The Falkland Islands’ palaeoecological response to millennial‐scale climate perturbations during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition: implications for future vegetation stability in the southern ocean islands

Oceanic island flora is vulnerable to future climate warming, which is likely to promote changes in vegetation composition, and invasion of non‐native species. Sub‐Antarctic islands are predicted to experience rapid warming during the next century; therefore, establishing trajectories of change in vegetation communities is essential for developing conservation strategies to preserve biological diversity. We present a Late‐glacial‐early Holocene (16 500–6450 cal a bp) palaeoecological record from Hooker's Point, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Atlantic. This period spans the Pleistocene‐Holocene transition, providing insight into biological responses to abrupt climate change. Pollen and plant macrofossil records appear insensitive to climatic cooling during the Late‐glacial, but undergo rapid turnover in response to regional warming. The absence of trees throughout the Late‐glacial‐early Holocene enables the recognition of far‐travelled pollen from southern South America. The first occurrence of Nothofagus (southern beech) may reflect changes in the strength and/or position of the Southern Westerly Wind Belt during the Late‐glacial period. Peat inception and accumulation at Hooker's Point is likely to be promoted by the recalcitrant litter of wind‐adapted flora. This recalcitrant litter helps to explain widespread peatland development in a comparatively dry environment, and suggests that wind‐adapted peatlands can remain carbon sinks even under low precipitation regimes

The immigration and spread of spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) in Norway, traced by pollen analysis and radiocarbon datings. A preliminary report

Biostratigraphical studies and radiocarbon datings from 86 sites, mostly ombrotrophic peatbogs, situated within the South-Norwegian spruce forest domain, show that the occupation of the areas by spruce forest was the result of a protracted spread from east, or northeast, to west and south, which started in late pre-Christian time and was completed primarily during the Middle Ages.Hafsten Ulf. The immigration and spread of spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) in Norway, traced by pollen analysis and radiocarbon datings. A preliminary report. In: Ecologia mediterranea, tome 11 n°1, 1985. Changements hydrologiques dans la zone tempérée au cours des quinze derniers millénaires / Paleohydrological changes in the temperate zone in the last 15000 years. Marseille (France) 3-5/07/1984. pp. 83-89

Capacity of a flow-through biofilter system to secure K-selection and microbial stability in the out-flowing water

Water treatment and design of aquaculture systems are typically focused on optimising physicochemical water quality and efforts to maintain bacteria numbers low. High bacteria numbers are not necessarily problematic for the cultured organisms as long as the system is bio-stable and all other requirements are met. In this Project the main objective is to optomise the systems for microbiial stability in the water instead of keeping low bacteria numbers. We are aiming at elucidating the underlying mechanisms to better understand the effects of water treatment on the microbial dynamics. The project will involve experiments for seawater in lab-scale continuous reactors

Med Jesus på gata i Oslo – En analyse av hvordan evangelistene i Open Air Campaigners opplever at mennesker responderer i møte med Open Air Campaigners’ gateevangelisering i Oslo

Denne masteravhandlingen er skrevet innenfor fagfeltet misjonsvitenskap og er en empirisk basert avhandling om gateevangelisering. Avhandlingens tittel er «Med Jesus på gata i Oslo – En analyse av hvordan evangelistene i Open Air Campaigners opplever at mennesker responderer i møte med Open Air Campaigners’ gateevangelisering i Oslo». I avhandlingen svarer jeg på følgende problemstilling: «Hvordan opplever evangelistene i Open Air Campaigners at mennesker på gata i Oslo responderer i møte med Open Air Campaigners’ gateevangelisering?» Avhandlingens teoridel presenterer teori om evangelisering, basert på hovedlitteraturen som er brukt i forskningsarbeidet. Litteraturen som er anvendt, er som følger: Handbook of Personal Evangelism av dr. A. Ray Stanford, Jesus overalt. Ei bok om evangelisering av Rolf Kjøde, og Bibelen. Metoden jeg har benyttet meg av er kvalitativ metode. Det empiriske materialet mitt baserer seg på intervjuer med fem gateevangelister som har deltatt i Open Air Campaigners’ evangeliseringsarbeid i Oslo. Evangelistene har individuelt besvart en spørreundersøkelse skriftlig via e-post. I avhandlingen konkluderer jeg med at evangelistene opplever å få mest likegyldig respons, i form av at mange ikke er interessert i å samtale med dem. De opplever imidlertid å få mer positiv respons enn negativ respons. Evangelistene blir sjelden møtt med veldig negativ respons. Den mest negative responsen de opplever, er i form av protest-rop mot det som blir forkynt og sinte kommentarer. Den mest positive responsen evangelistene erfarer, er når mennesker ønsker å høre mer om Jesus, tar imot en bibel eller kommer til tro på Jesus. Selv om det ikke er mange som tar imot Jesus på gata i Oslo, er det flere som får et mer positivt syn på evangeliet etter å ha samtalt med evangelistene. Denne avhandlingen bidrar dessuten til å bekrefte og utdype noe av forskningen til Robert Matanle Siakimotu, som har skrevet doktoravhandling om Open Air Campaigners’ evangeliseringsarbeid