59 projects

Date from new to old

SVALBARDSF-SVALBARDSF

Diet variation in Arctic Snow buntings (Plectrophenax nivalis) through DNA-metabarcoding of fecal samples, RiS ID 2272

The project "Diet variation in Arctic Snow buntings (Plectrophenax nivalis) through DNA-metabarcoding of fecal samples" is a continuation of the snow bunting long-term monitoring project conducted yearly since 1998, assessing the reproductive success of snow buntings breeding in Adventdalen (RiS ...

Awarded: NOK 0.11 mill.

Project Period: 2026-2026

Location: Svalbard

SVALBARDSF-SVALBARDSF

ReinAir: Seasonal airborne mapping and modelling of Svalbard reindeer habitat in Reindalen

It is urgent to predict the effects of climate change on Svalbard reindeer, since population dynamics have been driven by the contrasting effects of summer and winter warming over the past 30 years: Winter warming has led to an increase in the frequency of rain-on-snow (ROS) events, which alters ...

Awarded: NOK 0.12 mill.

Project Period: 2026-2026

Location: Svalbard

SVALBARDSF-SVALBARDSF

(In)visible Changes: Glacial Methane and its Impacts on Fjord Ecosystems

Arctic marine-terminating glaciers are retreating rapidly due to climate change, creating new methane emission hotspots in shallow fjord waters. In Svalbard, where warming exceeds twice the Arctic average, methane once trapped beneath glaciers is now being released. Yet, the ecological impacts of...

Awarded: NOK 0.12 mill.

Project Period: 2026-2027

Location: Svalbard

SVALBARDSF-SVALBARDSF

Arthropod Resurvey (2000-2026) along a receding Arctic Glacier foreland

Over the past two decades, the Arctic has warmed at more than twice the global average, driving profound transformations in cryospheric and ecological systems. As glaciers retreat, newly exposed forelands provide unique natural laboratories to study primary succession and biodiversity responses t...

Awarded: NOK 0.11 mill.

Project Period: 2026-2027

Location: Svalbard

SVALBARDSF-SVALBARDSF

Quantifying hardening rates of high-arctic vegetation species

Arctic vegetation plays a key role in sequestering carbon at high latitude regions, however, their ability to do so in a changing climate with increasing winter weather extremes is unknown. This is in part due to limited knowledge on plant physiological processes during winter, including hardenin...

Awarded: NOK 0.12 mill.

Project Period: 2026-2026

Location: Svalbard

SVALBARDSF-SVALBARDSF

Nestling diet variation in Arctic Snow buntings (Plectrophenax nivalis) through DNA-metabarcoding of fecal samples, RiS ID 2272

In my master’s thesis, I aim to elucidate the snow bunting nestling diet variation, both in regard to seasonal variation and between-year differences, based on nestling fecal samples. Comparing the diet composition with arthropod communities found in the field throughout the breeding season will ...

Awarded: NOK 40,725

Project Period: 2025-2026

Location: Svalbard

SVALBARDSF-SVALBARDSF

Measuring and Collecting Above-Ground Vegetation to Investigate Insulative Properties (RiS ID 12331)

Permafrost thaw could release significant greenhouse gases, making it crucial to understand factors that influence this process. Vegetation impacts permafrost temperatures, but we lack a clear framework for how specific plant traits regulate their insulative capacity. This project, part of INSULA...

Awarded: NOK 93,000

Project Period: 2025-2025

Location: Svalbard

SVALBARDSF-SVALBARDSF

Dispersal of Svalbard reindeer in a changing climate

Rapid climate change in Svalbard has already resulted in sea-ice loss, increased frequencies of rain-on-snow events, and icing of vegetation. The loss of sea ice reduces dispersal options while wintering herbivores are increasingly subject to potentially dispersal-triggering changes on land. Henc...

Awarded: NOK 90,970

Project Period: 2025-2025

Location: Svalbard

SVALBARDSF-SVALBARDSF

Svalbard’s lost biodiversity? Molecular study of the poorly known critters living inside sea ice

Sea ice is soon to become a lost habitat in Svalbard fjords within one or two decades, as the continued rise in winter temperatures may result in the complete absence of sea ice or its formation only during short periods.While sea ice’s importance to polar bears and seals is well-known, it also s...

Awarded: NOK 37,513

Project Period: 2025-2025

Location: Svalbard

SVALBARDSF-SVALBARDSF

Vegetation Impact on ThAw-depth progression in SvaLbard RiS ID: 12569

Svalbard is among the regions warming up fastest on earth. Where and to which extent the warming soils will impact the stability of the frozen soils remains uncertain. While the warming will speed up soil thaw over summer, the rate co-depends on surface conditions. For example, well-drained, vege...

Awarded: NOK 0.10 mill.

Project Period: 2025-2026

Location: Svalbard

SVALBARDSF-SVALBARDSF

Drone-based monitoring of spatio-temporal snowpack characteristics in the high Arctic

Rapid climate change, with increasing winter warm spells and rainfall, has already altered Svalbard’s snowpack properties and is expected to further shorten the snow-covered period. Despite the far-reaching implications on the terrestrial ecosystem, critical knowledge gaps remain across disciplin...

Awarded: NOK 0.12 mill.

Project Period: 2025-2026

Location: Svalbard

SVALBARDSF-SVALBARDSF

Merging ecological and evolutionary methods to understand adaptation to climate change in Svalbard’s tundra ecosystem

Climate change is rapidly altering the environment to which animal and plant species have adapted to, especially in the Arctic. Given the speed of change, it is important to understand how the different Arctic species will respond, both in the short-term (for example through immediate changes in ...

Awarded: NOK 0.25 mill.

Project Period: 2024-2026

Location: Svalbard

SVALBARDSF-SVALBARDSF

Integrating wildlife and snow-ice expertise across the high Arctic

In the Arctic tundra, snow and ice conditions critically determine whether wildlife populations thrive or decline. Factors such as snow depth, hardness, the timing of snowfall and spring melt, and the occurrence of solid ground ice can significantly impact the survival and reproduction of various...

Awarded: NOK 0.25 mill.

Project Period: 2024-2026

Location: Svalbard

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

The role of energy budget in a changing world: Are forecasts missing an important aspect for Arctic insects?

The ongoing climatic changes will have undisputable effects on biodiversity and ecosystems. For small ectotherms (e.g. insects) the current state-of-the-art focusses on physiological performances (often measured as critical thermal limits), warming tolerance (resilience) and phenotypic and evolut...

Awarded: NOK 63,890

Project Period: 2024-2024

Location: Svalbard

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Breeding phenology of Svalbard snow buntings in relation to arthropod abundance

In my master thesis, I will investigate the reproductive success of a Svalbard breeding population of the snow bunting Plectrophenax nivalis in relation to food abundance. The snow bunting is the world’s northernmost breeding passerine species. Assessing how species like the snow bunting are able...

Awarded: NOK 75,339

Project Period: 2024-2024

Location: Svalbard

SVALBARDSF-SVALBARDSF

Spatio-temporal habitat use of Svalbard reindeer (RiS ID 12152)

Understanding the Habitat of Svalbard Reindeer: Climate Change and Our Research Introduction The Arctic is one of the most fragile environments on Earth, and it is experiencing rapid changes due to climate change. Svalbard, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, is warming faster than almost anywher...

Awarded: NOK 76,079

Project Period: 2024-2025

Location: Svalbard

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

DyNAflow: Colonisation dynamics of Arctic endemics across glacial landscapes

Warming in the Arctic is causing glacial retreat, which exposes deglaciated terrains to biotic colonisation. Ecological studies can provide insights into the local processes (microclimate, biotic interactions) driving the development of soil communities after glacier retreat. However, community d...

Awarded: NOK 0.10 mill.

Project Period: 2024-2024

Location: Svalbard

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Bryophyte diversity as a driver of ecosystem functions and processes in a changing tundra, attached to the ITEX experiment, RiS ID: 10030

Studying bryophyte diversity in the high Arctic, like Svalbard, is vital due to their resilience in extreme conditions. Mosses are pioneers in colonizing newly exposed areas, offering insight into ecosystem health. They act as carbon sinks and regulate the hydrological cycle, which is crucial for...

Awarded: NOK 70,999

Project Period: 2024-2024

Location: Svalbard

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Shrub Growth and Permafrost Insulation in a Warmer, Rainier Arctic - RiS ID 11968, 12016 & 12331

Air temperatures are increasing, and more precipitation is falling as rain rather than snow on Svalbard. We still know little about the role of rainfall events in the thermal stability of permafrost and growth of Svalbard plant communities. Plant growth and permafrost thaw also affect each other,...

Awarded: NOK 62,999

Project Period: 2024-2025

Location: Svalbard

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Who is where? - Unravelling the biodiversity of sympagic meiofauna in and around Svalbard

Sympagic (=ice) meiofauna is an indispensable part of a very complex food web in the Arctic, playing a crucial role for many ice-associated organisms and the whole Arctic ecosystem since sympagic meiofauna comprise primarily of larval stages of seafloor and open-water living animals. But Arctic s...

Awarded: NOK 50,443

Project Period: 2024-2024

Location: Svalbard

SVALBARDSF-SVALBARDSF

Calanus species complexity in the transitional fjord system Isfjorden: from cold Arctic to warm Atlantic climate.

The West Spitsbergen Current carries warm and salty Atlantic water (AW) northwards, and with high input of AW, more Calanus finmarchicus is transported to the Arctic. Isfjorden is strongly impacted by Atlantic inflow and is ice-free year-round, except the innermost part, Billefjorden, with a sha...

Awarded: NOK 0.11 mill.

Project Period: 2024-2025

Location: Svalbard

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Arctic CH4 consumption responses to future vegetation regimes, RiS ID: 11990

The Arctic tundra is currently undergoing rapid changes with thawing permafrost and changing vegetation. One of the most pronounced effects among the vegetation is a shift towards taller plant communities and higher biomass, which can lead to increased evapotranspiration and drier soils. Methane ...

Awarded: NOK 79,999

Project Period: 2024-2024

Location: Svalbard

POLARTEMA-POLARTEMA

INSULATE: How above- and belowground biotic traits shape insulation of permafrost in a warming Arctic

The Arctic is underlain by vast areas of permafrost, holding tremendous amounts of greenhouse gases trapped in the soil beneath the active layer (the part of permafrost soils that thaw and refreeze over the summer season). In times of climate change and steadily rising temperatures, these gases w...

Awarded: NOK 10.0 mill.

Project Period: 2023-2027

Location: Svalbard

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Effects of goose grubbing, rain-on-snow events and warming on soil arthropods and plant matter decomposition RiS12131

The High Arctic systems are changing rapidly with increased temperatures, winter rain and increasing goose populations, and subsequent grubbing. Increases in grubbing, icing and warming will all change the conditions for soil dwelling animals, and through them affect soil nitrogen mineralisation ...

Awarded: NOK 36,965

Project Period: 2023-2023

Location: Svalbard

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Effect of heavy rainfall events on soil faunal communities and soil characteristics across Svalbard ecosystems - T-REX project -RiS ID 11968

Climate change will alter precipitation regimes. In a warming climate, precipitation across the Arctic will increase and become more variable. A larger proportion of precipitation will fall as rain rather than snow and extreme summer rainfall events are expected to occur more frequently. There is...

Awarded: NOK 35,587

Project Period: 2023-2023

Location: Svalbard

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Effect of Extreme Rainfall on Soil Thermal Regime and Tundra Ecology across Landscape Gradients - RiS ID 11968

In a warming climate, precipitation across the Arctic will increase and become more variable and extreme summer rainfall events are expected to occur more frequently. There is little experimental evidence of the impacts of such rainfall extremes on Arctic ecosystems. In the intended project we wi...

Awarded: NOK 71,880

Project Period: 2023-2023

Location: Svalbard

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Impact of heavy rainfall events on forage quality and grazing dynamics of Svalbard herbivores.

In this project we will use an experimental setup on sites with different topographic positions to simulate heavy rainfall events in the early summer. We will measure the plant and moss composition and growth as well as active herbivory. This will be done on experimental plots as well as on contr...

Awarded: NOK 22,106

Project Period: 2023-2023

Location: Svalbard

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

A warmer future: how warming and increased herbivore pressure affect vegetation change in the High Arctic, RiS ID 10030

The International Tundra Experiment (ITEX) aims to study changes in vegetation by artificially warming the tundra using open-top chambers. On Svalbard, one experiment within this network is the long-term monitoring site in Endalen, encompassing both experimentally warmed and unwarmed plots as wel...

Awarded: NOK 52,626

Project Period: 2023-2023

Location: Svalbard

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Effect of ambient light on the protist community during Arctic polar night.

We are deeply interested in protist rhodopsin expression in various light treatments, and suspect that gene expression will vary greatly. Recent genomic analyses have revealed the presence of numerous rhodopsins in marine eukaryotes, and surprisingly, green and blue-light absorbing rhodopsins fr...

Awarded: NOK 79,374

Project Period: 2023-2023

Location: Svalbard

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Effect of river runoff in phytoplankton blooms in Adventfjorden (ERiPA)

This project will focus on the effect river runoff has on the seasonal plankton bloom of an arctic fjord, using Adventfjorden, Svalbard as a model system. Water column sampling will be conducted every two weeks in the timeperiod April 2023-September 2023 at two stations; one marine (IsA time seri...

Awarded: NOK 86,958

Project Period: 2023-2023

Location: Svalbard

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