Cumulative Impacts of Tourist Resorts on Wild Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) during Winter

Potential avoidance by wild reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) of high-altitude tourist resorts during winter was investigated in and near Rondane National Park in Norway. Distribution of reindeer was mapped using systematic snowmobile surveys during 1991-96 and compared with results from investigations of snow and vegetation characteristics. Maternal reindeer avoided a 10 km zone around the resort. Cows and calves increased in density from 0.6 ± 0.6 reindeer/km² at 5-10 km from the resort to 7.6 ± 2.2 reindeer/km² at 15-25 km from the resort. Bulls and yearlings were more tolerant, constituting nearly 92% of all observed animals 5-10 km from the resort. Nearly all animals avoided the zone within 5 km of the resort. There were no significant differences in distribution of lichen heath, hardness of snow, integrated ram hardness index (IRH) values, or snow depths on ridges with increasing distance from the resort. Available biomass of lichens was ca. 1200 g/m² 0-5 km from the resort and decreased to a low of ca. 250 g/m² at 15-25 km distance, a pattern that probably reflects overgrazing as a result of avoiding the tourist resort. Such avoidance implies reduced forage intake during winter, substantial reduction in available habitat, and lower productivity of the herd. The results suggest that avoidance by wild animals of sources of anthropogenic disturbance may involve long-term impacts, such as reductions in carrying capacity, that are more serious than those expected from direct physiological stress.On a étudié le comportement d'évitement des stations touristiques de haute altitude que semble manifester le renne sauvage (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) en hiver, dans le parc national Rondane même et dans ses environs, en Norvège. La distribution du renne a été cartographiée à l'aide de relevés systématiques effectués en motoneige entre 1991 et 1996, et comparée avec les résultats d'études des caractéristiques de la neige et de la végétation. Les mères rennes évitaient une zone de 10 km autour de la station. Les femelles et leurs petits augmentaient en densité de 0,6 ± 0,6 renne/km² entre 5 et 10 km de la station, à 7,6 ± 2,2 renne/km² entre 15 et 25 km de la station. Les mâles et les jeunes d'un an manifestaient une plus grande tolérance, représentant près de 92 p. cent de tous les animaux observés entre 5 et 10 km de la station. Pratiquement tous les animaux évitaient la zone située dans un rayon de 5 km. On n'a pas trouvé de différences significatives en fonction de l'éloignement de la station, dans la distribution de la bruyère à lichens, la dureté de la neige, les valeurs de l'indice intégré de dureté au bélier ou l'épaisseur nivale sur les crêtes. La biomasse de lichens disponible était d'environ 1200 g/m² entre 0 et 5 km de la station et diminuait à un minimum d'environ 250 g/m² à une distance de 15 à 25 km, répartition qui reflète probablement un surpâturage résultant de l'évitement de la station touristique. Ce comportement a pour conséquence une réduction de la consommation de végétation durant l'hiver, une réduction substantielle de l'habitat disponible et une diminution de la productivité du troupeau. Les résultats suggèrent que l'évitement de sources de perturbation anthropogénique par les animaux sauvages peut avoir des répercussions à long terme, comme des baisses de la capacité de charge biogénique, répercussions qui sont plus graves que celles auxquelles on s'attend d'un stress physiologique direct

Dietary and Reproductive Responses of Arctic Foxes to Changes in Small Rodent Abundance

Between 1988 and 1995, dens in three adjacent arctic fox (Alopex lagopus) territories were monitored in an alpine environment in south-central Norway (the Snøhetta plateau). A total of 675 scats were collected at dens in both winter and summer, and the numbers of resident adults and pups at emergence were counted each summer. Small rodents (mainly Lemmus sp. and Microtus sp.) were the most frequently consumed prey and made up the greatest volume within scats, in all seasons and at all stages of the rodent cycle. Small rodents were followed in frequency by reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), hares (Lepus timidus), birds, and vegetation. Birds and vegetation were more common in the summer diet than in the winter diet, reflecting their seasonal availability. The relative volume of reindeer and birds in the diet decreased with increasing rodent abundance. Increased pup production was associated with years of high rodent abundance and a high occurrence of rodents in the diet. Adult numbers were not associated with rodent abundance.Entre 1988 et 1995, on a observé les terriers du renard arctique (Alopex lagopus), dans trois territoires contigus situés dans un environnement alpin du centre-sud de la Norvège (le plateau Snøhetta). En hiver et en été, on a recueilli un total de 675 excréments sur le site des terriers, et chaque été, on a compté le nombre de résidents adultes et de petits qui faisaient leur première sortie du terrier. Les petits rongeurs (surtout Lemmus sp. et Microtus sp.) étaient la proie la plus fréquemment consommée et constituaient le plus gros volume des excréments, en toute saison et à toute étape de la vie du rongeur. Les petits rongeurs étaient suivis en fréquence par le renne (Rangifer tarandus), le lièvre (Lepus timidus), les oiseaux et la végétation. Les oiseaux et les plantes étaient plus courants dans le régime alimentaire estival que dans celui hivernal, ce qui reflétait la disponibilité saisonnière. Le volume relatif de renne et d'oiseaux dans l'alimentation diminuait avec l'augmentation de rongeurs. La production accrue de petits était associée aux années de grande abondance de rongeurs et à une occurrence élevée de rongeurs dans l'alimentation. Le nombre des adultes n'était pas relié à l'abondance de rongeurs

New indicator of habitat functionality reveals high risk of underestimating trade-offs among sustainable development goals: The case of wild reindeer and hydropower

Although biodiversity is crucial for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), following the current trajectory, we risk failing SDG 15. Using a new indicator quantifying the loss of functional habitat (habitat that is simultaneously suitable and well-connected), we show that the real impact of renewable energy is far larger than previously assumed. Specifically, we estimate that the construction of hydropower reservoirs in south Norway caused a loss of ca. 222 km2 of functional habitat for wild reindeer (Rangifer tarandus)—which is far larger than assumed based on land inundation indices (110 km2 ). Fully mitigating these impacts is challenging: scenario analyses reveal that the measures proposed by societal actors would yield only a fraction of the habitat lost (2–12 km2 ) and could cause trade-off risks with other SDGs. Using indices of functional connectivity is crucial for environmental impact assessments, as entire ecological networks for several species can be affected far beyond the reservoirs. Cumulative impacts, Functional connectivity and ecological networks, Habitat functionality, Land use changes, Renewable energypublishedVersio

Lessons learned and lingering uncertainties after seven years of chronic wasting disease management in Norway

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is well known among cervids in North America. Nevertheless, management faced different types and degrees of uncertainty when CWD was first detected in reindeer Rangifer tarandus in Nordfjella, Norway in 2016. We present a timeline of the efforts to control CWD, and identify how the process, measurement, environmental, and implementation uncertainties developed from the onset (2016) to the current situation (2023) after seven years of CWD management. In the ‘acute’ phase (2016–2019), political ambitions were high and depopulation of the Nordfjella reindeer area involving marksmen aimed at eradicating CWD. Subsequently, increased surveillance and increased male harvest was used to enable early detection or to achieve ‘freedom-from-CWD’ status of the adjacent populations. The second phase (2020-now) came when cases were detected in the large reindeer population in Hardangervidda. Management authorities postponed culling using marksmen, signifying an important change, with more emphasis on socio-political acceptance and consideration of the negative long-term consequences of conflicts with local stakeholders. The subsequent dialogue processes between scientists and local management ended in joint advice. However, the Ministry set aside all advice in 2022, halting further actions, after pressure and negative media attention. During this period, there was no clear research plan to increase knowledge of CWD to reduce process uncertainty; however, large surveillance investments were made to reduce measurement uncertainty. Despite this, detecting and estimating CWD among reindeer at low prevalence remains a key challenge. Governance challenges have emerged as significant implementation uncertainties, partly due to the uncertain occurrence of CWD. management uncertainty, prion diseases, prion protein gene (PRNP), prion strains, reindeerpublishedVersio

Public – private partnership: A critical discussion

Public-private partnerships have long been highly valued in Western welfare states, and the valuation of such cooperation has become even stronger in light of last year’s economic turbulence, particularly with voluntary non-profit organizations (VNPOs). At the same time, the voluntary sector is changing. The broad popular movements have generally declined in favour of more individual interests as the basis for forming VNPOs, and those organisations still involved in the provision of social services are becoming more and more similar to public service, due to requirements placed on them by the public sector. This is believed to have consequences for the value of such cooperation. If voluntary organisations in public services – or other private organisations for the matter – are becoming copies of public services, there is not much value to be gained from such cooperation, except for some financial gain.In this article, we argue that this conclusion is based on a rather narrow perception of public-voluntary cooperation. Research and debate on such cooperation are mainly preoccupied by what we call supplementary relations, in which voluntary organizations are assessed according to whether they can deliver cheaper or better services than the public sector. Based on an example of public-voluntary cooperation in preventive social work among young adults in Norway, the article show that public-voluntary collaboration can be truly valuable when it is based on a complimentary relation, in which parties collaborate because they command different resources equally important to the task at hand

Skatten som ingen ville ha, men "alle" fikk – En empirisk analyse av eiendomsskattens effekt på boligpriser i Norge.

Innføring av eiendomsskatt er et tilbakevendende tema ved norske kommunevalg. Generelt sett er kommunenes inntekter sentralt bestemt, men beslutning om og utforming av eiendomsskatten gjøres lokalt. Eiendomsskatten skrives ut uavhengig av boligeierens inntekt og nettoformue, noe som har ført til steile fronter og opphetede diskusjoner, både lokalt og nasjonalt. Oppgavens formål er å belyse eiendomsskattens langsiktige kapitalisering i boligprisen. Tidligere studier har belaget seg på et begrenset tidsrom og finner at eiendomsskatten kapitaliseres i boligprisene. Dermed er det interessant å finne ut av om det samme gjelder på lang sikt. Vi benytter kommunedata fra Statistisk sentralbyrå (SSB), Norsk samfunnsvitenskapelig datatjeneste (NSD) og Huseiernes landsforbund, samt et transaksjonsdatasett for alle fritt omsatte boliger fra Norkart for å besvare problemstillingen «påvirker eiendomsskatten boligprisene?». Den økonometriske analysen er gjennomført ved bruk av statistikkprogramvaren STATA og baserer seg på metodikken kjent som «Pooled Ordinary Least Squares» og modeller med faste effekter på kommune -og regionsnivå. Det kontrolleres direkte og indirekte for relevante variabler som påvirker boligprisene. Fra analysen fremgår det at eiendomsskatten kapitaliseres i boligprisene og at effekten vedvarer over tid. Funnene samsvarer med øvrig litteratur på feltet og er i tråd med kapitaliseringshypotesen.In the Norwegian local elections, the property tax is a reoccurring topic of debate. In general, the financing of Norwegian municipalities is quite centralized. However, decisions regarding whether or not to introduce property tax, and the layout of it, is controlled locally. Owners of property may be taxed regardless of their income and net worth. This has led to heated discussions, both locally and nationally. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the long term capitalization of property tax in house prices. Earlier, short term studies have shown that the property tax is capitalized into house prices. Therefore, it is interesting to explore the long term effects. We are utilizing aggregated data collected from Statistics Norway (SSB), Norwegian Centre for Research Data (NSD), and The Norwegian Homeowners Association. The real estate transaction dataset is compiled by Norkart. We have used STATA for the econometric analysis which is based upon the method of «Pooled Ordinary Least Squares» and fixed effects modeling. We control for variables directly and implicitly affecting house prices. In the analysis, we find that the property tax is capitalized into the house prices on a long term basis. The findings are consistent with current literature and theory

Analysis of G-Block Distributions and Their Impact on Gel Properties of in Vitro Epimerized Mannuronan

This paper reports a study of the distribution and function of homopolymeric guluronic acid blocks (G-blocks) in enzymatically modified alginate. High molecular weight mannuronan was incubated with one native (AlgE6) and two engineered G-block generating mannuronan C-5 epimerases (AlgE64 and EM1). These samples were found to contain G-blocks with a DP ranging from 20 to approximately 50, lacking the extremely long G-blocks (DP > 100) found in algal alginates. Calcium gels from epimerized materials were highly compressible and exhibited higher syneresis and rupture strength but lower Youngs modulus than gels made from algal polymers of similar G-content. Addition of extremely long G-blocks to the epimerized alginate resulted in decreased syneresis and rupture strength and an increased Young’s modulus that can be explained by reinforcement of the cross-linking zones at the cost of length and/or numbers of elastic segments. The presence and impact of these extremely long G-blocks found in natural alginates suggest that alginate gels can be viewed as a nanocomposite material.acceptedVersion© American Chemical Society 2013. This is the authors accepted and refereed manuscript to the article

Skatten som ingen ville ha, men "alle" fikk – En empirisk analyse av eiendomsskattens effekt på boligpriser i Norge.

Innføring av eiendomsskatt er et tilbakevendende tema ved norske kommunevalg. Generelt sett er kommunenes inntekter sentralt bestemt, men beslutning om og utforming av eiendomsskatten gjøres lokalt. Eiendomsskatten skrives ut uavhengig av boligeierens inntekt og nettoformue, noe som har ført til steile fronter og opphetede diskusjoner, både lokalt og nasjonalt. Oppgavens formål er å belyse eiendomsskattens langsiktige kapitalisering i boligprisen. Tidligere studier har belaget seg på et begrenset tidsrom og finner at eiendomsskatten kapitaliseres i boligprisene. Dermed er det interessant å finne ut av om det samme gjelder på lang sikt. Vi benytter kommunedata fra Statistisk sentralbyrå (SSB), Norsk samfunnsvitenskapelig datatjeneste (NSD) og Huseiernes landsforbund, samt et transaksjonsdatasett for alle fritt omsatte boliger fra Norkart for å besvare problemstillingen «påvirker eiendomsskatten boligprisene?». Den økonometriske analysen er gjennomført ved bruk av statistikkprogramvaren STATA og baserer seg på metodikken kjent som «Pooled Ordinary Least Squares» og modeller med faste effekter på kommune- og regionsnivå. Det kontrolleres direkte og indirekte for relevante variabler som påvirker boligprisene. Fra analysen fremgår det at eiendomsskatten kapitaliseres i boligprisene og at effekten vedvarer over tid. Funnene samsvarer med øvrig litteratur på feltet og er i tråd med kapitaliseringshypotesen.In the Norwegian local elections, the property tax is a reoccurring topic of debate. In general, the financing of Norwegian municipalities is quite centralized. However, decisions regarding whether or not to introduce property tax, and the layout of it, is controlled locally. Owners of property may be taxed regardless of their income and net worth. This has led to heated discussions, both locally and nationally. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the long term capitalization of property tax in house prices. Earlier, short term studies have shown that the property tax is capitalized into house prices. Therefore, it is interesting to explore the long term effects. We are utilizing aggregated data collected from Statistics Norway (SSB), Norwegian Centre for Research Data (NSD), and The Norwegian Homeowners Association. The real estate transaction dataset is compiled by Norkart. We have used STATA for the econometric analysis which is based upon the method of «Pooled Ordinary Least Squares» and fixed effects modeling. We control for variables directly and implicitly affecting house prices. In the analysis, we find that the property tax is capitalized into the house prices on a long term basis. The findings are consistent with current literature and theory