Academic interests
General ecology, bird ringing, and especially birds movements in time and space.
Courses taught
- Kindergarden teacher education: Science
- Teacher education: Science
Background
My Cand. Scient degree are from the University of Tromsø, with theme evolutionary ecology, and focused on effects from organochlorines at reproduction in the worlds largest gull, the Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus.
The last years I have connected to the University of Oslo with different seabird projects. Among others I coordinate the SEAPOP (SEAbird POPulations, www.seapop.no) and the SEATRACK (SEAbird TRACKing, www.seapop.no/en/seatrack/) projects in Vest-Agder, and also gather field data for the Urban Fiord project lead by the Norwegian Environment Agency. Here we study organochlorine levels in Herring Gull Larus argentatus and Common Eider Somateria molissima. Since 2010 I have lead an ongoing project that focus on gulls that we find in urban areas, URBPOP (URBan POPulations). Several thousand gulls of many species has been ringed by voulenteers all over Norway, with colorrings that can be read on distance. Me and my collaborators uses this method to study and get comparative data on Oystercatchers Hamentopus ostralegus, Moorhen Gallinula chloropus and Coots Fulica atra, and Swans. What is especially interesting is that we can follow the same individual birds over long time, as we get many sightings for each bird. Most of the sighting data come from volunteer reporters, that report their sightings at the web page www.ringmerking.no. This is a interesting way of getting knowledge from nature that is well suited for use in different ecology and science education.