Southwest Norway Research Articles

Vertebra deformities in wild Atlantic salmon caught in the Figgjo River, southwest Norway

Summary In order to investigate the occurrence of vertebra deformities in wild Atlantic salmon, adult river migrating salmon were caught in the Figgjo River, Norway in 2010, 2011 and 2012 (n = 24; 21; 20). Based on a definition of a deformed fish having one or more deformed vertebrae, 28 out of 65 fish were classified as deformed. The majority were minor deviations of the morphology in vertebra no 2 and in vertebrae in the ural region (52–56). Vertebral fusions were observed, the majority of which were located in the post-cranial and posterior-truncal region of the vertebral column. Fusions typically resulted in a single large vertebra with a relatively normal amphicoelous structure, albeit with multiple neural and hemal arches. This indicates that wild salmon have a strong capability of ‘repairing’ vertebra pathologies, as this stage of a vertebra deformity should not be considered as pathological anymore. Occurrence of individuals with fusions varied over the sampling period (2010: 29%, 2011: 19%, 2012: 5%). Typical deformities observed in farmed salmon, e.g. vertebra compressions in the tail region, which often cause down-grading, financial losses and reduced welfare, were not observed in any of the analysed fish and can therefore be considered as ‘farming specific’. This is the first study of vertebra deformities in adult wild Atlantic salmon, and demonstrates that these fish can develop deformities up to a level observed in harvest-size farmed salmon. However, the severity of these malformations was found to be low compared to those commonly observed in farmed salmon. The results of this study may serve as a basis for future research on vertebra deformities in Atlantic salmon.

Innovation and Collapse: Bucket-Shaped Pottery and Metalwork in the Terminal Migration Period

In this article we focus on the third and final production phase for the distinct and atypical bucket-shaped pottery in south-west Norway, during the last decades of the Migration Period in the 6th century ad. The culmination of a unique progression that probably extended nearly two centuries, this phase is characterized by high-quality ceramics and metal handcraft. The two craft types had broadly similar trajectories, but eventually it seems only potting disappeared. We explore specific links between production modes for bucket-shaped pots, contemporary ceramic types and high-quality metal and glass objects. The approach combines recently analysed archaeometric data with sophisticated ethnographic understanding of the dynamics of paste recipes among potters, while also reviving and refining the astute conclusion by Haakon Shetelig (1905) dating back more than a century. We argue that knowledge transmission for high-quality bucket-shaped potting emanated from certain contexts which included artisans working in gold, silver and bronze. These workshops functioned as creative nodes, developing most of the new craft techniques in the 6th century. Consequently, the peak period and eventual demise of terminal Migration Period high-quality bucket-shaped potting cannot be viewed in isolation from the production modes of Style I animal art.

The suitability of hedonic models for cost-benefit analysis: Evidence from commuting flows

We compare two estimates of benefits arising from the construction of new bridges in south-west Norway. One estimate comes from a hedonic property value model. Rather than follow an approach which is strictly theoretically correct, we adopt Rosen’s simple first-stage approach. To investigate and validate whether this simplified approach gives a reasonable estimate, we compare it to an estimate derived from a travel demand model. We find that a variant of an ex post hedonic house price model gives very similar estimates to the estimates from the travel demand model. This supports a hypothesis that the simplistic hedonic approach is reasonable.

Sea level rise and submarine mass failures on open continental margins

Submarine mass failures (which include submarine slides or submarine landslides) occur widely on open continental margins. Understanding their cause is of great importance in view of the danger that they can pose both to coastal populations through tsunamis and to the exploitation of ocean floor resources through mass movement of the sea floor. Present knowledge of the causes of submarine mass failures is briefly reviewed, focussing on the role of sea level rise, a process which has previously only infrequently been cited as a cause. It is argued that sea level rise could easily have been involved in at least some of these events by contributing to increased overpressure in sediments of the continental margin whilst causing seismic activity. The Holocene Storegga Slide off South West Norway may have been partly caused by the early Holocene sea level rise in the area, accentuated by meltwater flux from the discharges of Lake Agassiz–Ojibway in North America. Relative sea level rise increased water loading on the Norwegian continental margin, increasing overpressure in the sediments and also causing seismic activity, triggering the Holocene Storegga Slide. Given that some forecasts of future sea level rise are not greatly different from rises which obtained during the early Holocene, the implications of rising sea levels for submarine mass failures in a global warming world are considered.

Parental food-related behaviors and family meal frequencies: associations in Norwegian dyads of parents and preadolescent children

BackgroundFrequent family meals are associated with healthy dietary behaviors and other desirable outcomes in children and adolescents. Therefore, increased knowledge about factors that may increase the occurrence of family meals is warranted. The present study has its focus on the home food environment, and aims to explore potential associations between parent-reported feeding behaviors and child-reported family meal frequencies.MethodsCross-sectional surveys were performed among 10-12-year-olds and their parents recruited from eighteen schools in southwest Norway. The child questionnaire included measures of family meal frequencies (breakfast, dinner and supper). The parent questionnaire included measures of parental feeding behaviors adapted from the Comprehensive Feeding Practices Questionnaire. A series of multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationships between parental feeding behaviors and the frequency of family meals.ResultsThe frequency of family breakfasts was associated with three parental feeding variables; home environment (β=.11, p<.05), pressure to eat (β=.11, p<.01), and monitoring (β=.10, p<.05). The frequency of family dinners and suppers was associated with one parental feeding variable; home environment (β=.11, p<.01 and β=.12, p<.01 for dinners and suppers respectively).ConclusionsThe home environment variable was the most important correlate of child-reported family meal frequencies in this study. Although further research is needed, our findings support the evident influence of parents and the home food environment on child and adolescent eating behavior, which in the present study was measured as the frequency of shared family meals.

Do shifting forest limits in south-west Norway keep up with climate change?

In this paper, high-resolution remote sensing data were used to investigate whether a change in the alpine forest limit is observable on the Hardangervidda plateau in south-west Norway. A comparison of declassified CORONA images from 1965 with modern digital aerial surveys from 2004 provided evidence for a change of forest limits towards higher elevations. However, the observed upslope movement is lower than should be expected considering local climate warming and changes in land use. Projections of climate-induced impacts on the forest limits on Hardangervidda based on equilibrium assumptions do not hold true. There are considerable differences between the reaction of forest cover and changes in tree line. Forest cover in alpine areas might show an extensive time lag in the reaction to climatic change, even though conditions for growth of individual trees may have improved considerably. Consequentially, it should be expected that warming temperatures will not cause an immediate and homogenous advancement of forest cover towards higher elevations.

Spatial Impacts, Local Labour Market Characteristics and Housing Prices

This paper takes as a starting-point a model where spatial variation in housing prices is explained by urban attraction and labour market accessibility effects. Using data from a region in south-west Norway, estimation results are found to be encumbered, however, with significant spatial effects. The spatial Durbin model is used to account for this and to provide estimates of direct and indirect impacts. In addition, hypotheses are tested that some of the spatial variation in housing prices reflects local labour market characteristics. Some support is found for a hypothesis that a model specification should account for sub-centres located at some distance from the central parts of the region. The indirect impacts estimated in the spatial Durbin model suggest that spatially related misspecifications of implicit elasticities in the ordinary least squares model are mainly due to negative externalities close to areas of high labour market accessibility.

First report of Tomato chlorotic dwarf viroid (TCDVd) in tomato in Norway and subsequent eradication.

In January 2012 a sample of tomato ( Solanum lycopersicon cv Juanita) was submitted to the Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera), via a horticultural consultant, from an established crop in the county Rogaland in Southwest Norway. The…

Sedimentary recycling in arc magmas: geochemical and U–Pb–Hf–O constraints on the Mesoproterozoic Suldal Arc, SW Norway

The Hardangervidda-Rogaland Block within southwest Norway is host to ~1.52 to 1.48 Ga continental building and variable reworking during the ~1.1 to 0.9 Ga Sveconorwegian orogeny. Due to the lack of geochronological and geochemical data, the timing and tectonic setting of early Mesoproterozoic magmatism has long been ambiguous. This paper presents zircon U–Pb–Hf–O isotope data combined with whole-rock geochemistry to address the age and petrogenesis of basement units within the Suldal region, located in the centre of the Hardangervidda-Rogaland Block. The basement comprises variably deformed grey gneisses and granitoids that petrologically and geochemically resemble mature volcanic arc lithologies. U–Pb ages confirm that magmatism occurred from ~1,521 to 1,485 Ma, and conspicuously lack any xenocrystic inheritance of distinctly older crust. Hafnium isotope data range from eHf(initial) +1 to +11, suggesting a rather juvenile magmatic source, but with possible involvement of late Palaeoproterozoic crust. Oxygen isotope data range from mantle-like (δ18O ~5 ‰) to elevated (~10 ‰) suggesting involvement of low-temperature altered material (e.g., supracrustal rocks) in the magma source. The Hf–O isotope array is compatible with mixing between mantle-derived material with young low-temperature altered material (oceanic crust/sediments) and older low-temperature altered material (continent-derived sediments). This, combined with a lack of xenoliths and xenocrysts, exposed older crust, AFC trends and S-type geochemistry, all point to mixing within a deep-crustal magma-generation zone. A proposed model comprises accretion of altered oceanic crust and the overlying sediments to a pre-existing continental margin, underthrusting to the magma-generation zone and remobilisation during arc magmatism. The geodynamic setting for this arc magmatism is comparable with that seen in the Phanerozoic (e.g., the Sierra Nevada and Coast Range batholiths), with compositions in the Suldal Sector reaching those of average upper continental crust. As within these younger examples, factors that drive magmatism towards the composition of the average continental crust include the addition of sedimentary material to magma source regions, and delamination of cumulate material. Underthrusting of sedimentary materials and their subsequent involvement in arc magmatism is perhaps a more widespread mechanism involved in continental growth than is currently recognised. Finally, the Suldal Arc magmatism represents a significant juvenile crustal addition to SW Fennoscandia.

A non‐collisional, accretionary Sveconorwegian orogen

Terra Nova, 25, 30–37, 2013AbstractThe late Mesoproterozoic Sveconorwegian orogen in southwest Baltica is traditionally interpreted as the eastward continuation of the Grenville orogen in Canada, resulting from collision with Amazonia, forming a central part in the assembly of the Rodinia supercontinent. We challenge this conventional view based on results from recent work in southwest Norway demonstrating voluminous subduction‐related magmatism in the period 1050–1020 Ma, followed by geographically restricted high‐T/medium‐P metamorphism between 1035 and 970 Ma, succeeded by ferroan magmatism over large parts of south Norway in the period 990–920 Ma. This magmatic and metamorphic evolution may be better understood as reflecting a long‐lived accretionary margin, undergoing periodic compression and extension, than continent–continent collision. This study has implications for Grenville–Sveconorwegian correlations, comparisons with modern continental margins, Rodinia reconstructions and how we recognize geodynamic settings in ancient orogens.

Spatial Transferability of Hedonic House Price Functions

McArthur D. P., Osland L. and Thorsen I. Spatial transferability of hedonic house price functions, Regional Studies. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether it is possible to use parameter estimates from a hedonic function estimated in one region to make reliable predictions in another region. Two regions in south-west Norway are taken as the example. Focus is placed on the stability and transferability of parameters attached to two measures of spatial structure: proximity to the central business district (CBD) and accessibility to the labour market. In making this judgement, classical statistical tests are employed alongside equivalence testing. The conclusions are that predictions made using transferred spatial structure parameters were equivalent given the chosen tolerance level. McArthur D. P., Osland L. et Thorsen I. La transférabilité géographique des fonctions hédoniques des prix du logement, Regional Studies. Cet article cherche à examiner si, oui ou non, on peut employer des estimations paramétriques à partir d'une fonction hédonique estimée dans une région particulière afin de prévoir exactement dans d'autres régions. Deux régions situées dans le sud-ouest de la Norvège servent d'études de cas. On met l'accent sur la stabilité et la transférabilité des paramètres attachés à deux mesures de la structure géographique: la proximité de la zone commerciale centrale (Central Business District; CBD) et l'accessibilité du marché du travail. En prononcant ce jugement, on emploie des tests statistiques classiques conjointement avec des tests d'équivalence. On conclut que les prévisions faites à partir des paramètres transférés de la structure géographique étaient équivalentes étant donné le niveau de tolérance choisi. Modèles hédoniques Transférabilité géographique Tests d'équivalence Stabilité paramétrique McArthur D. P., Osland L. und Thorsen I. Räumliche Übertragbarkeit von hedonischen Hauspreisfunktionen, Regional Studies. In diesem Beitrag wird untersucht, ob sich Parameter-Schätzungen einer hedonischen Funktion, die in einer Region vorgenommen wurden, für zuverlässige Prognosen in einer anderen Region nutzen lassen. Als Beispiel dienen zwei Regionen im Südwesten Norwegens. Der Schwerpunkt liegt auf der Stabilität und Übertragbarkeit der Parameter für die beiden Maßstäbe der Raumstruktur: die Nähe zum zentralen Geschäftsdistrikt und die Zugänglichkeit des Arbeitsmarkts. Für dieses Urteil kommen klassische statistische Tests gemeinsam mit Äquivalenztests zum Einsatz. Wir kommen zum Schluss, dass Prognosen, die mit Hilfe von übertragenen Parametern der Raumstruktur vorgenommen wurden, innerhalb des gewählten Toleranzbereichs äquivalent ausfielen. Hedonische Modelle Räumliche Übertragbarkeit Äquivalenztest Stabilität von Parametern McArthur D. P., Osland L. y Thorsen I. Transferibilidad espacial de las funciones de precios hedónicos de la vivienda, Regional Studies. El objetivo de este artículo es investigar si es posible utilizar estimaciones de parámetros de una función hedónica calculada en una región para hacer predicciones fiables en otra región. Se toman como ejemplos dos regiones del suroeste de Noruega. Nos fijamos en la estabilidad y transferibilidad de los parámetros para dos medidas de la estructura espacial: la proximidad al distrito comercial central y la accesibilidad al mercado laboral. Para hacer esta evaluación empleamos pruebas estadísticas clásicas junto con un test de equivalencia. Llegamos a la conclusión de que las predicciones realizadas usando parámetros transferidos de la estructura espacial eran equivalentes teniendo en cuenta el nivel de tolerancia elegido. Modelos hedónicos Transferibilidad espacial Prueba de equivalencia Estabilidad de parámetros

Community assembly in epiphytic lichens in early stages of colonization

Colonization studies may function as natural experiments and have the potential of addressing important questions about community assembly. We studied colonization for a guild of epiphytic lichens in a former treeless heathland area of 170 km2 in southwest Norway. We investigated if epiphytic lichen species richness and composition on aspen (Populus tremula) trees corresponded to a random draw of lichen individuals from the regional species pool. We compared lichen communities of isolated young (55-120 yr) and old (140-200 yr) forest patches in the heathland area to those of aspen forest in an adjacent reference area that has been forested for a long time. All thalli (lichen bodies) of 32 selected lichen species on trunks of aspen were recorded in 35 aspen sites. When data for each site category (young, old, and reference) were pooled, we found the species richness by rarefaction to be similar for reference sites and old sites, but significantly lower for young sites. The depauperated species richness of young sites was accompanied by a skew in species composition and absence of several species that were common in the reference sites. In contrast, genetic variation screened with neutral microsatellite markers in the lichen species Lobaria pulmonaria showed no significant differences between site categories. Our null hypothesis of a neutral species assembly in young sites corresponding to a random draw from the regional species pool was rejected, whereas an alternative hypothesis based on differences in colonization capacity among species was supported. The results indicate that for the habitat configuration in the heathland area (isolated patches constituting < 0.4% of the area) lichen communities may need a colonization time of 100-150 yr for species richness to level off, but given enough time, isolation will not affect species richness. We suggest that this contradiction to expectations from classical island equilibrium theory results from low extinction rates.

Decision Criteria for Climate Projects

Summary This article analyzes commercial decision criteria for climate projects. The latter will normally be executed by private players, for whom decision criteria developed from a commercial perspective are important. But such criteria are also important for the government in calculating the size of subsidies required for various measures. A ranking of different solutions in a socioeconomic context must rest on calculations made from a commercial perspective. Examples of the subjects covered include the calculation of abatement unit costs and cost estimating for climate projects. The carbon-capture project at the Kårstø gas-fired power station in southwest Norway is used as a case throughout the analysis.

Hans Nordeng: a man of principles

Professor, cand. real. Hans Nordeng died in Baerum, Norway in May 2010, at the age of 91 years. He was an extraordinary man; an unconventional, creative and hard-working scientist, and a very gifted teacher and tutor. Most of his publications were based on many years of research, often combining extensive field work and carefully planned experiments and transplantations (Vollestad and Skurdal 1994). Several of them contributed significantly to the fields of fish ecology and evolution. He kept a glowing enthusiasm for fish biology until a great age, publishing his last paper when he was 91 (Nordeng 2009). He grew up in Salangen, Northern Norway, close to the river that was to become the primary research system of his career. As a young recruit at an under-officer school, he fought in the battle at the Narvik-Gratangen front of World War II in the spring of 1940. He started a military career after the war but later went to university as a grown-up man. After graduation, he held an assignment with the Institute of Marine Research in Bergen before taking up a lectureship at the University of Oslo, a position he kept for most of his active life. Then, after retiring fromOslo, he was appointed as a full professor at the University of Tromso, finally achieving the personal chair he so much deserved. He served in this position for 2 years. Hans Nordeng published several innovative and influential papers. Two of them will always be tied to his name. The first, published in Nature (Nordeng 1971), proposed a pheromone hypothesis to explain the population specific homing of anadromous fishes to their native river. It was based on transferring fertilized eggs of anadromous arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) from the Salangen River system to a hatchery at Voss, south-west Norway (south of the range of anadromous charr), rearing the fish to the smolt stage (4 years), flying them back to northern Norway and releasing them in the estuaries of the Salangen River and a neighbouring river. These fish had experienced no olfactory cues from their home river water during rearing. Yet almost all the fish that were released in Salangen and the majority of the fish released in the other river, returned to the Salangen River. This strongly suggested that population specific pheromones, possibly bound to the skin mucus, provided the olfactory cues for homing; not the river water itself. He established important co-operation with physiologists to test the hypothesis (Doving et al. 1974), and successive pheromone research included several other migratory fish species. The second paper (Nordeng 1983) was based on his long-term studies of three sympatric Environ Biol Fish (2011) 91:367–368 DOI 10.1007/s10641-011-9793-3

Innovating in the Periphery: Firms, Values and Innovation in Southwest Norway

How do peripheral and relatively isolated regions innovate? Recent research has tended to stress the importance of agglomeration economies and geographical proximity as key motors of innovation. According to this research, large core areas have significant advantages with respect to peripheral areas in innovation potential. Yet, despite these trends, some remote areas of the periphery are remarkably innovative even in the absence of critical innovation masses. In this paper, we examine one such case—the region of southwest Norway—which has managed to remain innovative and dynamic, despite having a below average investment in R&D in the Norwegian context. The results of the paper highlight that innovation in southwest Norway does not stem from agglomeration and physical proximity, but from other types of proximity, such as cognitive and organizational proximity, rooted in soft institutional arrangements. This suggests that the formation of regional hubs with strong connections to international innovative networks may be a way to overcome peripherality in order to innovate.

Microbial and pathological findings in farmed Atlantic salmon Salmo salar with proliferative gill inflammation

Proliferative gill inflammation (PGI) is an important cause of loss in seawater-farmed Atlantic salmon in Norway. Several microbes have been associated with PGI, including the commonly but not exclusively observed inclusions (epitheliocysts) within the gill lamellae related to infection with 'Candidatus Piscichlamydia salmonis'. Atlantic salmon transferred in the spring of 2004 to 12 seawater farms situated in mid- and southwest Norway were sampled throughout that year. Outbreaks of PGI, as evaluated by clinical examination, histology, and mortality data, were diagnosed in 6 of 7 farms in southwest Norway but not in the 5 farms studied in mid-Norway. Generally, mortality started 3 to 5 mo after seawater transfer and outbreaks lasted at least 1 to 3 mo. 'Ca. P. salmonis' was detected by real-time PCR only in fish from PGI-affected farms and our results indicate an association between 'Ca. P. salmonis' load and PGI severity. Likewise, although widely distributed in all 12 farms studied, epitheliocyst prevalence and number per fish as observed by histology appears associated with PGI prevalence and severity. However, the occurrence of epitheliocysts showed no association with molecular detection of 'Ca. P. salmonis', suggesting that at least 1 other organism is responsible for many of the observed inclusions. A microsporidian, Desmozoon lepeophtherii, was identified at high prevalence regardless of fish and farm PGI status, but at higher loads in fish with PGI. Our results support a multifactorial etiology for PGI in which 'Ca. P. salmonis', an unidentified epitheliocyst agent, and the microsporidian are contributing causes. No evidence for the involvement of Atlantic salmon paramyxovirus in PGI development was identified in the present study. High water temperatures and ectoparasites probably exacerbated mortality.

The spatial transferability of parameters in a gravity model of commuting flows

This paper studies whether gravity model parameters estimated in one geographic area can give reasonable predictions of commuting flows in another. To do this, three sets of parameters are estimated for geographically proximate yet separate regions in south-west Norway. All possible combinations of data and parameters are considered, giving a total of nine cases. Of particular importance is the distinction between statistical equality of parameters and ‘practical’ equality, i.e. are the differences in predictions big enough to matter. A new type test based on the standardised root mean square error (SRMSE) and Monte Carlo simulation is proposed and utilised.

Magma flow and feeder chamber location inferred from magnetic fabrics in jotunitic dykes (Rogaland anorthosite province, SW Norway)

The ca. 930–920 Ma Rogaland anorthosite province of Southwest Norway is cross cutted by up to several-km-long dykes of the jotunite kindred. The fabric of three major jotunitic dykes from this igneous complex (the Vetteland, Varberg and Lomland dykes) is investigated here, using measurements of the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) made along transversal sampling sections. The petrofabric in the three studied dykes has an overall magmatic character and it is shown, through image analysis, that the AMS, which is controlled by the shape-preferred orientation of low-Ti titanomagnetite grains, can be used as a proxy for its orientation. The average magnetic fabrics, taken as flow markers, give valuable information on the geometry of the dykes and enable to locate the feeder magma chambers. It appears that each dyke is connected to its own chamber, in agreement with the conclusions of published geochemical studies. A model of emplacement along a set, probably two conjugate sets, of active shear zones is proposed. This model takes into account, in particular, the local occurrence of asymmetrical distributions of magnetic fabrics.

ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS OF VEGETABLE ROTATIONS IN NORWAY USING THE EU-ROTATE_N MODEL

ISHS IV International Symposium on Ecologically Sound Fertilization Strategies for Field Vegetable Production ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS OF VEGETABLE ROTATIONS IN NORWAY USING THE EU-ROTATE_N MODEL

The Spatial Transferability of Parameters in a Gravity Model of Commuting Flows

This paper studies whether gravity model parameters estimated in one geographic area can give reasonable predictions of commuting ows in another. To do this, three sets of parameters are estimated for geographically proximate yet separate regions in south-west Norway. All possible combinations of data and parameters are considered, giving a total of nine cases. Of particular importance is the distinction between statistical equality of parameters and 'practical' equality i.e. are the differences in predictions big enough to matter. A new type test best on the Standardised Root Mean Square Error (SRMSE) and Monte Carlo simulation is proposed and utilised.