Risikovurderingene omfatta også 319 såkalte dørstokkarter, dvs. fremmede arter som antas å kunne etablere seg i Norge innen 50 år, samt 12 regionalt fremmede arter. Blant dørstokkartene ble 8 % og 10 % vurdert til å utgjøre en svært høy respektive høy risiko. 5. For de fleste arter ble risikokategorien bestemt av artenes interaksjoner med stedegne arter, tilstandsendringer i trua naturtyper eller genetisk forurensning. Andelen av fremmede arter med høy eller svært høy risiko varierte signifikant på tvers av ulike introduksjonsveier, artsgrupper, tidspunkt for introduksjon og koloniserte naturtyper, men ikke på tvers av opphavsområder. 6. Gitt det store antallet av fremmede arter som reproduserer i Norge, og overvekten av arter som har lav risiko, er det verken realistisk eller nødvendig å utrydde alle. Resultatene våre kan hjelpe forvaltningsmyndighetene på to måter. For det første gjør bruken av kvantitative kriterier det lettere å prioritere ressurser på tvers av arter. For det andre kan passende forvaltningstiltak utarbeides på grunnlag av den innsamla bakgrunnsinformasjonen om artene, f.eks. deres spredningsveier, forekomstareal og berørte naturtyper. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use,distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.c 2020 The Authors. Ecological Solutions and Evidence published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society

Climate change is altering suitable areas of crop species worldwide, with cascading effects on people reliant upon those crop species as food sources and for income generation. Macadamia is one of Malawi’s most important and profitable crop species; however, climate change threatens its production. Thus, this study’s objective is to quantitatively examine the potential impacts of climate change on the climate suitability for macadamia in Malawi. We utilized an ensemble model approach to predict the current and future (2050s) suitability of macadamia under two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs). We achieved a good model fit in determining suitability classes for macadamia (AUC = 0.9). The climatic variables that strongly influence macadamia’s climatic suitability in Malawi are suggested to be the precipitation of the driest month (29.1%) and isothermality (17.3%). Under current climatic conditions, 57% (53,925 km2) of Malawi is climatically suitable for macadamia. Future projections suggest that climate change will decrease the suitable areas for macadamia by 18% (17,015 km2) and 21.6% (20,414 km2) based on RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5, respectively, with the distribution of suitability shifting northwards in the 2050s. The southern and central regions of the country will suffer the greatest losses (≥ 8%), while the northern region will be the least impacted (4%). We conclude that our study provides critical evidence that climate change will reduce the suitable areas for macadamia production in Malawi, depending on climate drivers. Therefore area-specific adaptation strategies are required to build resilience among producers.

Background: Human food subsidies can provide predictable food sources in large quantities for wildlife species worldwide. In the boreal forest of Fennoscandia, gut piles from moose (Alces alces) harvest provide a potentially important food source for a range of opportunistically scavenging predators. Increased populations of predators can negatively affect threatened or important game species. As a response to this, restrictions on field dressing of moose are under consideration in parts of Norway. However, there is a lack of research to how this resource is utilized. In this study, we used camera-trap data from 50 gut piles during 1043 monitoring days. We estimated depletion of gut piles separately for parts with high and low energy content, and used these results to scale up gut pile density in the study area. We identified scavenger species and analyzed the influences of gut pile quality and density on scavenging behavior of mammals and corvids (family Corvidae). Results: Main scavengers were corvids and red fox (Vulpes vulpes). Parts with high energy content were rapidly consumed, mainly by corvids that were present at all gut piles shortly after the remains were left at the kill site. Corvid presence declined with days since harvest, reflecting reduction in gut pile quality over time independent of gut pile density. Mammals arrived 7–8 days later at the gut piles than corvids, and their presence depended only on gut pile density with a peak at intermediate densities. The decline at high gut pile densities suggest a saturation effect, which could explain accumulation of gut pile parts with low energy content. Conclusions: This study shows that remains from moose harvest can potentially be an important food resource for scavengers, as it was utilized to a high degree by many species. This study gives novel insight into how energy content and density of resources affect scavenging patterns among functional groups of scavengers. Keywords: Carrion ecology, Scavenging, Human subsidies, Pulsed resources, Gut piles, Scavenger community

In high-latitude marine environments, primary producers and their consumers show seasonal peaks of abundance in response to annual light cycle, water column stability and nutrient availability. Predatory species have adapted to this pattern by synchronising life-history events such as reproduction with prey availability. However, changing temperatures may pose unprecedented challenges by decoupling the predator-prey interactions. Here we build a predator-prey model accounting for the full life-cycle of fish and zooplankton including their phenology. The model assumes that fish production is bottom-up controlled by zooplankton prey abundance and match or mismatch between predator and prey phenology, and is parameterised based on empirical findings of how climate influences phenology and prey abundance. With this model, we project possible climate-warming effects on match-mismatch dynamics in Arcto-boreal and temperate biomes. We find a strong dependence on synchrony with zooplankton prey in the Arcto-boreal fish population, pointing towards a possible pronounced population decline with warming because of frequent desynchronization with its zooplankton prey. In contrast, the temperate fish population appears better able to track changes in prey timing and hence avoid strong population decline. These results underline that climate change may enhance the risks of predator-prey seasonal asynchrony and fish population declines at higher latitudes. Contrasting effects of rising temperatures on trophic interactions in marine ecosystems

Effective evidence-based nature conservation and habitat management relies on developing and refining our methodological toolbox for detecting critical ecological changes at an early stage. This requires not only optimizing the use and integration of evidence from available data, but also optimizing methods for dealing with imperfect knowledge and data deficiencies. For policy and management relevance, ecological data are often synthesized into indicators, which are assessed against reference levels and limit values. Here we explore challenges and opportunities in defining ecological condition in relation to a reference condition reflecting intact ecosystems, as well as setting limit values for good ecological condition, linked to critical ecological thresholds in dose–response relationships between pressures and condition variables. These two concepts have been widely studied and implemented in aquatic sciences, but rarely in terrestrial systems. In this paper, we address practical considerations, theoretical challenges and possible solutions using different approaches to determine reference and limit values for good ecological condition in terrestrial ecosystems, based on empirical experiences from a case study in central Norway. We present five approaches for setting indicator reference values for intact ecosystems: absolute biophysical boundaries, reference areas, reference communities, ecosystem dynamics based models, and habitat availability based models. We further present four approaches for identifying indicator limit values for good ecological condition: empirically estimated values, statistical distributions, assumed linear relationships, and expert judgement-based limits. This exercise highlights the versatile and robust nature of ecological condition assessments based on reference and limit values for different management purposes, for situations where knowledge of the underlying relationships is lacking, and for situations limited by data availability. Ecological condition Index Management Reference condition Terrestrial This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Roads can affect animals in several ways, by affecting movement, space use, foraging behavior and mortality. As roads often have a negative effect on populations of birds and mammals, their effects are important for wildlife management. However, the effect of roads differ between different types of roads, and most studies of road ecology have focused on major roads with high traffic intensity, whilst effects of smaller unpaved forest roads in northern ecosystems are less known. We investigated the effects of forest roads in a mixed conifer forest in central Europe on cervid habitat use and browsing impact on forest regeneration during the winter season. We found that hunted cervid species avoided forest roads, and that browsing pressure was higher within the core of forest areas rather than close to roads. This led to an increased density of undamaged trees (by browsing) close to forest roads, whilst browsing damages were relatively high in the interior. Hunters often use these forest roads in the hunting season. We suggest that human disturbance creates corridors of fear along forest roads, and that cervids alter their habitat and browse use to avoid humans. This in turn has implications for forest and cervid management. This is the first study to document that gravel roads can affect oak trees through modifying cervid behavior. Future studies should use experiments to explore this question further and separate different effects of forest roads to understand the mechanisms; edge effects on vegetation, traffic, effects on natural predators and human disturbance. Effects of forest roads on oak trees via cervid habitat use and browsing

The number of effective breeders (N b) and effective population size (N e) are population parameters reflective of evolutionary potential, susceptibility to stochasticity, and viability. We have estimated these parameters using the linkage disequilibrium‐based approach with LDNE through the latest phase of population recovery of the brown bears (Ursus arctos) in Finland (1993–2010; N = 621). This phase of the recovery was recently documented to be associated with major changes in genetic composition. In particular, differentiation between the northern and the southern genetic cluster declined rapidly within 1.5 generations. Based on this, we have studied effects of the changing genetic structure on N b and N e, by comparing estimates for whole Finland with the estimates for the two genetic clusters. We expected a potentially strong relationship between estimate sizes and genetic differentiation, which should disappear as the population recovers and clusters merge. Consistent with this, our estimates for whole Finland were lower than the sum of the estimates of the two genetic clusters and both approaches produced similar estimates in the end. Notably, we also found that admixed genotypes strongly increased the estimates. In all analyses, our estimates for N e were larger than N b and likely reflective for brown bears of the larger region of Finland and northwestern Russia. Conclusively, we find that neglecting genetic substructure may lead to a massive underestimation of N b and N e. Our results also suggest the need for further empirical analysis focusing on individuals with admixed genotypes and their potential high influence on N b and N e.

Rapporten viser status for ECONADA-prosjektet ved årsskiftet 2011/2012.

Denne rapporten sammenfatter det meste av den informasjon som er tilgjengelig om påvirkninger fra veganlegg og vegtrafikk på biologisk mangfold på karplanter, epifyttiske moser og lav, og virvelløse dyr som kan relateres til norske forhold. Undersøkelser på vilt og fugl er ikke tatt med her; heller ikke undersøkelser som omhandler bruk av salt. Den dekker litteratur som daterer seg tilbake til 1930 og har hentet informasjon både fra vitenskapelige artikler og oppdragsrapporter. […]

Furuskogen i Bjørkedalen, Volda, har vært gjenstand for konflikt mellom naturvern og skogbruk på grunn av en rekke særegne arter knyttet til olivinholdig berggrunn. På oppdrag fra Direktoratet for Naturforvaltning er målsetningen med rapporten å gi en sammenfatning av skogshistorikken i Bjørkedal, samt å vurdere hvordan tidligere bruksformer har påvirket skogbildet og forekomsten av rødlistearter. Rapporten baserer seg på to dagers befaringer 30. og 31. mai 2009, samt opplysninger gitt av leder i Bjørkedal skoglag Ottar Bjørkedal. Grove trekk i skogbildet er også vurdert ut fra landskaps- og flybilder fra 1940- og 1960-tallet. I det aktuelle området øst i Bjørkedalen er det fram til i dag registrert ca. 13 rødlistearter; en karplante (brunburkne), og ca. 12 jordboende mykorrhizasopper. Av disse er én sopp Sterkt truet (EN), mens resten er vurdert til kategorien Nær truet (NT). […]

Rusasetvatnet er av Ørland kommune vedtatt restaurert med en vannhøyde 14,8 moh og areal 250 daa. Denne rapporten er en plan for restaureringen av vatnet med detaljert beskrivelse av arbeidet. Dette dokumentet er også anbudsgrunnlag for arbeidet som skal utføres. Denne rapporten bygger på tidligere Jordforskrapport 47/04, reguleringsplan utarbeidet av Lund & Nilsen vedtatt i Ørland kommune august 2005, samt planarbeid utført av grunneierne høsten 2005. Det er gjort grunnundersøkelser og geotekniske stabilitetsberegninger for å sikre at arbeidet kan gjennomføres slik det er beskrevet. Grunnundersøkelsen er gjort i samarbeid med NGU. Arbeidet med å restaurere vannet er delt i to faser; én innledende fase hvor arealet dreneres med tanke på å skape et tilstrekkelig tørt bærelag slik at utgraving av vannbassenget kan gjennomføres. Massene som graves ut skal deponeres lokalt rundt vannet og noe skal brukes til å lage en demning som avgrenser vannets utbredelse mot vest og nord. En del masser skal brukes for å lage øyer i vannet. Utløpet av vannet skal formes som en naturlig bekk med tilrettelegging for fiskevandring og fiskegyting. For å hindre tilslamming av Reitanbekken/Balsneselva skal det etableres en fangdam i elveløpet. Nedstrøms fangdammen skal elva senkes. Rapporten inneholder også et miljøoppfølgingprogram for arbeidet. Nytt Rusasetvatn. Plan for restaurering av Rusasetvatn – Ørland kommune

Formålet med rapporten er å gi en innføring i fagområdet spredningsøkologi og gi en oversikt over skoglevende arters spredningsevne. Fokus er satt på truete arter og bevaring av biologisk mangfold i skog. Det er også gitt en oversikt over problemstillinger som er aktuelle for videre forskning. Spredningsevne er en grunnleggende og livsviktig egenskap hos biologiske organismer. Spredning kan defineres som mellom-generasjonsforflytning, dvs. den forflytning som skjer av individer fra en generasjon til den neste. I skogbrukssammenheng dreier det seg om i hvilken grad arter greier å omfordele seg i terrenget når deres livsmiljø fjernes for en kortere eller lengre periode. Spredning kan deles inn i to faser: (1) den fysiske forflytningen av spredningsenheter fra opprinnelig til ny lokalitet, og (2) etableringen av spredningsenheten på den nye lokaliteten (realisert spredning). Litteraturgjennomgangen viser at arter med dårlig spredningsevne og/eller dårlig etableringsevne først og fremst synes å forekomme i følgende organismegrupper og skogsmiljøer: Frøplanter i edelløvskog og andre rike vegetasjonstyper. En rekke arter i denne gruppen sprer seg kun over korte avstander og artene bør i stor grad bevares der de er eller i tilstøtende områder. Biller knyttet til død ved og hule trær, først og fremst i rike løvskoger. Flere arter i denne gruppen sprer seg normalt over korte distanser. Viktige tiltak her vil være å gjenskape nytt substrat i nærheten av kjente forekomster. Epifyttisk lav: Det er to hovedgrupper som skiller seg ut, hengelaver (f.eks. huldrestry, mjuktjafs og trådragg) som hovedsakelig vokser på gamle bartrær, og lungenever-samfunnet som vokser på løvtrær i boreal barskog, temperert løvskog og både på bar og løv i kystområder. Enkelte arter har dårlig spredningsevne, mens andre arter har dårlig etableringsevne. Vern av kjerneområder og lukkede hogstformer er viktige tiltak for denne gruppen. Moser i fuktige miljøer: Her finnes det noe fakta, men i hovedsak er det indikasjoner, på at en del arter sprer seg dårlig. Årsaken til dårlig spredningsevne synes å være at noen arter kun sprer seg vegetativt.

Det er et skogpolitisk mål at norsk skogbruk skal utøves på en slik måte at det biologiske mangfoldet bevares på sikt. Begrepet nøkkelbiotoper står idag sentralt i arbeidet med å identifisere og forvalte skog som man anser som viktig i denne sammenheng. På oppdrag fra Levende Skog har prosjektets målstning vært å innhente kunnskap om nøkkelbiotoper i Norge slik at det blir tilgjengelig for praktisk skogbruk. Nøkkelbiotoper er et nytt Skandinavisk begrep, utviklet i Sverige og senere tilpasset norske forhold. Nøkkelbiotoper representerer i praksis små og spredte biotoper som antas å ha større betydning for biologisk mangfold enn arealene omkring. Opprinnelig var begrepet knyttet til områder med rødlistearter, men er senere utvidet til også å omfatte sjeldne naturtyper. Det synes å herske usikkerhet om hva nøkkelbiotoper egentlig er. Denne usikkerheten har bl.a sammenheng med hvor vidt nøkkelbiotoper oppfattes som et biologisk fenomen, dvs. "hot-spots" med naturlig overhyppighet av sjeldne arter, eller om det er et forvaltningsbegrep som skal fange opp "restbiotoper" som er i ferd med å forsvinne. Det synes å være svak vitenskapelig dokumentasjon på at sjeldne arter naturlig opptrer klumpvis (hot spots). På den annen side er det bred enighet om at mange naturtyper er i ferd med å bli svært sjeldne, og lokalt har forsvunnet i områder med intensivt skogbruk. I slike kulturskog-områder vil det derfor være lett å indentifisere eventuelle restbiotoper med naturskog-preg. På denne bakgrunn har prosjektet definert nøkkelbiotop som et avgrenset forvaltningsområde som opprettes for å bevare eller nyskape verdifulle biotoper som ikke ivaretas ved dagens skogbruk. Graden av overlapp i lokal utbredelse av organismer har stor betydning for hvor effektivt nøkkelbiotoper vil være for bevaring av biologisk mangfold. Dersom sjeldne arter, over et bredt spekter av artsgrupper, har stor romlig overlapp i forekomst (hot-spots), bør bevaring av nøkkelbiotoper stå sentralt i en langsiktig forvaltning av biologisk mangfold (forutsatt at størrelsen og spredningsmulighetene mellom dem er tilstrekkelig). Hvis så ikke er tilfelle, eller hvis graden av romlig overlapp er liten, kan en forvaltningsstrategi med tyngdepunkt i stedstilpassede tiltak generelt i skoglandskapet være et bedre valg (forutsatt at organismene tåler hogstinngrepene). Viktig i denne sammenheng er på hvilken romlig skala overlapp i forekomst finner sted. Dagens dokumenterte hot-spots (ti-talls kvadratkilometer og større) ligger på et skala-nivå som langt overgår areal-omfanget av nøkkelbiotoper. Rapporten diskuterer nøkkelbiotoper i et langsiktig tidsperspektiv _(''kontinuitet"), vurderer bruken av ulike "indikatorer", og sammenfatter i hvilken grad rødlistearter fanges opp gjennom en slik forvaltnings-strategi. Tilsammen 15 nøkkelbiotoper deles inn i 3 kategorier; Restbiotoper i skog omfatter (1) brann-biotoper, (2) gammel lauvskog, (3)fleraldret gammel granskog, (4)fleraldret gammelfuruskog og (5)fleraldret gammel edellauvskog. Stedsbetingede biotoper omfatter (6) kalkområder, (7) vassdrag, (8) rikmyr, (9) bergvegg, (10) flommark, (11) ravine, (12) bekkekløft og (13) rasmark. Restbiotoper utenfor skog omfatter (14) hagemarkskog, og (15) naturbeite. Det gis kortfattede beskrivelser av viktige økologiske prosesser, skogstrukturer og tilhørende rødlistearter. Totalt er 262 rødlistearter vurdert å være truet av skogbruk. Av disse har 119 arter biotopkrav som knytter de opp til en eller flere av nøkkelbiotopene. Dette utgjør 7% av de skogslevende rødlisteartene. Nøkkelbiotoper i skog: En vurdering av nøkkelbiotoper som forvaltningstiltak for bevaring av biologisk mangfold i skog