Background Understanding the phylogenetic relationships among species is one of the main goals of systematic biology. Simultaneously, credible phylogenetic hypotheses are often the first requirement for ...

Sets of presence records used to model species’ distributions typically consist of observations collected opportunistically rather than systematically. As a result, sampling probability is geographically uneven, which may ...

Metodene for feltbasert kartlegging av naturtyper i Norge er i utvikling. Kartlegging baserer seg nå i hovedsak på bruk av digitale plattformer med tilrettelagt programvare. Siden lanseringen av Natur i Norge (NiN 2.0) i ...

This thesis focuses on the molecular systematics of the lichen family Ramalinaceae and is based on both freshly collected and archived specimens. Tropical members of the family remain particularly understudied, including ...

The Generic Ecological Impact Assessment of Alien Species (GEIAA) is described. It comprises a set of criteria and an assessment procedure. The set of criteria consists of three criteria that quantify invasion potential, ...

The early Palaeozoic Era records the initial biodiversification of the Phanerozoic. The increase in biodiversity involved drastic changes in taxon longevity, and in rates of origination and extinction. Here, we calculate ...

Peculiar rocks consisting of large and rare minerals are known as nepheline syenite pegmatites and can be found in larvikite (national rock of Norway!) around the Larvik area. Detailed chemical analyses of a mineral called ...

Documented occurrences of fossil taxa are the empirical foundation for understanding large-scale biodiversity changes and evolutionary dynamics in deep time. The fossil record contains vast amounts of understudied taxa. ...

Crop wild relatives (CWR) can provide one solution to future challenges on food security, sustainable agriculture and adaptation to climate change. Diversity found in CWR can be essential for adapting crops to these new ...

We present the results of an inventory and status assessment of alien species in Norway. The inventory covered all known multicellular neobiota, 2496 in total, 1039 of which were classified as naturalised. The latter ...

Background Female promiscuity is highly variable among birds, and particularly among songbirds. Comparative work has identified several patterns of covariation with social, sexual, ecological and life history ...

Bryozoans are a moderately diverse, mostly marine phylum with a fossil record extending to the Early Ordovician. Compared to other phyla, little is known about their phylogenetic relationships at both lower and higher ...

BioDATA is an international project on developing skills in biodiversity data management and data publishing. Between 2018 and 2021, undergraduate and postgraduate students from Armenia, Belarus, Tajikistan, and Ukraine, ...

In the Mesozoic seas, the apex predators were reptiles. From the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, the Spitsbergen Mesozoic Research Group has excavated numerous well preserved marine reptile skeletons in order to understand ...

Biological specimens in natural history collections worldwide are increasingly being used in biogeographical, environmental, and taxonomic studies. For their meaningful use, correct species identification is crucial. For ...

Background A median, segmented, annelid nerve cord has repeatedly been compared to the arthropod and vertebrate nerve cords and became the most used textbook representation of the annelid nervous system. ...

Despite the similar function of all sperm cells – to fertilise the egg – there is extraordinary diversity in sperm shape and length across taxa. This thesis aims to improve our understanding of how this diversity has ...

Cryptic species could represent a substantial fraction of biodiversity. However, inconsistent definitions and taxonomic treatment of cryptic species prevent informed estimates of their contribution to biodiversity and ...

Ethnopharmacological relevance: More than 15,000 angiosperm species are dioecious, i.e., having distinct male and female individual plants. The allocation of resources between male and female plants is different, and also ...

Background Microhabitat changes are thought to be among the main drivers of diversification. However, this conclusion is mostly based on studies on vertebrates. Here, we investigate the influence of ...

Introduction Herbal medicines play an important role globally in the health care sector and in industrialised countries they are often considered as an alternative to mono-substance medicines. Current quality and ...

Both molecular and morphologic characters support the reinstatement of Leuctra biellensis Festa, 1942 as a valid species distinct from Leuctra nigra (Olivier, 1811). Genetic distances between L. biellensis and the different ...

Purpose Treelines and forest lines (TFLs) have received growing interest in recent decades, due to their potential role as indicators of climate change. However, the understanding of TFL dynamics is challenged by the complex ...

Male fertilization success depends on investment in both pre- and postcopulatory sexually selected traits, and considerable attention has recently been paid to quantifying the strength and direction of covariance between ...

1. Species composition is a vital attribute of any ecosystem. Accordingly, ecological restoration often has the original, or “natural,” species composition as its target. However, we still lack adequate methods for predicting ...

This paper provides a theoretical understanding of sampling bias in presence-only data in the context of species distribution modelling. This understanding forms the basis for two integrated frameworks, one for detecting ...

The Agardhfjellet Formation (Middle Jurassic to lowermost Cretaceous) of Svalbard (Norwegian Arctic) is well known for its abundant and unique marine reptile fauna, of ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs. In an attempt to reconstruct ...

Low morphological diversity among interstitial taxa makes it difficult to delimit species and their geographic boundaries based solely on morphology and molecular data often reveal cryptic species. Polygordius (Annelida, ...

Questions: Substantial variation between observers has been found when comparing parallel land-cover maps, but how can we know which map is better? What magnitude of error and inter-observer variation is expected when ...

Many interstitial species were first described as widely distributed, often cosmopolitan or amphi-oceanic, contrasting with descriptions of a sedentary life style and the general absence of pelagic dispersal stages. These ...

Theoretical models predict that investment in pre-copulatory and post-copulatory sexually selected traits should trade-off. At the macroevolutionary scale, the majority of studies to date have focused on male weaponry as ...

Speciation research has largely overlooked reproductive barriers acting between copulation and the formation of the zygote (i.e., postmating, prezygotic [PMPZ] barriers), especially in internally fertilizing vertebrates. ...

Background The economic value of ginseng in the global medicinal plant trade is estimated to be in excess of US$2.1 billion. At the same time, the evolutionary placement of ginseng (Panax ginseng) and the ...

Interactions between fungi and plants, including parasitism, mutualism, and saprotrophy, have been invoked as key to their respective macroevolutionary success. Here we evaluate the origins of plant-fungal symbioses and ...

Garcinia L. (Clusiaceae) fruits are a rich source of (−)-hydroxycitric acid, and this has gained considerable attention as an anti-obesity agent and a popular weight loss food supplement. In this study, we assessed ...

A new specimen of Phalarodon from the Middle Triassic Botneheia Formation on Svalbard, although not complete, is well preserved with both cranial and postcranial elements. Uncompressed preservation of the rostrum reveals ...

Xylopsora canopeorum Timdal, Reese Næsborg & Bendiksby is described as a new species occupying the crowns of large Sequoia sempervirens trees in California, USA. The new species is supported by morphology, anatomy, secondary ...

Humeri of Pessopteryx nisseri and vertebrae referred to Cymbospondylus sp. are described from the Lower Saurian niveau at Marmierfjellet, Spitsbergen. This is the most well-preserved Cymbospondylus material described from ...

Premise of research. Self-compatibility is a requirement for reproductive assurance via selfing and may therefore be beneficial in environments with infrequent or unpredictable pollinator service. However, self-compatible ...

Ethnopharmacological relevance: This study is the first ethnobotanical survey focusing on the herbal medicines traditionally used by the nomadic community of the Algerian steppe, identifying new medicinal plants and uses ...

With almost 600 species, the latest molecular phylogeny of pholcid spiders (Eberle et al. 2018, BMC Evolutionary Biology) more than triples the largest previously available molecular phylogeny of the family. At the level ...

The quartz-K-feldspar-cemented breccia of Berglia-Glassberget in the Lierne municipality in central Norway forms an ellipsoid structure 250 m × 500 m in size. The hydrothermal breccia is barren in terms of economic commodities ...

Aim: Understanding the evolution of the latitudinal diversity gradient (i.e. increase in species diversity towards the tropics) is a prominent issue in ecology and biogeography. Disentangling the relative contributions of ...

Sperm exhibit extraordinary levels of morphological diversification across the animal kingdom. In songbirds, sperm have a helically shaped head incorporating a distinct acrosomal membrane or “helical keel,” the form and ...

Positive selection acting on Toll‐like receptors (TLRs) has been recently investigated to reveal evolutionary mechanisms of host–pathogen molecular co‐adaptation. Much of this research, however, has focused mainly on the ...

Magmatic and hydrothermal quartz populations related to the Late-Variscan Zinnwald/Cínovec Sn-W-Li greisen-type deposit in the Eastern Erzgebirge/Krušné Hory (German/Czech Republic) were studied in terms of trace element ...

The Late Jurassic Slottsmøya Member Lagerstätte on Spitsbergen preserves a diverse array of marine reptiles, including four named taxa of ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaurs. One of these, Palvennia hoybergeti, is based on the ...

Interspecific competition is thought to play a key role in determining the coexistence of closely related species within adaptive radiations. Competition for ecological resources can lead to different outcomes from character ...

The genetic relationship between a granite pluton and adjacent complex of rare-metal pegmatite-aplite-banded sheets (Megiliggar Sheet Complex - MSC) has been studied at the border of the Tregonning topaz granite at Megiliggar ...

DNA-based snapshots of ancient vegetation have shown that the composition of high-latitude plant communities changed considerably during the late Quaternary. However, parallel changes in biotic interactions remain largely ...

Niobium is usually considered to be one of the least mobile elements during alteration of rocks in geological processes and is thought to only be mobile at elevated temperatures and/or pressures. Since niobium is assumed ...

Postcopulatory sexual selection may select for male primary sexual characteristics like sperm morphology and sperm motility, through sperm competition or cryptic female choice. However, how such characteristics influence ...

Many species, including humans, have emerged via complex reticulate processes involving hybridisation. Under certain circumstances, hybridisation can cause distinct lineages to collapse into a single lineage with an admixed ...

The new species Lecidella varangricaHaugan & Tønsberg is described from the northern shores of the Varanger Peninsula, Finnmark, Norway. It probably belongs to the saxicolous L. asemagroup by having ...

Only one species of the genus Allodia has been previously recorded from the Afrotropical region, Allodia (Brachycampta) flavorufa Matile, 1978. Six new species are described here, all representing the nominotypical subgenus, ...

The Longyearbyen CO2 storage project drilling and coring campaign in central Spitsbergen provided new insights on the shale-dominated Middle Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous Agardhfjellet Formation, which is the onshore ...

Climate change is expected to result in range shifts and habitat fragmentation for many species. In the Arctic, loss of sea ice will reduce barriers to dispersal or eliminate movement corridors, resulting in increased ...

Loss of Arctic sea ice has implications for the distribution and population structure of ice-dependent species such as polar bears Ursus maritimus. We used remotely sensed sea-ice concentration data for Baffin Bay, Canada, ...

Multiple drivers shape the spatial distribution of species, including dispersal capacity, niche incumbency, climate variability, orographic barriers, and plate tectonics. However, biogeographic patterns of fungi commonly ...

Despite the dramatic phenological responses of fungal fruiting to recent climate warming, it is unknown whether spatial distributions of fungi have changed and to what extent such changes are influenced by fungal traits, ...

Global change threatens invertebrate biodiversity and its central role in numerous ecosystem functions and services. Functional trait analyses have been advocated to uncover global mechanisms behind biodiversity responses ...

Almost all mammals communicate using sound, but few species produce complex songs. Two baleen whales sing complex songs that change annually, though only the humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) has received much research ...

The long history of human land use have had a strong influence on ecosystems and landscapes in the boreal forest region of Northern Europe and created semi-natural habitats of high conservation value. In this study, we ...

After 142 years, Plutellapolaris Zeller, 1880 was rediscovered at Svalbard, Norway, in 2015. The locality and its vegetation are described. The specimen is the first female ever recorded, and its genitalia are illustrated. ...

North America is currently home to a number of grey wolf (Canis lupus) and wolf-like canid populations, including the coyote (Canis latrans) and the taxonomically controversial red, Eastern timber and Great Lakes wolves. ...

A molecular phylogenetic analysis based on the DNA barcode marker (nrITS) of 12 specimens of Lecidea leucothallina revealed three monophyletic clades, two apotheciate and one sorediate. The sorediate clade is described as ...

Nomenclatural type definitions are one of the most important concepts in biological nomenclature. Being physical objects that can be re-studied by other researchers, types permanently link taxonomy (an artificial agreement ...

Zoonotic infections transmitted from terrestrial and marine mammals to humans in European Arctic are of unknown significance, despite considerable potential for transmission due to local hunt and a rapidly changing ...

In Zambia, wild edible terrestrial orchids are used to produce a local delicacy called chikanda, which has become increasingly popular throughout the country. Commercialization puts orchid populations in Zambia and ...

A Berriasian age planktonic foraminifera assemblage from a section near the village of Krasnoselivka in the Tonas River Basin, Crimea contains Favusella hoterivica (Subbotina), ?Favusella sp., Conoglobigerina gulekhensis ...

Five hydrocarbon seep carbonate structures in the upper part of the Slottsmøya Member (Agardhfjellet Formation) in central Spitsbergen have been sampled and processed for foraminifera. The carbonates have been found to ...

English

Background: A median, segmented, annelid nerve cord has repeatedly been compared to the arthropod and vertebrate nerve cords and became the most used textbook representation of the annelid nervous system. Recent phylogenomic ...

The annelid family Eunicidae comprises ten genera including the genusMarphysa Quatrefages, 1866. This genus is characterized by a global distribution and hasconsiderable value in the bait industry worldwide. ...

Long-term phenotypic stasis is frequently observed in the fossil record, but not readily predicted from microevolutionary theory. To test competing explanations for stasis on macroevolutionary timescales we need reliably ...

Krogia borneensis Kistenich & Timdal, K. isidiata Kistenich & Timdal and K. macrophylla Kistenich & Timdal are described as new species, the first from Borneo and the two latter from New Caledonia. The new species are ...

Body size can have profound impacts on survival, movement, and reproductive schedules shaping individual fitness, making growth a central process in ecological and evolutionary dynamics. Realized growth is the result of a ...

Jaw elements of Omphalosaurus sp. are described from the Early Triassic (Spathian) of Marmierfjellet, Spitsbergen. The elements are from the Grippia and the Lower Saurian niveaus in the Vendomdalen Member of the Vikinghøgda ...

House sparrows (Passer domesticus) are a hugely successful anthrodependent species; occurring on nearly every continent. Yet, despite their ubiquity and familiarity to humans, surprisingly little is known about their ...

The Grippia bonebed is located at Marmierfjellet in Flowerdalen, Isfjorden area of Spitsbergen. The bonebed occurs in the Vendomdalen Member, Vikinghogda Formation, Early Triassic (Spathian). It is unique in Spitsbergen ...

We report on a newly excavated Spathian (Lower Triassic) bonebed on Marmierfjellet, Central Spitsbergen. The bonebed contains a varied material of bones and teeth from marine vertebrates along with conodont elements. The ...

Analysis of microbial community structure by multivariate ordination methods, using data obtained by high‐throughput sequencing of amplified markers (i.e., DNA metabarcoding), often requires clustering of DNA sequences ...

Nine samples from the Alum Shale of Slemmestad, Oslo Region, were processed for conodonts. The limestone-rich interval extending from the mid Cambrian Paradoxides paradoxissimus trilobite Zone to the Lower Ordovician ...

Gene expression changes have been recognized as important drivers of adaptation to changing environmental conditions. Little is known about the relative roles of plastic and evolutionary responses in complex gene expression ...

The palaeontology of the Lower to Middle Triassic succession in Spitsbergen has been studied for more than a century and a half. Our ability to properly interpret the evolutionary and ecological implications of the faunas ...

The possible macrofossil Telemarkites enigmaticus from the Mesoproterozoic Gjuve Formation, Telemark supracrustals, southern Norway, was described by Dons in 1959. We here present finds of similar, but larger structures ...

Spermatozoa exhibit remarkable variability in size, shape, and performance. Our understanding of the molecular basis of this variation, however, is limited, especially in avian taxa. The zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) ...

The evolutionary history of the wolf-like canids of the genus Canis has been heavily debated, especially regarding the number of distinct species and their relationships at the population and species level [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ...

The PhytoAuthent project was structured to gather, test, develop and apply, in real life case scenarios, molecular techniques, such as biochemical fingerprinting and DNA sequence-based methods, for plant identification of ...

The Eggvin Bank, located between the Jan Mayen Island and Greenland, is an unusually shallow area containing several submarine volcanic peaks, confined by two transforms on the Northern Kolbeinsey Ridge (NKR). We represent ...

One hundred and seventy-three years ago, the last two Great Auks, Pinguinus impennis, ever reliably seen were killed. Their internal organs can be found in the collections of the Natural History Museum of Denmark, but the ...

High tropical mountains harbour remarkable and fragmented biodiversity thought to a large degree to have been shaped by multiple dispersals of cold-adapted lineages from remote areas. Few dated phylogenetic/phylogeographic ...

Telomere length is related to aging in many eukaryotes and the rate of telomere attrition has been suggested to reflect individual genetic quality. Telomere length could thus have implications for mate choice. We investigated ...

Studying herbal products derived from local and traditional knowledge and their value chains is one of the main challenges in ethnopharmacology. The majority of these products have a long history of use, but non-harmonized ...

The Eichigt granite is one of two apical intrusions forming the concealed massif of Eichigt−Schönbrunn in the Erzgebirge−Vogtland metallogenic province of Germany. It represents a peraluminuous, medium-grained, Si-rich ...

Many herbal products have a long history of use, but there are increasing concerns over product efficacy, safety and quality in the wake of recent cases exposing discrepancies between labeling and constituents. When it ...

Local markets provide a rapid insight into the medicinal plants growing in a region as well as local traditional health concerns. Identification of market plant material can be challenging as plants are often sold in dried ...

The assessment of evolutionary divergences within subspecies complexes provide an effective short-cut for estimating intraspecific genetic diversity, which is relevant for conservation actions. We explore new evidence ...