Research Areas
Marine ecological modelling: With the complexity of ecological and environmental sciences, mathematical modelling has become a common language and a unifying tool for processes at and between all levels from organism to ecosystem. Modelling is therefore the unifying activity in BATMARE and the research group hosts a unique postgraduate and doctoral study in marine ecological modelling. Courses are given at the Depts of Mathematics, Geophysics, Microbiology and Fisheries & Marine Biology. The courses and the supervision in ecological modellling span from numerical representation of sub-grid hydrodynamical processes through modelling large-scale horizontal and vertical migrations of aquatic organisms to food-web dynamics in the ecosystems. BATMARE is in the forefront of individual-based modelling of higher trophic levels (zooplankton and fish) through evolutionary models of motivation and decision, and of environmental modelling of mortality risk and food encounter rates. 7 students have been supervised to a dr. degree in marine ecological modelling the last 4 years. Modelling the dynamics of ocean systems requires substantial computing power, which is available through the Parallab supercomputing centre.
Carbon cycle and climate: BATMARE has long experience in various aspects of marine climate, geochemistry and oceanography. We have up-to-date laboratories in chemical oceanography particularly focused on the carbon cycle, air/sea gas exchange and stable isotopes in seawater. The main focus of the group is on air/sea exchange of carbon, advection and transport of carbon, carbon budgets, the size of the sink and sources of carbon in the Nordic Seas and the North Atlantic Ocean. The group performs advanced and high precision measurements of pH, Ct and fCO2 both in a discrete and automated underway mode, as well as discrete measurement of 13C of DIC in the water.
Fjord studies: Bergen is surrounded by a number of deep fjords (down to 1300m), and investigations of these ecosystems have been central to BATMARE. These studies span from physical oceanography and circulation to biogeography and population and ecosystem studies. BATMARE has more than 25 years experience in studies of physical-oceanographical processes in fjords, shelves and shelf seas including exchange processes, mixing, topographic effects, internal waves and tide. The methods applied cover field experiments and numerical and analytical modelling.The various fjords are ideal for testing ecological hypotheses and for comparative research. Within one hour, BATMARE scientists can investigate ecological processes in organisms, populations and guilds that elsewhere are only seen in oceanic deepwaters. In recent years use of an advanced ROV has been of utmost importance for in situ studies of spatial distribution and behaviour of large, deepwater pelagic organisms.
Marine microbiology in BATMARE has focussed on the interactions between functional groups such as viruses, heterotrophic bacteria, phytoplankton and protozoa. The work has been intimately linked to the experimental mesocosm facilities and modelling. The theories developed through this work link viruses to diversity control and element cycling in the microbial food web. A method to analyse the elemental composition (all elements except H) of single bacterial cells has been developed at the Dept. of Microbiology. The method, X-ray microanalyses in electron microscope, makes it possible to analyse all elements in particles in bacterial size.
Mesocosm planktonic food web work: Besides research facilities for growing marine algae under strictly controlled conditions, BATMARE coordinates the Norwegian Mesocosm Center at the Espegrend Marine Biological Station. This facility has been the central research site in several EC projects, and is used for studies in geophysics, microbiology, phytoplankton and zooplankton. The BATMARE group has 15 year experience from successfully conducting interdisciplinary multinational co-operative pelagic food chain experiments including several trophic levels.
While mesocosms allow studies in simplified but natural ecosystems, there is also a need for detailed studies of organismal responses. The experimental plankton and larval fish studies in BATMARE focus on environmental impact on growth and survival of marine organisms. These studies benefit from a flexible larval and juvenile fish rearing and experimental unit where excellent growth and survival rates are routinely obtained (i.e. up to 30% weight increase per day for cod larvae; less than 0.2% mortality per day in herring larvae). Calanoid copepods, euphausiids, jellyfish and ctenophores have also been successfully kept in culture in these laboratories. More than 15 Master and PhD students have used these facilities for their thesis work during the last 10 years. BATMARE scientists are also using a range of experimental and analytical techniques for the quantification of energy-flow components, i.e. ingestion, assimilation, respiration, excretion, growth and reproduction.
Because ecosystem dynamics depend on events at the individual level and on interactions among individuals that vary genetically, and since it is the individuals that experience changing environments, there is a need for detailed studies of individual variation in behaviour and in behavioural responses to internal and external cues. This is the focus of the Experimental behaviour studies in BATMARE. Experimental designs include from single factor effects to repeated measures design, and benefit from collaboration among biologists and a statistician with experience in analysing experimental data. The activity benefits from installations which allow simulation of environmental influence on behaviour of marine fish and zooplankton, and in situ field studies of fish behaviour. More than 30 Master and PhD students have used the available facilities for their thesis work during the last 10 years. BATMARE covers many aspects of behaviour, i.e.: habitat choice in sub-littoral fish; influence of interactions between pathogens and their hosts on behaviour and life-history; feeding behaviour in a variable environment; effect of genetic factors on learning and feeding behaviour; anti-predator behaviour in relation to learning.
Parasite epidemiology and host-parasite interactions: While ecology over the past decades gradually has incorporated effects of predators and resources as simultaneously operating forces, the effects of parasites and diseases is yet given far less attention. Parasites impact behaviour and life history of their hosts, and BATMARE has facilities and skills to study host-parasite interactions in the laboratory to conduct experimental field studies, and to incorporate their effects in mathematical modelling. Epidemiological and evolutionary studies of how increased local population densities may affect parasite virulence are currently at the focus of our interests as well as macroecological studies, using the comparative method.
Taxonomy and biogeography: A prerequiste for ecological understanding is a correct identification of the organisms. BATMARE includes a group of highly skilled staff able to provide taxonomic assistance on most kinds of marine organisms encountered around Bergen or during our cruises. These studies can also be supplemented with genetic analyses. Besides, these scientists are also specialists in several specific taxa.
Ecotoxicological
studies
of effects of pollutants on marine organisms. Laboratory and field studies
of molecular responses using toxicoproteomic approaches for developing
biomarkers and mechanistic studies.
