Lichen

Björn Nordén

I am a forest ecologist and conservation scientist, and an expert in the biodiversity of temperate deciduous forest (edelløvskog), the worlds’ most degraded biome. Since there is so little left of the temperate deciduous forest, restoration is necessary, and I have led several projects on experimental evaluation of restoration measures at various scales, from creation of microhabitats to release cutting and landscape effects.

There is a strong tendency of taxonomic bias within conservation, meaning that nearly all interest is focused on a few taxa such as large animals and vascular plants, while hyper-diverse taxa such as fungi and insects are often neglected. I therefore engage in both basic exploration of biodiversity within hyper-diverse taxa, and study the effects of habitat loss, management et c on multiple taxa, including plants, bryophytes, lichens, fungi, and various insect groups. As a trained mycologist, I have over 30 years professional experience and a long list of publications on the biodiversity, ecology, taxonomy and conservation of Ascomycota, including lichenized species. Knowledge on species identification and taxonomy of hyper-diverse taxa are essential for such studies, but highly threatened and decreasing skills worldwide. My own taxonomic expertise is within pyrenomycetoid ascomycetes, especially those associated with living trees and dead wood, and I have described several species new to science from the Nordic countries.

Starting with my PhD, I have also published several papers on dispersal ecology, effects of habitat continuity, and the use of Indicator species, especially concerning cryptogams.

Jarle Werner Bjerke

• Research on climate effects, especially related to climate change and extreme weather events in boreal and Arctic areas;
• Experimental studies for providing baselines for modeling og on-going and future ecosystem change due to climate change;
• Grazing ecology, especially related to effects of reindeer and goose;
• Anthropogenic effects, especially changes in land use (e.g. afforestation, industry, reduced outfield grazing) and air pollution, plus indirect effects via climate change, as listed above;
• Evaluations of biological diversity
• Taxonomy and systematics, especially on some lichen genera
• Impact assessments prior to planned land use changes.