Master's studies

Our work within Terrestrial Ecology focuses on three subject areas:

i)   Ecological and evolutionary processes: What are the abiotic and biotic processes that underlie biodiversity patterns? We work at the interfaces of evolutionary ecology, experimental ecology, macroecology, and palaeoecology to address this question.

ii)  Biodiversity and ecosystem dynamics under global change: We focus on land management, climate change effects on biodiversity and ecosystems, and contemporary evolution.

iii) Social-ecological systems: What are the interactions between social and ecological systems? We have a special focus on UNESCO designated Biosphere areas, ecosystem services, and nature-based solutions.

We are a large research group with nine permanent members of staff, all of whom manage their own research teams. A master's project in our group offers a diverse set of opportunities such as field or laboratory experiments that identify drivers of biodiversity or evolutionary change, reconstructions of long-term ecological processes using ancient pollen grains, and mapping land-use changes and social values related to ecosystem services and sustainable development. This work can be done in different biomes (arctic, alpine, temperate, desert, tropical), but mainly in terrestrial ecosystems, and at different geographical locations (across Norway, and in many other localities around the world).

What pulls us together as a group is a focus on (the effect of) environmental and ecological change on species or ecosystems and the collaborative effort to develop good field and statistical methods to enable us to answer complicated questions using "real" field data. Most of us collect our own data in the field, but some use data collected as part of larger projects or from databases. 

Terrestrial Ecology believes that the best master's projects are developed in collaboration between the student and the supervisors. The challenge is to find a specific topic and research system that interests the student and where our research group has research interests and expertise, and design a good master's thesis project that will give the student an interesting and challenging research experience in all phases of the work, from data collection via analyses to write-up.  

MSc activities / support: weekly research group meetings, where ongoing and future research in the group is presented and discussed; R-coding club (external link); research group parties; social activities. 

We have a policy of supporting student participation in at least one international scientific conference (financial support can be applied for) and we encourage and support (but do not demand or guarantee) the development of master's projects that will be publishable in the scientific literature. We think of the publication process as an important (and fun!) part of the scientific experience that a master's education should be. 

We encourage possible students to visit the webpages of the specific research teams within Terrestrial Ecology to find out more. If you have a good idea for a project that fits within the research of the group, please come and discuss it with us - we are mostly located on floors 3 and 4 of block A of Biologen, Thormøhlensgate 53A or can be contacted by email. 

Animal Ecology: Understanding species interactions (host-parasite) in a rapidly changing world (Adele Menneret)

Between the Fjords (external link): Ecological processes and drivers using field experiments in mountain landscapes (Vigdis Vandvik/Richard Telford)

Palaeoecology: Using ancient pollen grains (and other proxies) to reconstruct past changes in biodiversity and its drivers and investigating pollen chemistry (external link) (Anne Bjune/Alistair Seddon/Richard Telford)

Mountains in Motion (external link): Big data analyses of biodiversity change in mountains (Suzette Flantua)

UNESCO Chair: Social-ecological systems research into sustainable heritage and environmental management (Inger Måren)

Global Change: Researching relationships between land use, biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and ecosystem services (Pete Manning)

Pollinator Ecology: Networks and interactions between flowers and pollinators (Ørjan Totland)

A list of current MSc students affiliated with Terrestrial Ecology and their projects.