Between The Fjords - Climate research in a fjord landscape

We are a research group in ecological science, based at the University of Bergen in Norway and led by Professor Vigdis Vandvik.

'Between the Fjords' is quite literally where we are placed, which allows us to study both coastal and alpine ecosystems. We use the landscape's natural gradients in temperature and precipitation to explore how climate interacts with vegetation directly, and indirectly - for example mediated by plant-plant and plant-soil interactions, or changes in functional traits. We are interested in a wide range of topics, such as vegetation demography, plant functional traits, land use changes and carbon cycling, which we study mostly in grasslands (using the Vestland Climate Grid) and heathlands. An overview of all our research projects can be found under 'Our research' in the menu.

Beyond our ‘in house’ research projects, we believe strongly in (inter)national collaboration. We are involved in numerous research projects and networks that facilitate studying long-term and large scale processes. Our affiliations are listed under 'Beyond the fjords'.

Featured in 'Journeys to the North', a documentary on ARTE

In the summer of 2019, our group was part of a documentary about Scandinavia, of which this is an excerpt. Watch Vigdis Vandvik explain the essence of our work and our approach to ecological research on climate change in alpine environments, and have a look at some of our stunning fieldsites on that (unusually) sunny day. Credits: Gedeon Programmes; Directed by X. Lefebvre / ARTE.

Where we work