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An uncertain future for the mountain birch forest

Outbreaks by geometrid moths have caused extensive damage to mountain birch forest in northern Scandinavia during the last 15 years. A new study helps to explain why the damage has been so severe and suggests that the forest may fail to recover in the most heavily affected areas.

During population peak 2007 tundra voles abundance increased with shelter grass abundance.

24.09.2018

Rodent-plant interactions are temporally variable

Rodent abundance during population peaks in the tundra is highly variable. In a new study COAT researchers attempted to use data from one peak to predict where the rodents would be most abundant during the next peak.

06.02.2018

Goose density influences predation on ground-nesting birds in Svalbard

The number of geese that spend the summer in Svalbard has increased in recent years. Geese nest on the ground, where their eggs and chicks are easy prey for arctic foxes. If goose colonies attract foxes, how might that affect the survival of other birds that nest on the tundra?

Mountain birch trees that have been killed by a moth outbreak in Eastern Finnmark, northern Norway,Photo: Jacob Iglhaut

05.12.2017

Salvage logging of mountain birch after moth outbreaks

Outbreaks of defoliating geometrid moths have damaged thousands of square kilometres of mountain birch forest in northern Scandinavia during the last two decades. Salvage logging of damaged mountain birch stands has been discussed as a means of speeding up the regeneration of the forest.

22.11.2017

Reindeer keep shrubs in a browse trap

In a recently published paper in Ecological Applications, COAT researchers Bråthen & Ravolainen and colleagues show how reindeer management controls the climate-sensitive tundra state transition from open tundra grasslands to shrublands.

15.11.2017

Special issue on Arctic Fox Biology and Management

A special issue on Arctic Fox Biologi and Management is now out in Polar Research, Volume 36, 2017 with 5 papers from COAT researchers

COAT scientific papers