Despite inbreeding and limited genetic diversity, the Svalbard reindeer has managed to adapt to extreme living conditions in record time — what researchers call a genetic paradox. But can they survive climate change?
The number of lemmings varies greatly from year to year. Other species also have similar fluctuations. Why is it like this, and what happens if lemming years happen less often?
The plant is called common ragweed, and if you are allergic to pollen, you should probably pay extra close attention. This is one of the invasive plants that supergenes have brought to Norway.
An NTNU professor has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant to investigate how species can survive a changing environment.
Even seemingly small changes in the climate can change the number of animals and plants in an area and how species behave, new research shows. Natural history collections provide valuable insights.
How animals and plants adapt to the environment is often particularly evident on islands. Now Darwin’s giant daisies are helping researchers understand a little more about how these plants actually go about adapting.
The prevailing belief by researchers has been that mothers of twins are more fertile than other women. But a new study shows that isn’t the case.
An animal’s ability to adapt to its environment is clearly key to its survival, but does that ability come at a physiological cost? A clever experiment with laboratory zebrafish and their wild relatives suggests it does.
Ocean-dwelling dolphins have repeatedly adapted to life in coastal areas throughout history.
The Norwegian wolf died out in the wild a long time ago. The wolves in Norwegian forests today are Finnish. Inbreeding is making them prone to extinction as well.
A 12 000-year-old stickleback shows how species adapt.
Women and men are often jealous for completely different reasons. This gender difference occurs so early that it surprised the researchers.
This brand new species of cuckoo wasp was discovered because of its own language.
Uncommon lessons learned from the world’s most widespread bird.
If global warming happens too quickly, not all species will be able to adapt in time.
The EU has awarded two million euros for research on how animals are coping with climate changes.
Inbred birds don’t live as long and have fewer offspring than non-inbred birds. Inbreeding is equally harmful regardless of where the birds live.
Once upon a time, lions were the world’s most widespread mammals. Now we know more about their genealogy – and that could make it easier to help the species survive.
Why do some organisms evolve and others don’t? The answer could help in the fight against both cancer and corona.
It’s not easy being a tiny willow on the wind-and snow-blasted islands of the Norwegian territory of Svalbard. It turns out that Salix polaris, the polar willow, handles these tough conditions by growing as best it can in response to July temperatures — a response that researchers recorded all over the archipelago.
It took seven years, countless beetle penis field investigations, and hours upon hours on hands and knees in coastal wetlands. This is the story of all the research that has to happen before a new species can finally get its official name.
During the time of Darwin, anthropogeny was the study of human origins. Its sub-discipline paleoanthropology has since taken over, which focuses on fossils found in dry parts of Africa. These fossils don’t tell us much about why or where humans actually evolved.
As reindeer go, the animals living on Svalbard might not be Santa’s first choice. They’re a smaller subspecies of their common mainland relatives, and to save energy they basically never run. But because they were nearly exterminated from Svalbard around 1900 — and were then protected in 1925 — the animals provide unique insights into how conservation can help species thrive.
Ecologist Daniel H. Janzen has spent virtually all of his half-century career trying to catalogue and understand the creatures in a patch of dry tropical forest in northwestern Costa Rica. Little did he realize his efforts would evolve into building a sea-to-summit conservation area — and a drive to inventory all million species in the country in partnership with the Costa Rican government.
