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Limb wounds in horses are common, however healing is exceedingly slow and fraught with complications. Contrary to body wounds, limb wounds demonstrate only a small amount of wound contraction. The specialist procedure of applying split-thickness skin grafts to limb wounds stimulates wound contraction by unknown mechanisms. The objective of this project is to identify those mechanisms to develop a treatment strategy for equine limb wounds for use in general  practice. Limb wounds are severely impacting animal welfare due to an extended healing/treatment duration, and the risk of euthanasia due to a poor functional outcome. By stimulating wound contraction, healing time will be reduced, and the functional outcome improved, directly benefitting the welfare of wounded horse and reducing treatment cost for the owner. Aim: To identify dermal components stimulating wound contraction, and to develop this knowledge into future state-of-the-art treatment of equine limb wounds for use in general practice. Hypotheses: i) Application of dermal fractions to collagen gels seeded with equine fibroblasts will increase gel contraction in vitro; ii) Application of dermal fractions to experimental limb wounds in vivo, will increase wound contraction resulting in a faster healing time versus wounds treated by conventional methods. Methods: i) The contractile effect of different dermal components will be assessed in a collagen gel/ fibroblast model; ii) Identified dermal components will be tested in a standardized experimental limb wound model in vivo (n=5). Ultimately, results from this project are expected to improve wound treatment in horses, directly impacting animal welfare by reducing healing time and improving the functional outcome of wounded horses. This will also directly benefit horse owners and caretakers and making veterinarians able to offer better treatment solutions.

HESTEFORSK - Raskere og bedre sårheling hos hest med autologe hudkomponenter

The goal of the Bilingual Experiences, Cognitive Ageing and underlying Mechanisms (BECAME) project is to examine the functional neuroplastic mechanisms underlying mitigatory effects of bilingual experience on age-related cognitive decline. While evidence is available for structural brain changes supporting bilingualism-induced effects on cognitive aging (CA), functional mechanisms underlying such effects are not yet well understood. BECAME aims to fill this gap by investigating the trajectory of bilingualism-induced functional neuroplasticity across the adult lifespan (ages 18-85), crucially adopting an individual differences approach related to measurable degree of bilingual engagement. Importantly, although such benefits are thought to be rooted early in the lifespan, evidence for the timeframe and conditions of their early emergence is scarce. The choice of including the whole adult lifespan allows us to investigate these mechanisms and their emergence more directly from a lifespan perspective. I combine behavioral testing with brain recordings via electroencephalography (EEG). EEG is widely used in cognitive neuroscience to assess brain activity and the degree of communication between brain regions (functional connectivity) in response to stimuli and at rest. Combining behavioral and EEG modalities will allow me to test bilingualism’s effect on functional connectivity, as well as its consequences for functional efficiency, the minimum required neural activation to successfully perform a task. This will enable a detailed, evidence-based account of the protective effects observed in older-aged bilinguals, and how they are built from earlier life stages. By illuminating the relationship between multilingualism and resulting neurocognitive adaptations, BECAME will enable to capitalize on it as a health initiative, with manifold societal implications and the potential to be translated into actionable policies exploiting multilingualism to ameliorate effects of CA.

Bilingual Experiences, Cognitive Ageing and underlying Mechanisms

Hovedmålet med kreftbehandling er å eliminere kreftceller og dette er tradisjonelt oppnådd ved kirurgi, bruk av giftige medikamenter (cellegift) og stråling. En ny og betydningsfull tilnærming til kreftbehandling kalt immunterapi, har derimot fått mye oppmerksomhet det siste tiåret; Her forsøker leger og forskere å utnytte immunsystemet vårt for å målrettet  ødelegge kreftceller. En nøkkelaktør i denne banebrytende tilnærmingen er en gruppe «drapsmenn» i immunsystemet kjent som cytotoxiske T-lymfocytter (CTL-er). Disse cellene har en bemerkelsesverdig evne til å oppdage kreftceller ved å gjenkjenne unormale molekyler på overflaten av kreftcellene - molekyler som friske celler ikke har. Når CTL-er gjenkjenner kreftcellene ødelegger de dem ved å frigjøre giftige molekyler som initierer kreftcellenes selvdestruksjon. 
 
Selv om betydelige innsats har blitt dedikert til å forstå hvordan CTL-er aktiveres og hvordan de gjenkjenner kreftceller, vet vi mindre om de påfølgende hendelsene inne i kreftcellene som fører til deres død. Fra før vet vi at CTL-er kan initiere to forskjellige typer celledød i kreft: den første, kalt apoptose, er en stille og ordnet prosess der kreftcellene krymper og brytes opp uten å varsle immunsystemet; den andre, kalt pyroptose, er en mer dramatisk prosess som involverer dannelse av åpninger i cellemembranen, noe som fører til at cellene svulmer opp og sprekker. Under denne cellebristen blir innholdet inne i cellene frigitt i omgivelsene, og dette kan fungere som 'faretegn' som kan stimulere en sterkere immunrespons mot kreftcellene. Betydningen av denne cellebristen for å forsterke anti-tumorresponsene vil bli undersøkt i dette prosjektet. 
 
Videre er vi fascinert av muligheten for å avdekke ytterligere, ennå ukjente, former for celledød indusert av CTL-er. Utforsking av disse dødsrelaterte prosessene i kreftcellene kan potensielt øke effektiviteten av immunterapi og bidra betydelig i den pågående kampen mot kreft.

The primary goal of most cancer therapies is to induce cancer cell death. Immunotherapy relies on the cytotoxic activity of lymphocytes such as natural killer cells (NKs) and cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) to achieve this. While a significant amount of research in immunotherapy focuses on the events within cytotoxic lymphocytes or at the interface between cytotoxic lymphocytes and cancer cells, less is known about the molecular mechanisms that orchestrate cancer cell death, particularly in the case of CTL-mediated death.
CTLs are known to induce two types of cell death in cancer: non-inflammatory apoptosis and proinflammatory pyroptosis. Pyroptotic cancer cells release proinflammatory signals that attract immune cells to the tumor site, thereby enhancing the anti-tumor response. Cell lysis is a common outcome of pyroptotic cell death. It is unclear whether lysis can be decoupled from pyroptosis in cancer cells and whether the proinflammatory properties of pyroptotic cancer cell death depend on lysis. Moreover, it remains unknown whether CTLs can induce other forms of cell death in cancer, apart from apoptosis and pyroptosis.
Studying the mechanisms of CTL-mediated cancer cell death is challenging because CTLs selectively target cells expressing specific antigens. However, given the critical role of CTLs in immunotherapy, it is essential to deepen our understanding of CTL-induced cancer cell death.
This project aims to develop novel methodologies to investigate the death mechanisms that are initiated by CTLs. In addition, we will identify new pathways and mediators involved in CTL-induced cancer cell death. Furthermore, we will assess the contribution of proinflammatory cell death and lysis in promoting anti-tumor responses in vivo. Overall, this research will improve our knowledge of the molecular mechanisms of CTL-mediated cancer cell death and potentially reveal novel targets to enhance the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy.

T-cell-mediated proinflammatory cell death and lysis in cancer

En av de vanligste, men minst studerte, utfordringene med å bli eldre er problemer med å kommunisere. Mange eldre sliter spesielt med pragmatiske ferdigheter, som å forstå undertekst, eller tilpasse det de sier til personen de snakker med. 

La oss si at en lege må gi en alvorlig beskjed til en pasient. For å gjøre det litt lettere å takle, bruker legen vagere språk, som "kanskje" i stedet for "sannsynligvis". Mens yngre voksne ofte tar hensyn til høflighetsstrategier i måten de tolker det som blir sagt på, har eldre ofte vanskelig for å forstå når noen snakker indirekte. Mange eldre voksne har vanskelig for å forstå ikke-bokstavelig språk og kan misforstå alvorlighetsgraden av diagnosen. Dette kan påvirke beslutningen deres om behandling, noe som kan føre til utilsiktede konsekvenser. 

Siden god kommunikasjon er viktig både i viktige medisinske samtaler og i hverdagen, er det viktig at vi finner ut hva som gjør at eldre kan ha vansker med å forstå og bli forstått. RESILIENCE skal hjelpe til med denne utfordringen ved å samle data om praktiske, kognitive og språklige ferdigheter hos voksne i alderen 18-90 år over tid. Dette vil gi oss en stor mengde data om pragmatiske, kognitive og språk ferdigheter og gjøre det tilgjengelig for forskning. Med denne dataen som grunnlag har vi følgende mål: 

• Forstå hvordan praktiske evner endrer seg generelt gjennom voksenlivet. 
• Finne ut hvilke mekanismer som påvirker pragmatiske evner på forskjellige tidspunkter i livet.
 • Utvikle en teoretisk modell som forklarer hvordan pragmatiske ferdigheter endrer seg med alderen.
 • Lage algoritmer som kan forutsi hvordan pragmatiske evner vil utvikle seg for enkeltpersoner i årene som kommer. 
• Utvikle og teste et verktøy som kan måle pragmatisk helse (både pragmatiske ferdigheter og deres underliggende mekanismer), noe som kan åpne  for å iverksette tiltak. 

Dette vil gi oss muligheten til å forstå bedre hvordan folk kan utvikle pragmatisk resiliens gjennom livsløpet.

A cornerstone of human communication is our reliance on pragmatic skills to guide linguistic interactions (e.g., reasoning about others' mental states to bridge the gap between what is said and intended in conversation). However these skills are highly sensitive to age-related decline, leading to miscommunication and uninformed decision making in the older adult population. This raises an important question, one which has puzzled linguistics and psychologists for decades: if pragmatic competence is fundamental to communication, why do individuals vary so much in this capacity? 

Traditionally, psychologists have approached pragmatic competence from a cognitive angle, reasoning that individual differences in executive functions (i.e., the cognitive skills associated with goal-directed actions) are what underlie effective pragmatic behavior. In a similar vein, language scientists have taken a linguistic approach, reasoning that one’s language background (e.g., the frequency with which individuals shift between languages) shapes pragmatic skills by enhancing sensitivity to the communicative context. This focus on either cognitive or linguistic influences has resulted in two expansive yet disparate areas of research.

RESILIENCE will unite these disciplines to pursue a longstanding debate on what underlies pragmatic resilience and decline using a large-scale, interdisciplinary and longitudinal approach. By gathering data on adults' (ages 18-90) pragmatic, cognitive and language skills over multiple time points, we will develop a comprehensive theoretical model that explains how cognitive and linguistic systems interact to shape pragmatic competence as we age, and create algorithms that predict the trajectory of an individual’s pragmatic abilities in upcoming years. Based on these results we will design a multidimensional tool that detects the earliest signs of pragmatic deficits, leading to future interventions, allowing us to uncover the paths to pragmatic resilience.

Uncovering the paths to pragmatic resilience

Sink er et essensielt mikronæringsstoff som kreves for funksjonen til hundrevis av proteiner involvert i et bredt spekter av biologiske prosesser. Etter inntak av sink fra kosten reguleres nivåene i kroppen nøye gjennom absorpsjon, sekresjon og ekskresjon via spesialiserte proteiner, såkalte sinktransportører, i tarmen. Enhver ubalanse er skadelig for menneskers helse, spesielt er tarmen følsom for sinkfluktuasjoner, hvilket påvirker tarmbarrieren og kan føre til inflammatoriske sykdommer og kreft i tarmen. 
På molekylært nivå er de presise mekanismene som styrer funksjonen til de ulike sinktransportørene fortsatt uklare. Hos mennesker finnes det over tjue slike proteiner, og de fleste inneholder områder rike på aminosyren histidin. Disse histidinene mistenkes å spille en avgjørende rolle i å binde sink. Nylig oppdaget vi et enzym som modifiserer disse områdene ved å sette metylgrupper på histidin, og viste at metylerte histidiner har en lavere affinitet for sink. Dette prosjektet har som mål å identifisere nye mekanismer som regulerer sinknivåer gjennom histidinmetylering av sinktransportører, å utvikle forskningsverktøy for effektiv studie av histidinmetylering, og å legge grunnlaget for nye behandlinger av tarmsykdommer.

The delicate balance of zinc levels in the body is essential for human health. Zinc is absorbed and excreted via intestinal zinc transporter proteins, and perturbations of this process are associated with pathologies, including inflammatory diseases and cancers of the bowel. The precise molecular mechanisms regulating zinc transport, however, remain a major knowledge gap. Based on the recent discovery of an enzyme methylating histidine residues in zinc transporters, and drawing on preliminary findings which demonstrate reduced affinity of methylated histidines to zinc, this project aims to identify novel mechanisms regulating zinc homeostasis through histidine methylation. We will examine the regulation and effect of histidine methylation on zinc transport in intestinal cell culture and organoids, and examine how knockout of the methylhistidine-generating enzyme affects the integrity and pathology of the intestinal tract in mouse models. In addition, we will identify reader proteins specifically recognizing methylhistidines and develop anti-methylhistidine antibodies and inhibitors to use as tools for detection, enrichment, and inhibition of histidine methylation. Such tools are urgently needed by the international research community, as none are currently available commercially. Overall, this project will lead to great advances in the field of protein regulation, and may uncover novel mechanisms in intestinal zinc transport and pathology.

Zinc transport regulation through histidine methylation

Noen av oss tåler stressende livshendelser godt. Andre derimot utvikler vedvarende fysiske og psykiske plager som følger av stress. Hvor godt vi håndterer stress avhenger av et komplekst samspill mellom miljøfaktorer, sosiale forhold, biologisk sårbarhet og indre motstandskraft. Forskning på stressreaksjonene til dyr og pasientgrupper som til vanlig lever under mye stress viser at en gruppe signalstoffer i kroppen som aktiverer det samme hjernesystemet som cannabis – endocannabinoidene – kan begrense styrken på stressreaksjoner og bidra til at man raskere kommer seg til hektene. I dette prosjektet skal vi undersøke hvordan mestring av stress på kort og lang sikt henger sammen med nivåer av endocannabinoider i kroppen for å forstå hvorfor noen personer er mer motstandsdyktige mot stress enn andre. I den ene studien følger vi pasienter som skal gjennomgå en stressende, men veldig vanlig, situasjon: kirurgi. Her måler vi pasientenes opplevelse av stress, samt mentale og fysiske helse, fra tiden før til to år etter operasjonen og undersøker hvordan dette henger sammen med nivåene deres av endocannabinoider og andre stresshormoner. I den andre studien bruker vi data fra et eksperiment hvor deltakerne har blitt utsatt for psykososialt stress til å undersøke om endocannabinoidnivået deres påvirker hvordan de reagerer på stress, og om stresset i seg selv kan påvirke kroppens produksjon av endocannabinoider. Til syvende og sist er målet med studien å vurdere hvorvidt målinger av endocannabinoidnivåer kan brukes til å forebygge helseplager og til å evaluere behovet for økt oppfølging etter alvorlig stressende påkjenninger i livet.

In the face of major life stressors, some individuals cope well whereas others develop ill health and long-term adverse outcomes. Predicting who needs additional support in response to major life stressors is essential for targeted prevention and more efficient allocation of resources. The endocannabinoid system is emerging as a promising target for understanding vulnerability and resilience to stress. This system appears to buffer stress in two ways: by limiting the magnitude of the stress response, and by facilitating recovery after a stressful event. While the early findings are intriguing, they mainly stem from studies in rodents and small clinical groups with high stress burden. What role endocannabinoids have more globally for human resilience, health and well-being remains elusive. 

In this project we address this gap by leveraging comprehensive experimental and clinical data on two potent stress models: psychosocial stress and surgery. Drawing on these unique datasets, which combine experimental control with ecological validity, we will decipher how endocannabinoid levels influence people’s stress response and recovery across minutes, days, weeks and years. The project represents a novel directional shift for endocannabinoid research and will (i) determine the value of endocannabinoid levels as a biomarker to predict outcomes after surgery, (ii) quantify sex differences, (iii) assess endocannabinoid interplay with opioid analgesics, sex hormones and other stress markers (iv) spearhead open and reproducible science practices in endocannabinoid research, and (v) make this fine-grained and novel data available through an interactive web application. 

This project represents an ambitious effort to understand endocannabinoids’ role in stress resilience and will determine the value of endocannabinoids as a predictive biomarker and potential target for individualized treatment.

Deciphering endocannabinoid stress buffering in humans: 
Mechanistic and clinical investigations

WHeelchair Activity Monitoring project (WHAM)

Wheelchair users (WCU) are three to five times more inactive than the general population, leading to a high risk of developing preventable secondary conditions. Although physical activity (PA) guidelines have been specifically developed for WCU, we lack systematic approaches to implement them in practice, as well as valid algorithms to monitor PA change in WCU through sensor-based solutions. Accordingly, the overall scientific aim of the WHeelchair Activity Monitoring project (WHAM) is to advance PA research and practice in WCU by developing valid digital markers for monitoring of and providing feedback on PA, paving the way for implementation and intervention. I will accomplish this through combining the complementary research fields of 1) behavioural intervention studies focusing on increasing PA in WCU (core competence University of British Columbia, UBC; outgoing phase) and 2) sensor-based PA monitoring (core competence Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU; returning phase – consolidated by non-academic placement at Maastricht Instruments, which develop research prototypes including PA monitors). WHAM’s scientific aim is achieved through three objectives: 1) Measure the effect of a pragmatic exercise intervention trial on self-reported physical activity levels and cardio-respiratory fitness, 2) Develop valid algorithms for tracking PA markers in WCU, and 3) Co-create a framework that outlines how PA can be conjointly monitored and provided feedback on in WCU. This fellowship will enable me to become established as an internationally recognized researcher in the field of “physical activity and disability”, while bringing together ongoing national disjointed research activities in this field. Altogether, my overall ambition is to contribute to reducing inequalities in daily-life participation among WCU compared to the rest of the population.

BOLD MINDS aspires to enhance the understanding of vulnerability factors underlying the emergence of borderline personality disorder (BPD), with an ultimate aim of increasing the potential for young individuals to receive early, evidence-based help when their mental health is at risk. BOLD MINDS will achieve this by investigating whether disruptions in two aspects of autobiographical memory (AM), narrative identity (NI) and involuntary AM (IAM), are associated with BPD features and problem behaviours in adolescents concurrently and over time. In doing so, BOLD MINDS will strengthen the understanding of mechanisms underlying the emergence of BPD in adolescence and lay a groundwork for developing evidence-based early interventions for BPD. While currently limited, the study of AM in this field is essential for two reasons. Firstly, because the aspects of AM under investigation, NI and IAM, are known to be involved in identity formation and emotion regulation which represent two key psychological processes that are disrupted in adults with BPD and are linked to problem behaviours such as self-harm and suicidality. Secondly, because promising research is emerging on the use of AM targets in the treatment of emotional disorder in adults, and provides a strong model for future treatment development with vulnerable adolescents. In addition, this timely research program aligns with calls from international organizations to prioritize early interventions to promote adolescent mental health. BOLD MINDS will adopt and adapt state-of-the-art ecological momentary assessment and analytical techniques and work at the crossroads of clinical and cognitive psychological perspectives, allowing for a multidimensional approach to understanding BPD vulnerability. Training-through-research and formalized training of the experienced researcher will prepare her for a permanent academic position and the founding of her own research lab specializing in AM and early interventions for BPD.

Borderline Personality Disorder: Memory and Identity in Adolescence

Per- og polyfluorerte stoffer (PFAS) er en stor gruppe menneskeskapte kjemikalier med høyt fluorinnhold som antas å ha negative helseeffekter. Kilder til PFAS kan være produksjon av vann-, varme- og flekkbestandige produkter og disse kjemikaliene er en del av hverdagen vår. PFAS påvirkning av biologiske systemer er ikke fullstendig forstått. Noen PFAS er antatt å øke risikoen for å utvikling av ikke-alkoholisk fettleversykdom (NAFLD) og øke risikoen for diabetes. 

For å forstå hvordan PFAS påvirker organene våre ønsker vi å bruke små laboratoriedyrkede organmodeller, kalt organoider. Disse miniatyrorganene kan dyrkes fra menneskelige stamceller og tilbyr et kontrollert miljø for å studere hvordan PFAS påvirker f.eks lever og bukspyttkjertelen vår, uten bruk av dyreforsøk.

For å studere helseeffekter må vi kunne måle nivået av biomolekyler som fettstoffer i leveren og hormoner i bukspyttkjertelen. Til dette trenger vi å utvikle analytiske verktøy for å måle effektene. Først vil vi bekrefte at når leverorganoidene eksponeres for enkelte PFAS-forbindelser utvikles det NAFLD-lignende sykdom ved å sammenligne den biokjemiske profilen (proteiner og metabolitter) til organoider av lever med PFAS-eksponerte organoider. Deretter vil vi utvide den analytiske verktøykassen for å undersøke hvilke metabolske veier som påvirkes, og om effekten er den samme i NAFLD-induserte og PFAS-eksponerte organoider. Vi vil også eksponere insulinproduserende bukspyttkjertelorganoider for PFAS for å undersøke effekten av PFAS på hormonproduksjon. Når effektene av PFAS-eksponering på lever- og bukspyttkjertel-organoider er etablert, vil organoidene bli samkultivert i en chip, og effektene av PFAS-eksponering vil bli undersøkt og sammenlignet med individuelle organoider.

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are believed to contribute to metabolic diseases, such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and type 1 diabetes. HE-POP aims to investigate the effects of per- and polyfluoroalkyl compounds (PFAS), a type of POPs), on organ function in a controlled environment.

Organoids are multicellular laboratory-grown miniature organs, that are grown from stem cells. HE-POP will use organoids to examine how PFAS affects our organs and develop cutting-edge bioanalytical tools and methodology to measure these effects using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. HE-POP hypothesizes that PFAS negatively affects organ function, as evidenced by changes in hormone and lipid levels characteristic of NAFLD and type 1 diabetes. 

Organoids offer a controlled environment to study the effects of PFAS on the liver and pancreas, without the use of animal models. HE-POP aims to gain evidence of the negative effects of PFAS on organ function through controlled experiments on organoids and aid in understanding the biological mechanisms underlying NAFLD and type 1 diabetes.

HE-POP has fundaments in UN sustainable development goals, specifically #3, #12, and #14/15, seeking an understanding of diseases with worldwide prevalence, and understanding how POPs affect our life and surroundings and help enable the right regulatory actions and replacement chemicals.

HE-POP: Studying the Health Effects of Persistent Organic Pollutants, Using Mass Spectrometry, Organoids, and Organ-On-A-Chip

Dette prosjektet, kalt Hukommelse for musikk, fokuserer på det økende antallet mennesker over hele verden som lever med demens, spesielt Alzheimer's sykdom (AD). AD starter typisk med hukommelsesproblemer og påvirker etter hvert daglige aktiviteter. Aktive musikkintervensjoner, spesielt sang, har vist positive effekter på humør, atferd og livskvalitet for personer med demens, men deres innvirkning på kognisjon er ikke godt forstått. Prosjektet har som mål å fylle dette kunnskapsgapet ved å studere effektene av å lære nye sanger på kognitiv, atferdsmessig og hjernemessig funksjon.

Studien vil omfatte hjemmeboende voksne over 65 år med AD fra Argentina, Østerrike og Norge. Deltakerne vil gjennomgå 5 måneder med intensiv musikalsk opplæring (to ganger i uken) og 5 måneder med minimal opplæring (en gang i måneden) i tilfeldig rekkefølge, med en to måneders pause imellom. Intervensjonene inkluderer å lære nye sanger med en personlig musikklærer. Generell kognisjon vil bli målt ved bruk av Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale - Cognitive (ADAS-cog), og hukommelse for musikk vil bli vurdert gjennom ulike metoder, inkludert atferdsoppgaver og hjerneaktivitet (EEG). Humør vil også bli evaluert i hver økt.

Målet er å inkludere 113 deltakere for å sikre pålitelig påvisning av meningsfulle effekter. Studien vil utforske hvordan humør og hukommelse for musikk bidrar til endringer i kognitive evner, og om disse effektene varierer basert på faktorer som kjønn, alder, AD-stadium, eller tidligere musikalsk opplæring og generell utdanning. Prosjektet vektlegger samarbeid mellom forskere, tjenesteytere og brukere for å sikre studiens relevans og anvendelighet.

The number of people living with dementia is increasing and is high in low, middle, and high-income countries. Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common type of dementia, manifests itself initially with cognitive impairment in memory domains, and later affects all activities of daily living. Active music interventions, particularly singing, can help to improve mood, behaviour problems, and quality of life. Too little is known about their effects on cognition, although some promising studies exist. The M4M project aims to fill this gap by measuring effects of learning new songs on clinical, behavioural and brain functioning. Specifically, M4M aims to examine changes in general cognitive functioning and memory for music in non-musician adults with AD undergoing intensive individual musical training based on singing novel songs, compared to minimal training.
        Home-dwelling adults with AD, 65 years or older, in 3 countries (Argentina, Austria, Norway), will receive 5 months of intensive intervention (2x/week) and 5 months of minimal intervention (1x/month), in random order, with a 2-month break in between. Interventions will entail learning new songs with an individual music teacher. At the end of each intervention period, general cognition will be measured with the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale – Cognitive (ADAS-cog) by a person who is unaware of the intervention received. Memory for music will be tested with observations, behavioural tasks, and brain responses (EEG). Mood will be assessed in each session. We aim to include 113 participants; this will help us to reliably detect clinically meaningful effects. We will also examine how mood and memory for music lead to changes in cognitive abilities, and whether effects depend on sex, age, AD stage, or previous musical training or general education. M4M will be conducted in close collaboration between academic researchers, service providers, and service users to ensure relevance and applicability.

Memory for Music: Effects of individual intensive musical training based on singing in non-musicians with Alzheimer’s disease

Midlene fra SKOGFOND-Utviklingsfondet for skogbruket fordelt på år

Midlene fra SKOGFOND-Utviklingsfondet for skogbruket fordelt på fylker

Midlene fra SKOGFOND-Utviklingsfondet for skogbruket fordelt på fagområde

Direktør

Studieoppholdet inngår som del av stipendiatprosjektet ”Urban forestry in Norway: Managing forest structures for conservation and recreation”. Stipendet er finansiert av Skogprorammet for perioden 2002-2004. Studieoppholdet benyttes til å gjennomføre følg ende kurs: -	Aesthetic Assessment of Landscapes (654,3 credits): Survey of methods associated with assessing the scenic quality of landscapes. -	Resource Policy Analysis for Outdoor Recreation (630,3 credits): Critical examination of problem-solving techniques, their theoritical foundations, and their application to outdoor recreation management. Techniques will emphasize forecasting the ecologi cal, social, administrative and political consequences of implementing resource management policies.  University of Wisconsin har stor tverrfaglig profil på forskning og innhold i kurs. De nevnte kurs er tilrettelagt både innenfor fagområdene landskapsarkitektur, foretaksøkonomi og sosiologi. Den tverrfaglige profilen er en viktig del av stipendiatens inn hold, noe som gjør et utenlandsopphold ved University of Wisconsin svært interessant. Samarbeidet vil i særdeleshet skape innsikt i foretaksøkonomiske forhold knyttet til urbane trær og urbant skogbruk (se invitasjon Department of Forest Ecology and Manag ement, Joseph Buongiorno). Opholdet finner sted høstsemesteret 2004.

Studieopphold for stipendiat Vegard Gundersen ved University of Wisconsin - Madison

The cyclic outbreak dynamics of birch forest Geometrids in Fennoseandia (in particular the two species; the autumnal moth and the winter moth) is a very well—known phenomenon both among scientists aud lay people due its severe, large-scale impacts on the mountain birch forest ecosystem. Still important aspects of the spatio-temporal patterning of the outbreak dynamics as well as the underlying causal mechanisms are unknown. We here propose a 4-year project aimed at significantly improving on this state of affairs. The project will include: (1) state—of--the~art statistical analyses of a long-term qualitative dataset based on outbreak incidence reports at the scale of the Fennoscandian peninsula, (2) sampling aud analysis of new observational and experimental data of moth abundance dynamics aud moth-parasitoid interactions from specifically dedicated transeci studies in coastal birch forests in northern Norway, and (3) analyses of mathernatical models to validate the interpretation of correlative studies based on field data- The proposed set of subprojects should enable us to demonstrate quantitative spatial aspects of the outbreak dynamics (e.g. scale of spatial population synchrony as well as speed aud directionality of travelling waves), the role of ecologica! barriers and parasitoids/predators in the spatial patterning of outbreaks aud, finally, the mechanisms underiying dynamic relations between the two main Geometrid moth species in the Fennoscandian mountain birch forest.

Determinants of spatio-temporal outbreak dynamics of Geometrid moths populations

The European eel, Anguilla anguilla, a common part of the fish community in European coastal and inland waters, spawns in the Sargasso Sea. The larvae drift or migrate with currents to the coasts of Europe and North Africa. Once there, large numbers of yo ung eels grow up in widely different habitats. Most migrate into fresh water, and stay there until they metamorphose into the migratory silver stage. Silver eels then migrate to spawning areas in the Sargasso Sea. One very important unanswered question is how the eel is able to correctly navigate to their appropriate spawning area. Telemetric studies indicate that the silver eel follow more or less fixed compass courses. It has long been postulated that eels use the Earth's magnetic field to guide their m  ovements, yet this has never been unequivocally demonstrated. The goal of the project proposed here is to test the following hypotheses: (1) the European eel is capable of magnetic compass orientation, (2) magnetic compass preferences are population-spec ific, and (3) magnetic map cues play a role in long-distance mi gration.       fic, and (3) magnetic map cues play a role in long-distance mi

Magnetoreception and magnetic compass orientation in the long distance migration of the European eel

Hybridization between species generally reduces fitness. However, hybridization, and subsequent back-crossing, may lead to the transfer of genes between species and represent an important factor as a source of new variability in the subsequent evolution o f the species. The importance of hybridization in vertebrates has been recognized relatively recently and the mechanisms leading to such pairings are still poorly understood. A majority of heterospecific pairings are unidirectional, viz. males of one spec ies are paired with females of the other species, but not vice versa. This is also found in our study populations of great tits Parus major and blue tits P. caeruleus, because most heterospecific pairings are between male great tit and female blue tit. We  suggest a new hypothesis to account for such mixed pairings based on constraints of realizing preferred mate choice caused by competition. We will test the hypothesis by analysing the settlement pattern of the birds in time and space, and by experiment a l removal of dominant birds. We will also analyse the fitness consequences for birds engaging in heterospecific pairings. The results will provide new insights important to sexual selection theory, sexual imprinting, hybridization and speciation, and to c onservation of endangered birds.

Hybridization in birds as studied by cross-fostering in the wild

The aim of the present project is to develop stochastic community models and statistical tools to estimate the model parameters. Such models will be of great practical use for detecting changes in community composition e.g. due anthropogenic influences or when trying to calculate areas necessary for preserving a given proportion of the species currently present. The models and methods will be applied on a data set of temporal changes in composition of bird communities in Scandinavia. This approach will al  so enable us to quantitatively examine the validity of the assumption of neutrality in such communities.

Stochastic dynamics of bird communities

Building on a study of field voles (Microtus agrestis) in Britain, the proposed project focus on the role of life history variation and demographic mechanisms among the overwintering cohorts in shaping the population dynamics of bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus) in northern Finland. This study is made possible through a unique capture-mark-recapture data set spanning 15 years of year-round trapping from replicated plots, including food supplement experiments. Within a two-year postdoctoral program, the data will be analysed and interpreted in close collaboration with leading experts of statistical modelling of demographic data. The postdoctoral candidate will as part of the project be a visiting scientist at USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Mary land, USA, for a period of six to twelve months.
Nytt prosjektsammendrag ved prosjektslutt:
Ulike arter av organismer har svært varierende livshistorier, karakterisert av trekk som alder ved kjønnsmodning, kullstørrelse og livslengde.Det er også svært sto re variasjoner i slike livshistorietrekk innen enkelte arter. Sykliske smågnagerpopulasjoner er et godt eksempel på dette: i oppgangsår begynner smågnagerne reproduksjonssesongen opptil 2 mnd tidligere på våren enn i nedgangsår. Organismene er tilpasset t il å justere disse livshistorietrekkene etter naturlige fluktuasjoner i klima og fødetilgang. For å forstå hvordan ulike bestander av arter påvirkes av endringer i klima og andre miljøforhold er det av avgjørende betydning at en har innsikt i de mekanisme ne som ligger til grunn for justeringen av livshistorietrekk til individene i bestanden. Prosjektet bidrar spesielt til en bedre forståelse av de evolusjonære kreftene som former organismenes responser på miljøvariasjoner når individene bare har en begren set informasjon om viktige miljøvariable. Prosjektet fokuserer også i stor grad på statistisk estimering av sentrale livshistorieparametre i naturlige populasjoner der en har data fra unikt merkede individer med en begrenset sannsynlighet for å bli observ ert ved hvert survey av populasjonen. Metodene er nyttige verktøy i empiriske studier av livshistorieresponser på miljøendringer.

The role of seasonal life history variation in the population dynamics of small rodents

Secondary compounds in plants have been attributed many different roles, one being chemical defence against herbivory. Unfortunately, experimental approaches to test the defensive compound hypothesis often suffer from confounded factors: specimens in defe nsive compounds may also differ in other aspects. Lichens are well suited as test organisms for the chemical defence hypothesis because (1) they are assumed to have a strong herbivory defence, (2) their secondary chemistry is well known, and (3) secondary compounds can selectively and non-destructively be extracted from living lichens by certain solvents. By cutting one lichen specimen in two equal pieces, we can offer a herbivore two pieces of fodder that are identical in all aspects apart from the absen ce or presence of secondary compounds. 
This project will test the lichen defensive compound hypothesis directly by feeding land snails on natural and compound-free lichens in controlled experiments in the field and in the laboratory. Preliminary experime nts have shown that some snail species consume large amounts of some lichen species within a few days. Furthermore, we will test whether solar exposition influences the herbivory defence of lichens and whether grazing induces a defensive reaction in the l ichen.

Lichens consist of up to 30 % secondary compounds. Most compounds are well known, and have been widely studied for taxonomical and pharmaceutical interests. However, one knows very little about why the lichen produces the so called lichen compound s, and what importance they have in nature. It is believed that compounds found in the cortex (above the photobiont) have light-screening functions, while medullary compounds are herbivore deterrents, antibiotics, allelopathics etc. Apart from the facts t hat most of the compounds absorb well in the UV-B and that many of them are toxic to animals, one known very little about their importance as defensive compounds in the nature. Parietin and usnic acid are induced by UV-B, but there is no evidence for any of the other compounds being produced as a response to any environmental stresses. 
Many lichens grow in habitats that are rich in solar irradiance, but poor in nutrients. We believe that such conditions leads to a carbon surplus in the lichen, as the lic hen also need nutrients to use all the carbon produced for growth. Lichen compounds may be produced just to get rid of the carbon surplus (waste products) or as storage. 
This is a proposal for an extension of my existing two-year post doc project. I want  to continue my studies on lichen compounds by looking beyond the established truths about defensive functions, and concentrate on the driving forces behind the amount of compounds produced. I will also try to test the theory of lichen compounds as waste products.  This will be done through a nitrogen spraying experiment, where lichens will be sprayed with nitrogen every time it rains, transplantation of lichens into habitats with contrasting light conditions and through tests of rain- and sea water as ag ents for leakage of lichen compounds.

Lichen defensive compounds - an experimental approach

The glacial-interglacial cycles of the upper Pleistocene have had major influence on the evolutionary history of species distributed in the northern hemisphere. Although studies assessing the effects of the Pleistocene environmental fluctuations have accu mulated over the past decade, the relationship between these large-scale fluctuations and the speciation process is far from fully understood. Here, we propose a project assessing inter- and intraspecific evolutionary processes in closely related deer spe cies (the red deer, the sika deer, and the wapiti). These species may have diverged less than 500 000 years ago. Although most authors today co nsider them as separate species, fertile hybrids have been observed. This shows that reproductive isolation is  not complete and suggests that we are facing an ongoing speciation process. Deeper insight into this process - including centers of origin, disp ersal across and between continents, and the timing of important evolutionary events - may be obtained by a p hylogeographic approach. We believe that such an approach provides a rather unique opportunity to gain a "snap-shot" of evolutionary history, with the potential to unravelthe detailed history of a speciation event.

Circumboreal phylogeography of closely related deer species - exemplifying a speciation process

In this project I intend to study the changes in genetic diversity over time in sub-fossilized populations of Sphagnum fuscum taken from peat cores from ombrotrophic bogs. Several of the patterns in genetic variation we see today have historical causes an d to understand the current pattern of genetic structure and diversity it is necessary to know the historical processes. Establishment of new individuals in closed Sphagnum carpets is probably an infrequent event but there might be periods with a high est ablishment. Natural selection is also an important process for the microevolution of natural populations, in environments with a large habitat variation on micro-geographical scale variable selection might help to maintain genetic polymorphism. Studies of  the population processes in the sub-fossil peat archive might allow tracing these historical processes.

Genetic variation and population dynamics in Sphagnum over time and space

Plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and is transmitted from rodent to rodent by a flea (vector). The abundance of the main host (being the habitat of the fleas and the plague bacteria) fluctuates in both space and time, posing some particula rly interesting constraints on the plague and flea dynamics. The main objective of our study will be to develop and analyse dynamic models of plague with the potential to increase our understanding of the spatio-temporal dynamics of the microbe-vector-hos t triad.                                      At present, there is a clear scarcity of such plague modelling studies. We will take a pluralistic approach, applying Bayesian statistical modelling, nonlinear time-series approaches, as well as partially mech anistic modelling. Model development and evaluation are facilitated by the extensive spatio-temporal data set available on density and prevalence of plague for the main host and vector in Kazakhstan. An understanding of the spatio-temporal ecological dyna mics will provide a good basis for further evolutionary studies relating to the evolution of virulence which might be related to the spatio-temporal dynamics of the primary hosts), as well as further studies in applied issues, such as predicting or preven ting outbreaks of plague.

Modelling dynamics of a microbe-vector-host triad: plague in Kazakhstan as an example

The coexistence of sculpins and salmon parr in a wide range of river habitats gives rise to examine the realised ecological niche of sympatric species along different scales of resource diversity as benthos and habitat, and may display new mechanisms in s pecies coexistence. In this project growth, food niche and niche overlap in Siberian Sculpin and Atlantic salmon parr will be studied at different fish densities, habitats and benthos-diversity in a sub-Arctic river. Data will be related to competitive in teractions by estimating actual growth rate of salmon parr against optimal growth predicted from modelling. Data will be approached both during field sampling and experimental cage-studies. The results will be related to predictions made from niche and op timal foraging theories.

Feeding interactions and growth of salmon parr and sculpins in a sub-Arctic river

Density-dependent regulation of mortality in winter, and inf1uences of climatic and habitat quality on fecundity are central processes in the population dynamics of ungulates in northern environments. However, the population level consequences of such ext ernal environmental influences are moulded by state of the individuals within the population, in particular the individuals' previous life histories and their present age. The interface between individual level responses to environmental variability and p opulation demography will be the subject of the present PhD-project using semi-domesticated reindeer in Norway as the study animals. Semi-domesticated reindeers provide a u nique opportunity to obtain large quantities of relevant information on the subjec t matter. 
Longitudinal data from selected herds for which the fates of a large number of individuals are known for up to 10 years and ~1aughterhouse data gathered at a large geographic scale, will be used to answer the following questions: (i) How does s patio-temporal variability in density, climate, pasture quality and age composition influence different demographic parameters in reindeer? (ii) What are the consequences of early development of reindeer calves on subsequent life history? (i ii) How does  age influence females reproductive strategy in different environments? (iv) How does spatio-temporal environmental variability and variation individual life history influence the growth rate and production of herds, and thus the optimal harv esting strat egies for the reindeer herders?

Causes and consequences of spatio-temporal life history variation in semi-domesticated reindeer

Determining the patterns and causes of variation in life-history strategies is one of the main goals of ecology, as such variation shapes both population dynamics and in turn the evolutionary biology of different species. However, good quality data of lon ger time-series are scarce, and it has so far proven difficult to lest evolutionary based hypotheses regarding patterns of parental effort and investments. Two key issues that remain unsettled are whether females with extra resources should bias investmen t towards sons in polygynous species (the Trivers-Willard hypothesis) and whether the investment should increase with increasing age (the terminal investmen t hypothesis). Reindeer is a species well suited for testing these hypotheses, as they are long-li ved and with a strong sexual-body size dimorphism. Access to a dataset from an experimental reindeer population monitored systematically from 1971 to present where all individuals and the maternal pedigree are known in details, including both estimates of  reproductive effort and investments (i.e. effort r elative to costs), give us a unique opportunity to test these two hypothesis, as well as estimating the contribution of early life to future reproductive success and longevity.

Variation in reproductive effort and cost in a sexually dimorphic ungulate: testing the Trivers-Willard and terminal investment hypotheses

nderstanding the mechanisms and dynamics of natural ecosystems is a major goal for ecologists and biogeographers. In this project we will focus on the description, characterisation, and analysis of macroecological patterns and the mechanisms that create t hese patterns. The macroecological patterns we will study are altitudinal patterns of species richness, endemic ri chness, species-to-family ratio, and distribution of species ranges. These patterns will be compared between mountain ranges worldwide and b etween taxonomical or functional groups. These comparisons will in turn be used to discuss how broad-scale factors influence ecological processes such as speciation, extinction, and immigration. The factors we will pay most attention to are (1) the enviro nmental setting, especially climate, (2) distance between areas of similar environments, (3) distance between areas of different environments, (4) size of the area of similar environments, and (5 ) history of the area. The project will also provide a sign ificant contribution in handling several problems associated with the use of broad-scale data by simulation and analytical methods. In sum, this project aims at increasing our understanding of bro ad-scale patterns and processes in ecology and in species  diversity.

Towards an increased understanding of broad-scale patterns and processes in ecology - worldwide comparison of macroecological patterns along

The assessment of Norwegian spring spawning herring and Barents Sea capelin is largely based on acoustic abundance estimates from the feeding season (both species) and wintering season (herring). There is a potential for improved assessment by estimating  these stocks also during the spawning season. Due to extensive migrations and schooling dynamics during this period, there is need for increased knowledge of their behaviour in order to design appropriate surveys and obtain reliable abundance estimates.  The present project will describe and quantify the migrations and schooling dynamics of herring and capelin during the spawning season, with special emphasis on biomass flux and diurnal variations in schooling behaviour. The stocks will be studied both d u ring migration towards the spawning grounds and at the spawning grounds. Analyses of schooling behaviour will be based on acoustic recordings of school packing density, size, vertical position in the water coumn and the cluster patterns, focusing on the  mechanisms behind the observed behaviour. The fish distribution and movement will be modelled and different survey strategies simulated to obtain optimal survey designs that could be applied in future acoustic abundance estimation.

Migration and schooling dynamics of herring and capelin during the spawning season - Impact on stock assessment

Explaining the evolution and maintenance of reproductive helping and cooperation in wild animals have challenged both theoreticians and empiricist biologists. The theory of kin-selection have successfully explained the highly cooperative societies of euso cial insects, but has also provided insights into the cooperative breeding exhibited by several vertebrates. Some species have more transient relationships, only cooperating during the breeding season. The common eider (Somateria mollissima) is such a spe cies were about half of the females abandon their young to the care of other females. Many of the brood tending females care for additional young, alone or together with other mothers forming a créche. The creche may be joined by helping females that assi st in defending the young against predators. We wish to use mtDNA sequencing and microsatellite typing to assess whether the cooperating females in a creche are relativesand if brood tending females ad opt related young.                   and if brood ten ding females ad This study will be the first to examine possible kinship between cooperating waterbirds, and one of the first to examine kinship in non-territorial species.

Cooperation during brood rearing; an assessment of the effect of kinship

It has long been realized that close inbreeding can be detrimental to offspring fitness. Such inbreeding depression is caused by the increased homozygosity at loci that affect fitness. Recently, some exciting studies on birds and mammals have revealed a s imilar effect also in natural outbred populations, in which various fitness parameters are positively correlated with the degree of heterozygosity at a number of non-coding loci (microsatellite DNA). The marker loci are presumably linked with loci of key  importance for fitness. This discovery opens up a new and powerful tool to assess genetic effects. 
The project has two main objectives. First, we will investigate the effect of heterozygosity on individual reproductive performance and survival in a few  selected long-term studies of bird populations in Norway. We will seek to identify particular fitness components for which heterozygosity is important. Second, we will test predictions of the hypothesis that extra-pair mating systems are driven by hetero zygosity benefits. We will here specifically use bird species where a genetic benefit to female extra-pair copulations has been documented or is strongly indicated by existing evidence. The project will be carried out in collaboration with several other r esearch groups in Norway.

The role of heterozygosity for individual fitness and mating system evolution in birds

Climatic variation may affect evolutionary patterns by altering rates of speciation and extinction through changing availablity of appropriate habitats. In the proposed project, we assess the relationship between environmental change and evolutionary even ts using comparative phylogeography among 10 bovid species distributed across sub-Saharan Africa. Congruence in phylogeographic patterns among species as well as among areas will be tested using species from three differerent ecological groups (savannah-a dapted specialists, forest-adapted specialists and generalist species that can cope with a range o f different habitats). If large-scale changes in the physical environment act as a major determinant of evolutionary events, we expect phylogeographic congr uence across species from the same ecological groups as well as across geographic regions. In addition to the main objective of the study, we address whether specialist species are more prone to climatic change as compared to generalist species, and wheth er specific geographic regions serve as centres of origin for a large proportion of the stu died species. We anticipate that the project will provide valuable empirical data on the relationship between environmental change and evolutionary events and cont ribute to the understanding of the underlying mechanisms associated with evolutionarychange , ultimately leading to speciation and extinction.              change

Environmental change and evolutionary events - a molecular approach using comparative phylogeography among African bovids

Grazing is an important factor for plant dynamics, but it has proved difficult to generalise about grazing impact, partly because of a lack of a good mechanistic framework linking the grazing impacts on certain life stages to the dynamics of the populatio ns. A functional classification of species has been central in order to understand and predict vegetation response-to the effect of grazing, but few studies have explored the importance of plant functional traits for plant dynamics in alpine/arctic habita ts. We will study relationships between sheep grazing and plant life history on three different levels. 1)	Plant community dynamics and sheep grazing: Can changes in plant community structure be related to specific life history traits within the resistanc e-tolerance mechanistic scheme? 2)	Dynamics of herbivore selected herb species in different grazing regimes: Do sets of plant traits covary to an extent that general strategies can be identified that explain plant response (tolerance or lack of tolerance)  to grazing? 3)	Grazing and plant population dynamics: How do species with contrasting life histories (10w stature versus tall competitive) respond in their population structure and expression of plant tolerance traits at different grazing levels?

The effect of sheep grazing on alpine plant communities, species and populations: what is the importance of plant life histories?

Time series analysis has found that small rodent population cycles may be driven by an interaction between food shortage during winters and delayed density dependence caused by predators. The region where small rodents exhibit cyclic dynamics have long la sting thick snow cover that probably facilitates the cycles. The layer between the snow and the ground will under some circumstances be transferred to a layer of fragile pyramidal ice crystals making the subnivean space. Small rodents sustain life through out the winter in the subnivean space. The subnivean space is fragmented by ice frozen to the ground that effectively reduce carrying capacity and may promote overgrazing. Overgrazing might be most prevalent during snowme lt when the small rodents are for ced by water from the melting snow to higher ground. The aim of this study is to experimentally test how much small rodent survival is dependent on access to food patches under the snow and to develop and parameterize an explicit functional response model  to test whether the small rodent population cycle ca n be driven by a plant-herbivore interaction. Access to food will be manipulated by creating a network of artificialtunnels under the snow permitting access to else un-accessible food patches.

Does access to food patches limit microtine winter survival during the cyclic population decline? An experimental study

Most birds are classified as socially monogamous, yet they frequently engage in extrapair copulations. In the bluethroat, females copulate frequently with neighbouring males with the result that around 30% of offspring are sired extrapair. The bluethroat  is one of the few bird species in the world in which a genetic benefit to female extra-pair copulation has been identified, viz. an enhanced cellular immunocompetence of extrapair young. The benefit seems to arise as females seek fertilizations with male sthat have a genotype compatible to their own, rather than with males that have a high quality genotype per se. How females choose compatible males is not known. The current project aims at explaining how females choose extrapair sires and the extent to w hich female choice is influenced by male advertisement behaviour. The similarity in genotypes between females and their social and extrapair mates will be examine d for MHC genes that play an important role in the immune defense against pathogens. Experim ents will be performed to reveal whether there is a behavioral or a postcopulatory mechanism, which allows females to select genetically compatible extrapair sires . The project will also manipulate male advertisement behaviour to assess its influence on  male fertilization success.

Behavioural and genetic mechanisms of extrapair fertilization in bluethroats

Sexually selected signals can be viewed as life history traits. In the guppy (Poecilia reticulata) and the sex role reversed pipefishe (Syngnathus typhle) sexual signals are well understood, but their relation to life history decisions remain unexplored.T he proposed project will test how life history traits, resource budgets and predation risks affect female ornament display and female-female competition in these two species. How are these trade-offs affected by a female's resource budget? Does predationr isk affect trade-offs? Under environmental, will allocation to body size, to ornament display, to competition or to eggs suffer first? Furthermore, do the two characters primarily used to attract males, body size and ornamentation, differ in costs to the  females. Do females with different resource budgets differ in their allocation to growth and ornamentation? Mutual mate choice and mati ng competition is another poorly investigated area. Does the most choosy sex compete over the best partner, and are th e best competitive individuals choosy? Can poor individuals of the choosy sex afford to be choosy, or do they need to court? How mutual m ate choice and mating competition interact with life history is a fascinating but so far poorly understood field of r esearch.

Sexual signals and life history trade-offs in guppy and sex-role reversed pipefishes

The transfer of energy through food webs will be determined by the "growth efficiency" in terms of carbon for the individual members of the foodweb. Recent studies have clearly confirmed that the elemental ratios of the food will be a major determinant to this energy transfer or "trophic efficiency". Consumers need a certain proportion of major elements in their diet to match their bodily demands. When the food source has too low proportions of P or N relative to C, the excess C cannot be utilized for gro  wth, and the growth efficiency will decrease. Less C is diverted through the food web, slopes of trophic pyramids will decrease, and there will be less energy available for top trophic levels. Using cladocera as an example, "bottleneck" periods for reduc ed growth can be identified 
The present experiment will study how light and nutrients (P) alone and combined will affect C:P-ratios in phytoplankton, and how this will be manifested as changed flux of carbon and energy. This will have strong bearings for  carbon import and export (sedimentation) in aquatic ecosystems. The Dr. scient. degree will be based on a combination of laboratory (chemostat) experiments and field (enclosure) studies.

Elemental ratios in fresh-water plankton; implications for community structure and energy transfer in food webs

This project attends a recent methodological development within evolutionary biology, i.e., the introduction of so-called pluralistic approaches, in which one attempts to explain evolutionary traits as phenomena emerging from a possibly complex interplay  between different causal factors and processes. This typically involves the use of agent-based modelling. We plan to examine the strengths and limitations of pluralistic approaches to the so-called "Queen of problems in evolutionary theory", the evolutio nof sex.                                       The adaptive significance of this trait is important in its own right, but also because of its wider implications. In the history of biology it is closely connected to the "unit of selection" question and thu s also to the reductionist debate. A pluralistic approach may on the one hand match the complexity of nature. However, because of the novel character of the methodology (possibly in conflict with classical scientific norms of testability and simplicity) t here is a need for assessing what kind of knowledge complex system theories and models may provide. The analysis will be profoundly theoretical, drawing upon the biological, philosophical and complex system theory literature.

Plural approaches in evolutionary biology: the adaptive significance of sex

Conflicts of interests between signalers or between signalers and signal receivers are common in animals, and may lead to coevolutionary arms races. Natural selection favours victim adaptations that help victims resist exploiters, but such adaptations are  likely to be met with counter-adaptations from the exploiters' side. In this project, signal recognition and signal evolution have been investigated in two contexts: aggressive mimicry, in which a predator or parasite uses mimicry to deceive its victim, and Batesian mimicry, in which palatable prey resemble defended or unprofitable prey to obtain protection from predation. Various mathematical modelling techniques suitable for analyzing evolutionary conflicts have been applied, including evolutionary gam e theory, signal detection theory, and kin selection techniques. The evolution of deceptive signals has been modeled for circumstances where the signal trait interferes with other functions of the deceptive signalers, and where signal

Game theory and interspecific arms races

Siden de klassiske studiene til nobelprisvinner Konrad Lorentz, har seksuell preging blitt dokumentert hos en rekke dyrearter. Denne formen for læring har fått ny oppmerksomhet i senere år innen flere felt av evolusjonær økologi fordi man mener den er vik tig i forbindelse med hybridisering, artsdannelse, seksuell seleksjon og kull-parasitisme. De fleste av studiene av preging er gjort i fangenskap og isolasjon. Det er derfor viktig å studere preging under mer naturlige forhold. En har latt kjøttmeis vokse  opp hos blåmeis, og omvendt, i et felt med fuglekasser. Pilotdata viser at de fleste individene blir seksuelt preget på fosterart og at dette kan føre til dannelse av hybridpar (kjøttmeis x blåmeis). Slike hybridpar har til nå ikke vært beskrevet i litte raturen. Prosjektet vil benytte dette modellsystemet til å studere seksuell preging og hybridisering. En spør om pregingen varer livet ut, om begge kjønn, og begge arter, blir like mye preget, og om hvilke konsekvenser pregingen har for livslengde og repr oduksjon. En vil også studere hvilke individer som inngår i hybridpar, og om disse produserer levedyktig avkom. Dannelsen av hybridpar gir også en mulighet til å teste nye teorier om foreldreomsorg hos dyr.

Seksuell preging og hybridisering mellom to arter av meiser (Paridae)

Seksuell seleksjon har de siste tiårene vært det mest studerte fagfelt innen atferdsøkologien og har ytt vektige bidrag til såvel evolusjonsteori som populasjons- og bevaringsbiologi. Sentralt innenfor dette fagfeltet står evolusjon av ornamenter, f.eks.  fargerik fjærdrakt. Hittil har nesten all forskning omkring ornamentelle trekk blitt utført på hanner. Hunnene hos mange arter er imidlertid også ornamenterte; hos en del like sterkt som hannene. Tradisjonelt har man forklart hunnlig ornamentering som en  bi-effekt av seleksjon på hanner, men nyere teori tilsier at seksuell seleksjon også kan virke direkte på hunnlige trekk, gjennom hannlig makevalg eller konkurranse mellom hunner. Svært få eksperimenter har testet hypotesen om direkte seleksjon på hunnli g ornamentering. 
Dette er det første prosjektet som tester alle de tre mulige funksjonene til hunnlig ornamenterin: hannlig makevalg, konkurranse mellom hunner om maker, og konkurranse mellom hunner om mat. Det er også det første som relaterer hunnlig or namentering til immunkompetanse. Som modellorganisme har en valgt blåstrupen, en meget velegnet art fordi hunnene varierer svært mye i fargedrakt. Prosjektet inkluderer internasjonalt forskningssamarbeid.

SKOGFOND-Utviklingsfondet for skogbruket

Studieopphold for stipendiat Vegard Gundersen ved University of Wisconsin - Madison

Awarded: NOK 0.16 mill.

Summary

Funding scheme:

SKOGFOND-Utviklingsfondet for skogbruket

Funding Sources

Thematic Areas and Topics