About the research group

• Our research

  Global environmental change is a major threat to both biodiversity and human well-being. Understanding how global change influences the biogeochemical environment, biodiversity and ecosystems, as well as interactions between different global change drivers, is therefore vital for the future sustainable management of ecosystems.

  We use ecological field experiments and surveys to study effects of global change on plant communities, as well as interactions within and between trophic levels. We focus particularly on climate change effects on alpine ecosystems, which are considered especially vulnerable to global change.

  Much of our research is centered around the ITEX (International Tundra Experiment) site at Finse, Norway. Our research also includes basic plant ecology, restoration ecology and conservation ecology, and other ecosystems such as semi-natural grasslands and forests.

  Want to be our colleague? We support equality and diversity in research and value a team composed of people with a broad range of abilities, experiences, and backgrounds.

• People

Research

• Selected publications

  García-Criado, M., Barrio, I. C., Speed, J. D. M., Bjorkman, A. D., Elmendorf, S. C., Myers-Smith, I. H., Aerts, R., Alatalo, J. M., Betway-May, K. R., Björk, R. G., García-Criado, M., Barrio, I. C., Speed, J. D. M., Bjorkman, A. D., Elmendorf, S. C., Myers-Smith, I. H., Aerts, R., Alatalo, J. M., Betway-May, K. R., Björk, R. G., Björkman, M. P., Blok, D., Cooper, E. J., Cornelissen, J. H. C., Gould, W. A., Gya, R., Henry, G. H. R., Hermanutz, L., Hollister, R. D., Jägerbrand, A. K., Jónsdottir, I. S., Kaarlejärvi, E., Khitun, O., Lang, S. I., Macek, P., May, J. L., Michelsen, A., Normand, S., Olsen, S. L., Post, E., Rinnan, R., Schmidt, N. M., Sjogersten, S., Tolvanen, A., Töpper, J. P. Trant, A., Vandvik, V. & Vowles, T. 2025. Borealisation of plant communities in the Arctic is driven by boreal-tundra species. Ecology Letters 28: e70209

  García Criado, M., Myers-Smith, I. H., Bjorkman, A. D., Elmendorf, S. C., Normand, S., Aastrup, P., Aerts, R., Alatalo, J. M., Baeten, L., Björk, R. G., Björkman, M. P., Boulanger-Lapointe, N., Butler, E. E., Cooper, E. J., Cornelissen, J. H. C.,  Daskalova, G. N., Fadrique, B., Forbes, B. C., Henry, G. H. R., Hollister, R. D., Høye, T. T., Jacobsen, I. B. D., Jägerbrand, A. K., Jónsdóttir, I. S., Kaarlejärvi, E., Khitun, O., Klanderud, K., Kolari, T. H. M., Lang, S. I., Lecomte, N., Lenoir, J., Macek, P., Messier, J., Michelsen, A., Molau, U., Muscarella, R., Nielsen, M.-L., Bon, M. P., Post, E., Raundrup, K., Rinnan, R., Rixen, C., Ryde, I., Serra-Diaz, J. M., Schaepman-Strub, G., Schmidt, N. M., Schrodt, F., Sjögersten, S., Steinbauer, M. J., Stewart, L., Strandberg, B., Tolvanen, A., Tweedie, C. E. & Vellend, M. 2025. Plant diversity dynamics over space and time in a warming Arctic. Nature 642: 653-661.

  Roos, R. E., Birkemoe, T., Asplund, J., Halbritter Rechsteiner, A. H., Olsen, S. L., Vassvik, L., van Zuijlen, K. & Klanderud, K. 2022. Three decades of environmental change studies at alpine Finse, Norway: climate trends and responses across ecological scales. Arctic Science 9: 430-450.

  van Zuijlen, K., Klanderud, K., Dahle, O. S., Hasvik, Å., Knutsen, M. S., Olsen, S. L., Sundsbø, S. & Asplund, J. 2021. Community-level functional traits of alpine vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens after long-term experimental warming. Arctic Science 8: 843-857. 

  Roos, R. E., Birkemoe, T., Asplund, J., Ľuptáčik, P. Raschmanová, N., Alatalo, J. M., Olsen, S. L. & Klanderud, K. 2020. Legacy effects of experimental environmental change on soil micro-arthropod communities. Ecosphere 11: e03030.

  Vandvik, V., Klanderud, K., Halbritter, A., Telford, R., Goldberg, D. & Skarpaas, O. 2020. Biotic rescaling reveals importance of species interactions for variation in biodiversity responses to climate change across landscapes. PNAS 117: 22858-22865.

  Steinbauer, M. J., Grytnes, J.-A., Jurasinski, G., Kulonen, A., Lenoir, J., Pauli, H., Rixen, C., Winkler, M., Bardy-Durchhalter, M., Barni, E., Bjorkman, A. D., Breiner, F., Burg, S., Czortek, P., Dawes, M. A., Delimat, A., Dullinger, S., Erschbamer, B., Felde, V. A., Fernandez-Arberas, O., Fossheim, K. F., Gómez-García, D., Georges, D., Grindrud, E. T., Haider, S., Haugum, S. V., Henriksen, H., Herreros, M. J., Jaroszewicz, B., Jaroszynska, F. O. H., Kanka, R., Kapfer, J., Klanderud, K., Kühn, I., Lamprecht, A., Matteodo, M., Morra di Cella, U., Normand, S., Odland, A., Olsen, S. L., Palacio, S., Petey, M., Piscova, V., Sedlakova, B., Steinbauer, K., Stöckli, V., Svenning, J.-C., Teppa, G., Theurillat, J.-P., Vittoz, P., Woodin, S. J., Zimmermann, N. E. & Wipf, S. 2018. Accelerated increase in plant species richness on mountain summits is linked to warming. Nature 556: 231-234.

Follow us on Instagram!