Door 21: The evolution of stress related genes in parasitic flatworms

It is always a pleasure if international scientific cooperations deliver exciting results. This was the case with my cooperation with colleagues at the University Hasselt, Belgium. The study was a key component of the PhD thesis of Armando J. Cruz‑Laufer who also coordinated the drafting of the scientific […]

Door 20: Looking at the past to understand the future of Leopard Seals

Cover picture by Sue Flood Last time, I wrote about how glacial-isolation caused the divergence of a small population of ringed seals in the Ilulissat Icefjord, West Greenland. The text ended with a final consideration on the importance of developing research plan to retrieve molecular data for Arctic […]

Door 19: The genome of the flatworm model species Schmidtea mediterranea

Earlier this year in September Ivanković and colleagues published the results of a study coordinated by the research group of Jochen Rink at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany and presented highly improved genomes of the four planarian flatworm species from the genus Schmidtea. These […]

Door 13: Discovering hidden microscopic diversity in Norway

Whenever you hear the word fungi, chances are high that you are thinking of the colourful variation of mushroom fruiting bodies popping up in high abundance during the fall. Or maybe you’re thinking of the vast webs of underground mycelia that most fungi produce. For some, the frightening […]

Dør 13: Oppdag det skjulte mikroskopiske mangfoldet i Norge

Når du hører ordet sopp, er sjansen stor for at du tenker på den fargerike variasjonen av soppfruktlegemer som popper opp i store mengder om høsten. Eller kanskje du tenker på de enorme nettene av underjordiske mycel som de fleste sopper produserer. For noen er kanskje den skremmende […]

Door 11: Finding new species to Norway – how easy can it be?

For most people, discovering new species seems like an extraordinary event, something that happens only once in a lifetime or at least something very rare. However, for some groups of organisms, particularly understudied ones, it’s actually very easy to come across a new species to science and perhaps […]

Door 10: Habitat fragmentation shaping the beetle communities of African mountains

Human-mediated alteration and conversion of forest ecosystems cause massive changes in the species compositions of communities in affected areas. The large scale monetary incentives of deforestation, especially in threatened tropical rainforests, plays a massive role in the rapid loss of habitats and nature seen worldwide. Even in the […]

Dør 10: Fragmentering av habitater former billesamfunnene i afrikanske fjell

Menneskeskapte endringer og omdanning av skogøkosystemer fører til massive endringer i artssammensetningen i de berørte områdene. De storstilte økonomiske insentivene til avskoging, særlig i truet tropisk regnskog, spiller en viktig rolle i det raske tapet av habitater og natur som vi ser verden over. Selv i det langt […]

Door 9: Divergence by isolation in Marine Mammals – the case of Kangia ringed seals

Cover: Picture by Greenland Institute of Natural Resources When I need to take a break from work, I often stroll around the Oslo Natural History Museum. Zoological collections have always fascinated me since I was a child, and now that I work for one of them I`m able […]

Door 8: Erasmus – exchange of knowledge across Europe

CEG has a long standing tradition of hosting Erasmus students for an internship. This year we also had two students visiting us from Sardinia during the summer. “Erasmus+ is the EU’s program to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe.” It is a program that facilities knowledge […]