Category: meetings

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.

You can find here some documents relevant to the meeting:

• HN workshop agenda
• HN workshop report

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.

The Herbivory Network 2023 meeting took place in Cambridge Bay, June 13-16, 2023. The meeting was hosted at the Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS), a leading research facility run by Polar Knowledge Canada (POLAR) in the community of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut.

The aim of the meeting was to advance and discuss ongoing projects and start new collaborations that will contribute to a better understanding of the effects of herbivores on arctic ecosystems. The meeting included an open public lecture and a short field visit. Eleven researchers from five Arctic countries participated in person in the meeting, and online access was provided to other participants to some of the discussion sessions. Meeting participants also visited the research station and shared about various (contrasting) field contexts stimulated by the direct field experience of the High Arctic tundra.

Activities during the meeting

During this Herbivory Network meeting a strong emphasis was placed on presentations by participants on their current research projects. As well, a field session included the demonstration of an observational protocol for data collection. We also had a brainstorming session on the potential contribution of Herbivory Network researchers to the ICARP IV process and an open public lecture attended by community members in Cambridge Bay.

• Presentations by participants: during the meeting participants were encouraged to give a short presentation about their ongoing research, ideas for future collaboration or anything they wished to share with the network. Presentations from in-person and online participants covered topics including updates from the HN Soil Working Group, research on aapa mires, a systematic review on the effects of herbivore diversity on tundra ecosystems, trophic food webs across the Arctic, or the effects of fertilization and goose grazing exclosure on permafrost, among others.
• Coordinated protocols to assess the effects of herbivore diversity on tundra: within the IRF-funded project TUNDRAsalad that aims at investigating the effects of herbivore diversity on tundra ecosystems, we have designed an experimental and an observational protocol for data collection across tundra sites (https://herbivory.lbhi.is/tundra-exclosure-network-texnet/). WP leader Elina Kaarlejärvi successfully secured funding from INTERACT Transnational and Remote Access to implement the observational protocol in Cambridge Bay and other INTERACT stations across the Arctic. Data collection during the meeting was not possible because it was too early in the season, but we demonstrated the use of the protocol so that meeting participants can then implement the protocol at their study sites in summer 2023 or 2024. The demonstration included a visit to the field with discussions on the ground.
• Brainstorming session on contribution of HN to the ICARP IV process: the Fourth International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP IV; https://icarp.iasc.info/) lasting from 2022 until 2026 is a planning process that will engage Arctic researchers, Indigenous Peoples, policy makers, residents and stakeholders from around the world to collegially discuss the state of Arctic science, and the place the Arctic occupies in global affairs and systems. During the HN meeting participants unanimously acknowledged the significance and timeliness of the ICARP IV process and expressed their eagerness to contribute using a horizon scanning approach to identify research priorities in Arctic herbivory for the next decade. An online survey was developed and will be distributed to Herbivory Network members and to other interested researchers. The survey responses will be compiled and organised into thematic categories by a core working group. Subsequently, an in-person workshop is scheduled for 2024 to further refine the emerging themes and determine key action points. We anticipate that this collaborative process will be beneficial to ICARP’s objectives while fostering the generation of new knowledge in the field of Arctic herbivory.
• Public lecture: Prof. Esther Lévesque from the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, gave a talk titled “Greener Arctic: more shrubs, less berries?” where she presented her work with local communities in the Canadian Arctic. Community members in Cambridge Bay attended the meeting and discussed their knowledge on berries in the region.

Meeting agenda

[all times are local times, Mountain Standard Time, GMT-7]

Monday June 12, 2023 – arrival of participants to Cambridge Bay

Tuesday June 13, 2023
8:30-10:00 Presentations by participants on ongoing research projects and initiatives (online access to other participants)
10:30-12:00 Presentations by participants (cont.)
13:00-15:00 Coordinated protocols to assess the effects of herbivore diversity on tundra
15:30-17:00 POLAR Knowledge Canada and tour of CHARS
19:00-20:00 Open public lecture: Greener Arctic: more shrubs, less berries? By Prof. Esther Lévesque, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières

Wednesday June 14, 2023
8:30-16:00 Coordinated protocols (cont.): implementation in the field
16:00-17:00 Presentations by participants (cont.)

Thursday June 15, 2023
8:30-15:30 Presentations by participants (cont.)
16:00-18:00 Brainstorming session on contribution of HN to the ICARP IV process

Friday June 16, 2023
8:30-10:00 Future collaboration within the network (online access to other participants)
10:30-12:00 Closing remarks and conclusions

Archived documents

• invitation to the meeting
• preliminary meeting agenda
• meeting report

Funding and support

Support for organizing the meeting was kindly provided by the Terrestrial Working Group of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC). INTERACT Transnational Access facilitated participation of researchers to demonstrate and promote the use of a coordinated protocol for data collection. Polar Knowledge Canada provided in-kind support for the organization of the meeting.

As you might know, the Nordic Society Oikos 2022 will be held in Arhus (Denmark) from the 7^th to the 11^th of June.

On Tuesday 7^th of June Laura Barbero-Palacios will lead a workshop about the Systematic Review she is conducting for the TUNDRAsalad project (more info here). She will present how the systematic review is going and then workshop participants will code some papers for the review. The workshop will be in person but virtual participation is also possible. Send an email to Laura if you want to participate! (laura@lbhi.is).

In addition, some colleagues will be presenting the Herbivory Network Pellet ID Project. The goal of the project is to create a photo database of herbivore pellets in Arctic and Alpine ecosystems, with associated environmental data and the opportunity to include lab confirmation results. You can read more about it in their iNaturalist project. They will have a kiosk next to the poster presentations on Tuesday 7^th. The project is in the early stages, so any feedback is more than welcome!

We will also have an informal get together on Wednesday evening. Feel free to join us for some herbivore-related discussions over dinner!

The next HN meeting will be held in Tromsø, Norway, 15-17 November 2021. Given the current COVID situation in Tromsø and the recommendations of the health authorities, the meeting will be held fully online.

The meeting will consist of a series of parallel workshops on specific topics, such as different projects initiated within the Herbivory Network. You can find the preliminary agenda below (also in printable form: preliminary meeting agenda).

The meeting is being organized by Eeva Soininen, Isabel C Barrio, Henni Ylänne, Elina Kaarlejärvi, Maria Väisänen, Johan Olofsson and Jennifer Forbey. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions.

You can find the meeting invitation here.

Preliminary meeting agenda

[all times are Norwegian, CET]

Monday Nov 15, 2021
8:30-10:00 Welcome
10:00-12:00 Parallel workshops
– Workshop #1: Impact of herbivores on decomposition – collaborative experiment, led by Maria Väisänen
– Workshop #6: Collaborative Educational Initiatives, led by Henni Ylänne and Johan Olofsson
12:00-13:00 Lunch
13:00-16:00 Parallel workshops
– Workshop #2: Role of herbivore diversity for multiple ecosystem functions: collaborative experiment, led by Elina Kaarlejärvi
– Workshop #8: Developing a pellet identification field guide, led by Noémie Boulanger-Lapointe and Mathilde Defourneaux

Tuesday Nov 16, 2021
9:00-14:00 Excursion to the surroundings of Tromsø (subarctic tundra-forest ecotone region), including lunch
14:00-17:00 Parallel workshops
– Workshop #4: Systematic review on the effects of herbivore diversity on the functioning of tundra ecosystems (2.5h session), led by Laura Barbero Palacios
– Workshop #5: Developing guidelines for optimized soil sampling (1h session 14-15) led by Maria Väisänen and Henni Ylänne

Wednesday Nov 17, 2021
9:00-11:00 Parallel workshops
– Workshop #3: Applying remote sensing (aerial imagery & satellite telemetry) to study reindeer-pastures interactions, led by Sasha Sokolov and Marcus Spiegel
– Workshop #9: Vegetation as driver of herbivore pasture development, led by Inga Svala Jonsdottir and Kari Anne Bråthen
11:00-12:00 Open lecture by Bryndís Marteinsdóttir, Soil Conservation Service of Iceland: “Monitoring vegetation and soils in Iceland to promote sustainable land management”
12:00-13:00 Lunch
13:00-16:00 Parallel workshops
– Workshop #7: Collaborative NSF Grant Submissions, led by Jennifer Forbey
– [any workshop that needs more time]
16:15-17:00 Summary of the meeting and wrap-up

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Photo credit: (C) Svein-Magne Tunli – tunliweb.no

The joint meeting of the ecological societies of the Nordic countries is organized every second year. This time it was the turn for the Icelandic Ecological Society, Vistfæðifélag Íslands, to organize the meeting. The fourth Nordic Oikos meeting, Ecology in the Anthropocene, took place March 3-5, 2020 in Reykjavík.

Two very relevant scientific sessions in the programme, one on Arctic Ecology and one on Herbivores in the Anthropocene, featured presentations by Herbivory Network members.

We also had a lovely evening get-together… our last one before COVID times!

A dedicated HN meeting was held in Yamal 19-21 September 2019.

The meeting consisted of parallel workshops on projects initiated within the Herbivory Network, including the development of standardized protocols and work on data from experimental sites in Yamal, but also provided some space for discussion of new ideas and brief presentations of ongoing projects. The meeting also included a public lecture on herbivory in tundra ecosystems, open to the public, and an amazing field trip to a low arctic long-term monitoring site in Erkuta.

The meeting was hosted by the Arctic Research Station of the Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology of the Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences (more info about the station in English and Russian). The station is situated in the rapidly developing town of Labytnangi, in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District.

The meeting was organized by Sasha Sokolov, Natalya Sokolova, Svetlana Sokovnina, Eeva Soininen, Dorothee Ehrich, Nicolas Lecomte and Isabel C Barrio.

We are very grateful for the support received from IASC towards travel costs of early career scientists and from the Government of Yamal, also for a very warm welcome to the town of Labytnangi.

Archived documents: you can find the meeting agenda and the extended meeting report here. You can also find earlier documents: the invitation to the meeting and the preliminary plan for the meeting.

Support for this meeting was received from the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) and the Government of Yamal.

As part of the Arctic Biodiversity Congress in Rovaniemi, we had a Herbivory Network side meeting. 22 participants attended the meeting, which covered general updates and discussed some new ideas, like organizing the next HN meeting in Yamal. The side meeting included a workshop on using revisitation sites to study the combined effect of vertebrate herbivory and climate change on tundra vegetation, organized by Fran Jaroszynska (University of Bergen) and Katariina Vuorinen (NTNU).

As well, HN hosted a session during the congress, titled Herbivory in the Arctic – understanding large-scale patterns and processes of a key ecological interaction. The session included presentations by Isabel C Barrio (Agricultural University of Iceland), Eeva Soininen (UiT – The ArcticUniversity of Norway), Virve Ravolainen (Norwegian Polar Institute), Elin Lindén (Umeå University) and Katarina Inga (UiT – The Arctic Universityof Norway).

Bruce Forbes chaired a session titled Large herbivores as agents of ecosystem based management in the circumpolar Arctic, which included talks by Tim Horstkotte (Umeå University), Howard Epstein (University of Virginia), Shirow Tatsuzawa (Hokkaido University/North-Eastern Federal University), Maria Väisänen (University of Oulu) and Virve Ravolainen (Norwegian Polar Institute).

Thank you all for great talks!

This year’s very successful annual meeting of the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution (CSEE) was organized in Guelph (18-21 July 2018) by HN member AndrewMacDougall, and included a symposium titled ‘Trophic interactions in the changing North’ chaired by James Speed and Jean-Pierre Tremblay. The symposium addressed how changing abiotic conditions and shifting species distributions alter trophic interactions and ecosystem dynamics in the North, and it included presentations by Isabel Barrio (Agricultural University of Iceland), Carissa Brown (MUN), Anne Loison (Université Savoie Mont Blanc, Chambéry France), Rolf Peterson (Michigan Tech), James Speed (NTNU), Jean-Pierre Tremblay (Université Laval) and Katariina Vuorinen (NTNU). We also had a lovely HN lunch get-together, discussing some science while enjoying the sun!

The abstract of the symposium:

Northern ecosystems are experiencing great change. Climatic warming alters the intensity of abiotic limitation factors, while the northward migration of species changes biotic interactions. Together these changes affect the balance of top-down and bottom-up regulating forces in boreal and Arctic ecosystems. This symposium addresses how changing abiotic conditions and shifting species distributions alter trophic interactions and ecosystem dynamics in the north. Community ecology, network ecology and biogeographical approaches to studying trophic interactions will be united and talks will cover trophic levels from producers,to herbivores and carnivores as well as soil ecology. The symposium will therefore provide a holistic venue for synthesizing understanding the regulation of northern ecosystem dynamics and communities in a period of intense environmental change.

Quite the number of HN members attended the Nordic Oikos conference in Trondheim in 19-22 February 2018, so we decided to have a brief meet-up. After a short introduction round and welcoming some new faces, we discussed several plans and highlights for the coming year.

We planned on organizing a HN one-day workshop at the Arctic Biodiversity Congress October 9-11, in Rovaniemi, Finland and a session during the conference, to present some of the ongoing work. Isa and Eeva made a little reminder that the HN would be happy with more people actively engaged in the organizing and managing of the newsletter, meetings, workshops, etc. Any help is welcome!