Mathilde Defourneaux defends her PhD

Mathilde Defourneaux is defending her PhD on Wednesday December 18, 2024 at 14:00 GMT.

Mathilde’s thesis, entitled The impacts of spatio-temporal shifts in vertebrate herbivore communities on the functioning of the Icelandic tundra will be defended at the Faculty of Environmental Sciences of the Agricultural University of Iceland. Mathilde’s supervisors are Prof. Isabel C Barrio (Agricultural University of Iceland), Prof. James D.M. Speed (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) and Ass.Prof. Noémie Boulanger-Lapointe (University of Victoria). The opponents in the defence will be Prof. Robin Pakeman (The James Hutton Institute) and Dr. Camilla Fløjgaard (Aarhus University).

The defence will take place at the AUI campus in Keldnaholt, but you can also follow online. A link will be provided on the university website closer to the date.

It is not only a big day for Mathilde, but also for NordBorN, as Mathilde is also formally the first NordBorN PhD student to graduate!

All the best from the NordBorN team for your big day Mathilde!

NordBorN session at the EGU 2025!

We’d like to invite you to submit an abstract to our new session in Biogeosciences programme group: BG3.20 Borealization of tundra ecosystems at the EGU General Assembly 2025 (27 April–2 May 2025). Both on-site and online attendance is possible!

Arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems are changing fast in response to ongoing climate change and increased human pressures linked to land use changes. One observed phenomenon in response to these changes is the northward and upward shift in the distribution of temperate or boreal species from southerly latitudes or lower elevations, a process known as borealization. Examples of tundra borealization include the encroachment of woody species, the spread of non-native species, and changes in the composition of plant, animal and microbial communities. Borealization also alters the trophic and functional structure of ecosystems, changes landscape structure and impacts ecosystem processes such as the strength of carbon sink and sources.
This session aims to address the drivers, processes, and consequences of the borealization of tundra ecosystems, as well as its quantification from the perspectives of different disciplines, such as biogeography, remote sensing, (historical) ecology, and forest sciences. Multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary approaches are particularly welcome.

If you have any questions about abstract submission, please visit https://www.egu25.eu/programme/how_to_submit.html

Save the date! Second NordBorN meeting in Aarhus

The second NordBorN meeting will be hosted by our colleagues from Aarhus University on March 25-27, 2025!

Niels and Efrén are working on securing the venue they wanted for those dates, and will come back with some more details soon, including a recommendation for a nice hotel nearby, along with a small excursion to a rewilding center not far from Aarhus. Stay tuned!