Author: isabel

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Long-term grazing exclusion and nutrient addition influence floral communities

Floral communities in tundra and montane grasslands are shaped by both grazing and soil nutrients. Our study, conducted at two northern sites as part of the Nutrient Network, shows how bottom-up and top-down forces interact to influence flower abundance and diversity.

Nitrogen addition generally reduced flower abundance, while phosphorus and potassium increased it. Excluding grazers boosted flower abundance, especially when combined with nutrients. Yet grazing also maintained species richness and diversity by keeping tall competitive plants in check.

These results highlight that management of grazing and nutrient inputs can strongly influence floral resources, with likely consequences for pollinators and the stability of high-latitude ecosystems. We are currently investigating the consequences of nutrient- and grazing-driven changes in floral resources on flower visitor assemblages.

The paper was recently published in Oikos Volume 2025, Issue 7.

Reference: Johanson, N., Olde Venterink, H., Carvalheiro, L. G., Eskelinen, A., & Virtanen, R. (2025). Long‐term nutrient addition and grazing exclusion determine flower abundance, diversity and community composition in high‐latitude grasslands. Oikos, e11562. https://doi.org/10.1002/oik.11562

Text and photograph: Nicolina Johanson, 2024

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Postdoc position with the Nordic Borealization Network

Deadline: August 31, 2025

The NTNU University Museum is looking for an energetic and ambitious ecologist with excellent organizational and communication skills. The postdoctoral position is part of the Nordic Borealization Network, a NordForsk funded University Cooperation Network.

The Nordic Borealization Network strives to understand the implications of ongoing shifts in the forest-tundra biome boundary, that is, the borealization of Nordic terrestrial ecosystems. These shifts include the encroachment of woody species (treeline advance and shrub expansion), spread of non-native species, and changes in the biotic community composition and ecosystem structure and processes.

The postdoc will have a leading role in coordinating the network and will lead research and synthesis efforts in quantifying past and ongoing rates of borealization and possibly predicting future rates of borealization.

The successful candidate will build leadership expertise by being part of the management board of a large Nordic cooperation project. The position will provide a unique opportunity to be part of a large, active and multidisciplinary international team, participation in project meetings in different countries over the course of the project and opportunities for research visits with other partners and for student supervision.

This three-year position is based at the NTNU University Museum in Trondheim with Prof. James D. M. Speed and will interact with partners across the network.

You can read more about the position and how to apply here. If you have questions, please contact James Speed.

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Emerging priorities in terrestrial herbivory research in the Arctic

Research on Arctic herbivory has a long tradition, but recent literature syntheses have highlighted important knowledge gaps. Given the rapid pace of climate change in the Arctic and the limited resources available, prioritizing research and management efforts is an urgent task. To identify emerging scientific and management priorities in Arctic herbivory research for the next decade, and as a contribution to the fourth International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP IV) we conducted a horizon scan within the Arctic herbivory research community.

We collected nearly 300 suggestions from 85 experts through online surveys and an in-person workshop. After analyzing their responses, we identified eight key scientific priorities and eight key management priorities centred on (a) understanding and integrating fundamental ecological processes across multiple scales from individual herbivore–plant interactions up to regional and decadal scale vegetation and animal population effects; (b) evaluating climate change feedbacks; and (c) developing new research methods. Our analysis provides a strategic framework for broad, inclusive, interdisciplinary collaborations to optimise terrestrial herbivory research and sustainable management practices in a rapidly changing Arctic.

The resulting paper is available as an open access publication in Arctic Science: BARRIO, I.C., VUORINEN, K.E.M.V., BARBERO-PALACIOS, L., DEFOURNEAUX, M., PETIT BON, M., GREER, E.A., ANDERSON, H., HORSTKOTTE, T., LECOMTE, N., WINDIRSCH, T., FERRARO, K., FORBES, B.C., FORBEY, J.S., GARCÍA CRIADO, M., HAGENBERG, L., HIK, D., KATER, I., MACEK, P., MOEN, J., SUNDQVIST, M.K., SZEJGIS, J., VILLOSLADA, M., ZAJA, E., BERTHELOT, F., BJÖRNSDÓTTIR, K., CUNOW, J., DEN HERDER, M., ESKELINEN, A., HAYES, K., HOLLISTER, R.D., Í HARALDSSTOVU, K., JÓNSDÓTTIR, I.S., KRISTENSEN , J.A., LAMERIS, T., OKSANEN, L., OKSANEN, T., OLOFSSON, J., PARK, T., PEDERSEN, Å.Ø., RAMIREZ, J.I., RAVOLAINEN, V.T., ROY, A., RYDE, I., SCHMIDT, N.M., SCHROFNER-BRUNNER, B., SKARIN, A., SPEED, J., TE BEEST, M., TILLMAN, M., TINOCO TORRES, R., TRAYLOR, W., VIRTANEN, R., WHEELER, H.C., ALATALO, J.M., AXMACHER, J.C., BARTOLOMÉ FILELLA, J., COOPER, E., GEANGE, S., GILG, O., GROGAN, P., HERNÁNDEZ-CASTELLANO, C., HØYE, T., KERBY, J.T., KLANDERUD, K., KOLTZ, A.M., LANG, J., LE MOULLEC, M., LOONEN, M.J.J.E., MACIAS-FAURIA, M., POST, E., SERRANO, E., SIEWERT, M., SOKOLOV, A., SOKOLOVA, N., SUOMINEN, O., TAMAYO, M., TEREKHINA, A., VOLKOVITSKIY, A., KAMENOVA, S. (2025) Emerging priorities in terrestrial herbivory research in the Arctic. Arctic Science 11: 1-26 link to publisher

The horizon scan exercise was a long process that included brainstorming at the HN meeting organized in Cambridge Bay in June 2023, two online surveys and one in-person workshop organized in parallel to the Nordic Society Oikos conference in Lund, in March 2024.

Funding to support the participation of early career scientists to the HN meeting in Cambridge Bay and the workshop in Lund was made available through the Terrestrial Working Group of the International Arctic Science Committee.

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TExNet workshop in Nuuk

The Tundra Exclosure Network (TExNet) is a coordinated research initiative that aims at understanding the role of herbivore diversity on the functioning of tundra ecosystems. To do this, TExNet has established a network of experimental sites across the tundra, where herbivore diversity is manipulated using size selective exclosures that allow isolating the effects of different herbivores. Setting up an experimental site requires an initial investment and a commitment of at least five years, which can limit the number of participating sites. To expand the geographical spread of the study, an observational protocol was proposed, that required a single visit to the sites, while still collecting data comparable to data collected in the first year of the experiment.

During 2022-2024 data has been collected at six TExNET experimental sites and at 21 additional sites using the observational protocol. Last May 14-19, 2025, part of the TExNet team got together in Nuuk to compile and start analysing the first dataset collected across TExNet sites. The workshop was hosted by the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources. The workshop took place in Nuuk for the first two days at the facilities of GINR, while the last three days part of the team went on a writing retreat to Kapisillit.

TExNet team looking for herbivores near Kapisillit

During the workshop, the team compiled and curated the database, which is now almost ready for analyses. The different possibilities for analyses were discussed, as well as the opportunities for future data collection and collaboration across the network.  

Funding to organize this workshop was provided by the 2024 UArctic Project Call for Networking Activities on UArctic Research and Education, for the project: “Implications of changes in tundra herbivore diversity -West Greenland in a multiscale circumpolar experiment” led by Mathilde Le Moullec. This project will also help set up two TExNet experimental sites in West Greenland. Support for early career researchers to travel to the workshop was provided by the Nordic Borealization Network (NordBorN) funded by NordForsk (project nr. 164079).

You can read more about the workshop in the TExNet workshop report.

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Job opportunities with GINR

Deadline: June 9, 2025.

The Greenland Institute of Natural Resources is looking for a Researcher in GIS and Remote Sensing  and an Advisor in terrestrial biology. Deadline for applications for both positions is June 9!

Both positions are hosted at the Department of Environment and Mineral Resources of the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources. The Greenland Institute of Natural Resources advises the Government of Greenland on issues related to living resources and natural conditions. The tasks in the department consist of advice and monitoring on the protection of the environment and nature through mineral resource activities, monitoring of the terrestrial environment under climate change, and work with data on the seabed, nature and environment in Greenland. 

If you have further questions, you can ask Mathilde Le Moullec.

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Request for input: Net-Works! in Ecology

Research networks, including coordinated distributed experiments, have become a key way to conduct ecological research, yet we have limited understanding of their drivers of success. Such networks are founded on the participation of persons like you who implement research methods in a coordinated way.

Some colleagues are asking researchers involved in collaborative research networks to answer a survey to understand the motivations, perceptions and satisfaction of participants in such initiatives. They are gathering information across 53 ecological networks, and have asked HN members to participate. Deadline for completing their survey is June 8!

As a HN member, you should have received an email with the link to the survey and a bit more information about the project. If you have not, please let us know and we can resend it!

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Large herbivores shift trophic interactions in the Fennoscandian tundra

Large herbivores play a crucial role in maintaining vegetation structure and composition of Arctic ecosystems in times of global change by grazing and trampling on plants and moving nutrients across the landscape. However, the role of herbivores in shaping the size of ecological communities and overall biodiversity in the Arctic is poorly understood. 

Measuring ecological communities and biodiversity is a challenge difficult to overcome because it requires the extensive participation of researchers with deep taxonomic knowledge to conduct field inventories. An alternative approach entails employing existing indexes that indicate the number of organisms that interact with a particular plant species. In this study, we coupled vegetation data from a network of plots scattered across the Fennoscandian tundra with an index developed for Swedish flora to understand how herbivores shape ecological communities and overall biodiversity.

We found that herbivores reduce the size of ecological communities by grazing on taller plants which commonly interact with a higher number of species. Our study highlights the importance of preserving reindeer and moose populations in the Arctic to conserve the vegetation structure and biodiversity of the tundra.

The article is Open Access and you can find the full text here.

Reference: Ramirez, J.I., Sundqvist, M., Lindén, E., Björk, R.G., Forbes, B.C., Suominen, O., Tyler, T., Virtanen, R. and Olofsson, J. (2024), Reindeer grazing reduces climate-driven vegetation changes and shifts trophic interactions in the Fennoscandian tundra. Oikos e10595. https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.10595

Text: Juan Ignacio Ramirez; Image generated by AI.

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New funding from UArctic project call!

Congratulations to Mathilde Le Moullec, at the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, who secured funding through the 2024 UArctic Project Call for Networking Activities on Arctic Research and Education! Her project, titled “Implications of changes in tundra herbivore diversity – West Greenland in a multiscale circumpolar experiment” is one of the three projects that will receive funding from the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science for the next two years (2024-2026). 

The project includes partners from the University of Helsinki, the Agricultural University of Iceland, Aarhus University, University of Eastern Finland and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and will help set up a TExNet site in W Greenland!

Implications of changes in tundra herbivore diversity – West Greenland in a multiscale circumpolar experiment

Herbivory is a key ecological process modifying arctic ecosystems’ response to climate change, and herbivores are extremely important for the livelihoods of most northern communities, including Greenland. The aim of the project is to understand the drivers and consequences of changing vertebrate herbivore diversity across environmental gradients in the tundra biome. We apply for funding to set up an experimental site in West Greenland following the standardized protocols developed by the Tundra Exclosure Network (TExNet) and contribute to a larger research effort implementing a common sampling design at multiple sites across the Arctic. The project will not only deliver local knowledge for direct management advice to the Ministries, it will also improve our understanding of the role of herbivore diversity in tundra ecosystems, while strengthening circumpolar scientific cooperation.

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HN workshop in Lund 2024

After 10 years of contributing to circumpolar research on plant-herbivore interactions, the Herbivory Network is using a horizon scan to identify research priorities in Arctic herbivory for the coming decade. As part of this process, the Herbivory Network organized a one-day in-person workshop, as a pre-conference activity, parallel to the Nordic Society Oikos conference held in Lund, March 12-15, 2024.

During the workshop, participants worked on refining the emerging themes and determining key action points for Arctic herbivory research in the next decade, based on feedback received from Arctic herbivory experts through an online survey. You can find more information about the project here.

The workshop was organized by Isabel C Barrio (Agricultural University of Iceland), Stefaniya Kamenova (University of Oslo) and Helen Anderson (University of Aberdeen). Registration for the workshop was open through the portal of the NSO conference, ensuring a broader participation than from network members alone. A total of 26 researchers participated in the workshop, many of them early career scientists.

The Herbivory Network workshop was organized as part of the activities of the Nordic Oikos Society conference 2024 held in Lund. The workshop took place in the Ecology Building of the University of Lund. A total of 26 researchers participated in the workshop (photo: Laura Barbero-Palacios)

You can find here some documents relevant to the meeting:

Funding and support

This project has been endorsed by the International Arctic Science Committee as an ICARP IV activity. Funding to support the participation of early career scientistsin this workshop has been made available by the Terrestrial Working Group of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC). Many of the discussions held during the meeting contribute to the TUNDRAsalad project (grant nr. 217754), funded by the Icelandic Research Fund.

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Systematic review of the effects of herbivore diversity on tundra ecosystems

As part of the TUNDRAsalad project and as a follow up on the HN work on the systematic map of herbivore studies in the Arctic, we conducted a systematic review to synthesize the effects of herbivore diversity on tundra ecosystem functioning. We first published a protocol for conducting the systematic review that we then used to actually do the review.

The project was coordinated by Laura Barbero Palacios.

Publications related to the systematic review

BARBERO-PALACIOS, L., BARRIO, I.C., GARCÍA CRIADO, M., KATER, I., PETIT BON, M., KOLARI, T.H.M., BJØRKÅS, R., TREPEL, J., LUNDGREN, E., BJÖRNSDÓTTIR, K., HWANG, B.C., BARTRA-CABRÉ, L., DEFOURNEAUX, M., RAMSAY, J., LAMERIS, T.K., LEFFLER, A.J., LOCK, J.G., KUOPPAMAA, M.S., KRISTENSEN, J.A., BJORKMAN, A.D., MYERS-SMITH, I., LECOMTE, N., AXMACHER, J.C., GILG, O., DEN HERDER, M., PAGNEUX, E.P., SKARIN, A., SOKOLOVA, N., WINDIRSCH, T., WHEELER, H.C., SERRANO, E., VIRTANEN, T., HIK, D.S., KAARLEJÄRVI, E., SPEED, J.D.M., SOININEN, E. (2024) Herbivore diversity effects on Arctic tundra ecosystems – a systematic review. Environmental Evidence 13(1):6 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13750-024-00330-9

BARRIO, I.C., BARBERO-PALACIOS, L., KAARLEJÄRVI, E., SPEED, J.D.M., HEIÐMARSSON, S., HIK, D.S., SOININEN, E.M. (2022) What are the effects of herbivore diversity on tundra ecosystems? A systematic review protocol. Environmental Evidence 11:1 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13750-022-00257-z

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