The physiology group

The physiology group studies the physiology and ecophysiology of various groups of organisms, including birds, fish, insects, and woody plants, at levels ranging from individual cells (insect nerves), through isolated tissues and organs (tree leaves and buds), to whole organisms (insects and birds). There are five subgroups with emphases in bird energetics, fish physiology, insect neurophysiology, insect stress physiology, and plant stress physiology.

The group has the following main sub-groups:

• Professor Claus Bech's bird ecophysiology lab studies energetics in a variety of bird species, including shags in Norway, kittiwakes on Svalbard, snow petrels in Antarctica, and a laboratory population of Australian zebra finches.
• The fish physiology group , including professor Kjell Nilssen and Odd Arne Gulseth, studies life history traits, salt water tolerance, and stress responses of Arctic charr ( / Salvelinus alpinus / ) on Svalbard.
• Professor Hanna Mustaparta and associate professor Tor Jørgen Almaas collaborate in the physiology group's neuroscience unit, which studies olfactory sensing and signal processing in insect nervous systems, using a variety of moths and weevils as experimental subjects.
• The insect ecophysiology group under professor Karl Eric Zachariassen focuses primarily on the structure and function of antifreeze proteins, recrystallization inhibitors, ice nucleators, and polyols in insect low-temperature tolerance.
• Associate professor Richard Strimbeck is the group's plant physiologist . He studies low-temperature tolerance and winter injury in conifers and other woody plant species.