Door 24: God Jul, Merry Christmas

Today opens the last door of our advent calendar and we are looking forward to a few holidays and relaxing time with families and friends. In Norway, it is also a good tradition to look back at the year before Christmas, called “Juleavslutning” (Christmas Gathering). Hence, as the […]

Door 23: Insect survey in the Mozogo Gokoro National Park, Cameroon

In Summer 2023, our ANTENNA project team composed of entomologists from the University of Buea, University of Maroua and University of Oslo surveyed insect fauna of the Mozogo Gokoro National Park, Northern Cameroon. As one can see in the satellite photo, the park is located in the savannah […]

Door 22: De-extinction

When in 1990 the fascinating novel entitled ‘Jurassic Park’ by Michael Crichton was published the idea of a re-creation of extinct species was pure fiction. Certainly, by the time many of us were wondering if de-extinction may become reality, even more so when in 1993 the Steven Spielberg […]

Door 21: Wonderful world of symbioses and a note on conserving biodiversity

Only three days until Christmas! For my final post in the advent calendar, I want to introduce our readers to an essential and complex phenomenon in nature, symbiosis. In our daily language, we might casually refer to symbiosis as a mutually beneficial relationship. However, in ecological terms, symbiosis […]

Day 20: Defending Against Rising Ocean Acidification

As we open the door on day 20, we look at a species in the Invertomics study category in the wild, and highlight a study from 2019 that places Platynereis in a modern context, to assess its capability to act as a model organism for studies of ocean […]

Door 19: Seeing Wonder in Science – The Role of Pop-Sci and Science Communication across an MSc’s Life

We’re fast approaching the holidays, and everyone’s academic brain is slowing down as we look forward to evenings with loved ones, good food, and seasonal traditions. As we put down our research, articles, laptops, and let the stress melt away, it can be a good time to remember […]

Door 18: The diet of Arctic little auks as an indicator of climate change… but only if we get it right!

For the Door 18 of our advent calendar, we are traveling to Svalbard to meet a tiny Arctic bird, the little auk Alle alle. The composition of its diet is currently used by scientists to monitor the pace of climate change in the Arctic. Little auks are planktivorous, meaning they […]

Door 17: Small flower but important plant

For today’s advent blog post, I would like to do something a little bit different. Continuing on the theme of biodiversity, climate and environment I would like to talk about a plant that is also a very important ecosystem in the sea: seagrass. I had the chance to […]

Door 16: Megarthrus of Mt. Cameroon and the Linnean Shortfall

Given this years theme of biodiversity, climate and conservation, I have decided to showcase a small part of my own MSc project for the advent calendar this year. As mentioned in a couple of the previous posts of the calendar, biodiversity is undergoing a crisis comparable only to […]

Day 15: What’s coming next year!

December is a time to reflect on the year that has passed, both the happy and sad, the success and the failures. But it’s also a time to look forward to the year ahead, new possibilities and opportunities. For me, this is especially important, as next time December […]