Canada - bilateral cooperation on polar biodiversity

This application seeks funding to initiate bilateral cooperation between leading biodiversity institutions in Canada and Norway. Our research focus will be on animal diversity in polar regions using DNA barcoding as a tool for species discrimination and i dentification. Polar research has a great tradition in both countries, and past research activity has created scientific communities in both Canada and Norway with strong capabilities in polar biodiversity. Our proposed BILAT project promises major synerg ies by bringing these scientific communities together in a joint research initiative on animal biodiversity in the polar regions. The research activity described below is in accordance with the applicant's strategic plan and priorities (see attached sta tement), and will be a most welcome addition to our research network. Moreover, this project will not only strengthen bonds with the cooperating institution in Canada, but it will enable us to develop close collaborations with other biodiversity research communities in Norway and Canada. If supported, this application for bilateral cooperation on polar biodiversity will result in joint proposals to the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and to the Norwegian Research Counc il, that will seek funding for a large scale animal inventory project in the polar regions. The project will ensure the development of a long-term institutional cooperation and allow increased mobility between the collaborating institutions. In addition t o the exchange of senior scientists, we will include doctoral and postdoctoral research fellows affiliated with the project in this exchange. Given the merit and experience of our team of collaborators and the limited faunistic knowledge of arctic regio ns, we anticipate that our applications will be successful in obtaining the financial support needed to explore biodiversity of polar regions.