Veidekongen, olifanten og bøkeskogen

This article discusses aspects of aristocratic hunting in theViking and Middle Ages. Falconry requires great knowledgeof birds, dogs and horses and the ability to make theminteract. The hunt itself should involve danger and requiredlarge resources. Falconry and other types of hunting wasassociated with high status, partly because hunting wasconsidered training for war. In the King’s Mirror from the13th century, emphasis is placed on the positive aspects ofhunting, such as allowing the king to maintain his health,and as having sporting fun with hawks, dogs, horses andweapons makes one accustomed to the use of weapons andwar. Earlier scholars have usually considered Norway asan exception from the general trend of aristocratic, warpreparinghunting, as hunting was practiced solely for foodor economic gains. Furthermore, Norway, together withIceland, has mainly been seen as a mere supplier of huntingbirds. Following recent research, this paper considers certainaspects of the archaeological record from Norway, as wellas written sources, that indicate falconry and other formsof aristocratic hunting practices. It is furthermore arguedthat the substantial beech forests of SE Norway were in factestablished as hunting parks in the Viking Age and later.

From peridotite to fuchsite bearing quartzite via carbonation and weathering: with implications for the Pb budget of continental crust

Extensive carbonation of peridotite results in listvenite, a rock composed of magnesite and quartz. At Gråberget, Røros, SE-Norway, a variably serpentinized peridotite body, surrounded by the Røros schists, a former abyssal sediment displays all stages of transformation of peridotite to quartzite. In this paper we record the sequence of steps in this process by combining the observation of mineral assemblages, textural relationships and geochemistry, and variations in Pb isotopic compositions. Initial serpentinization, a stage that also involved an enrichment in fluid-mobile elements (Pb, Sb and As), was followed by carbonation through CO2 fluids that formed soapstone, and eventually listvenite. The listvenite grades by decreasing amounts of carbonates into fuchsite bearing quartzite. The carbonates dissolved during supergene alteration and formed pores coated with oxides of Fe, Mn and Ni resulting in a brown rock color. The quartzite displays porous stylolites enriched in Pb, As and Sb and fuchsite with porous chromite grains as the only relicts of the original mineralogy in the peridotite. The dissolution of the carbonate occurred at oxidizing conditions at temperatures below 150 °C, where the solubility of magnesite is higher than that of quartz. Formation of quartzite from peridotite is supported by low REE contents and lack of zircons in the two rock types. The transformation involved enrichment of Pb, coupled with the elimination of Mg and enrichment of Si. This chemical fractionation and selective transfer of elements to the continents is an important mechanism and needs to be taken into account in models of continental evolution.

Ecology of a Two-barred Crossbill (Loxia leucoptera) irruption to Norway in 2019–20: altitudinal migration and interspecific habitat differences

Cover photo: A male Two-barred Crossbill (Loxia leucoptera). Photo: Frode Falkenberg. Two-barred Crossbills (Loxia leucoptera) have cyclic irruptions to Norway, but are generally uncommon and breeding is rare. Here I analyse data on a large irruption occurring in 2019–20 to assess the magnitude of the irruption and the ecological niche of the species. The irruption lasted one year, starting in July 2019 and ending in June 2020. Total numbers reported by birdwatchers to the website of the National Biodiversity Information Centre in Norway were ca. 7,000 individuals. Breeding indications were reported from nearly 100 sites. Analyses of elevation of records indicated that birds were often seen at low elevations before the breeding season in February–June, but moved to higher elevations during the breeding season. In a focal study area in SE Norway, breeding season surveys along elevational gradients indicated that Two-barred Crossbills occurred at higher elevations, and often close to summits of hills, perhaps representing preferences for more open forest habitats. Two-barred Crossbills often co-occurred with other seed-eating bird species, but presence was more closely related to numbers of Common Redpoll (Acanthis flammea), than to Eurasian Siskin (Spinus spinus) or cogeneric Common Crossbill (L. curvirostra). Similarly, the Common Redpoll also increased strongly in abundance with elevation, whereas the other two species did so to a lesser degree. These data suggest that the Two-barred Crossbill favors montane forests during the breeding season, and thereby has a different niche than the Common Crossbill which is distributed more widely across all elevations.

Population size and trend, and habitat selection of Common Moorhens (Gallinula chloropus) in Oslo and Akershus, southeastern Norway

The Common Moorhen Gallinula chloropus is listed as vulnerable (VU) in Norway due to a small population size (estimated at 110–215 pairs in 2015). The population size is considered stable. More than one quarter of the population (30–70 pairs) is thought to occur in the region of Oslo and Akershus, SE Norway. In 2018, I conducted a comprehensive survey of known and potential breeding sites to assess current population size in Oslo and Akershus. I recorded 74 pairs in 58 sites. To analyse the population trend, I collected all known records of Common Moorhen during the breeding season for the period 1995–2018. Analyses indicated that population size was stable overall. However, compared to data from 1982, sites with the largest number of pairs in 1982 have had declining population size, and these sites also had high nutrient levels. On the other hand, several new breeding sites in recently created ponds in parks, on golf courses and wastewater treatment plants have been established. Dammed ponds were occupied more often than natural waterbodies, and occupied sites were in general at nutrient-rich sites at low elevation close to the coast. Occupancy rate (proportion of years surveyed with Common Moorhen presence) during 1995–2018 was higher for dammed ponds than for natural waterbodies, and higher for smaller wetlands. Thus, analyses suggested that the most suitable sites for Common Moorhen were nutrient-rich small ponds at low elevation close to the coast, and in such sites the Common Moorhen appears to have a stable, but small population size. Cover photo: Common Moorhen. Photo: Arild Breistøl.

Value assessment of ornamental stone resources

<p>Throughout Europe, there are large industrial and cultural landscapes originating from the exploitation of ornamental stone through history. Such landscapes may contain a range of potential values; economic, such as future resources and reserves, and non-economic, such as cultural and industrial heritage, areas for recreation and tourism, and geological heritage. Based on case studies in two areas, we will explore different paths and methods for assessing values of ornamental stone resources.</p><p>The Iddefjord granite, SE Norway, has been exploited since the middle ages, but the main phase came with the industrial revolution. During the last half of the 19th Century, the granite industry here grew to a considerable size, culminating around the turn of the century when more than 5000 people worked in the quarries, producing paving and building stone. At present time, only one active natural stone quarry remains, but the quality of the granite should encourage further future developments. The study summarizes the geology and evolution of quarrying and quarry technology and provides a characterization of the quarry landscape: its resources that can provide economic values for the future and the anthropogenic morphology of the landscape created by exploitation through history. From the characterization, we propose a scheme for value assessment of the Iddefjord natural stone resource. In particular, we focus the non-economic values. For instance, the importance of the Iddefjord granite as a historic marker in world architecture may provide significant arguments for future designation of exploitation areas.</p><p>The Larvik monzonite (larvikite) in SE Norway is composed of varieties of monzonite with a distinct play of colour (chatoyancy), making the stone highly attractive in the global markets. Although use of larvikite goes back to the medieval period, industrial production started in the Late 19<sup>th</sup> Century and is still large scaled and increasing. This case study investigates the future resources, applying 3D modelling and UNFC. In addition, secondary value chains from the primary ornamental stone production are evaluated.</p><p>These case studies are parts of the Eurolithos and Mintel4EU Projects within the GeoEra umbrella, aimed at harmonizing and visualizing information about natural stone resources in Europe.</p>

Retention of sediments and nutrients in buffer zones with different riparian vegetation

<p>In Norway, eutrophication is a major problem for freshwater quality, mainly due to excess phosphorus (P) inputs from agricultural areas. Hence, vegetated buffer zones along water bodies have been used for decades to reduce soil and phosphorus losses from agricultural land to waterbodies. In Norway, buffer zones with grass production are the most popular since these are eligible for subsidies.</p><p>The efficiency of grass-covered buffer zones has previously been studied in areas with relatively steep slopes and high risk of surface runoff and erosion. However, more field-based knowledge is needed on the retention efficiency of grassed buffer zones in areas with gentle slopes. In addition, other functions of these zones such as reduced bank erosion, biodiversity, and food production, need to be explored. The latter is important since only 3% of Norway’s area is under cultivation.</p><p>Herein, we present the results of three years of monitoring and rainfall simulation experiments carried out along the Hobølelva River in SE Norway. Our aim was to investigate different functions of buffer zones, including the retention of nutrients and particles and the protection against bank erosion in buffer zones with different vegetation cover (grass, shrubs and trees). Results to be presented include comparisons of 1) retention of nutrients and soil practices as observed during a series of rainfall simulation experiments in the field, 2) soil and hydrogeology characteristics (texture, porosity, hydraulic conductivity, infiltration capacity etc.), and 3) stream bank hydrogeological monitoring and stability estimation under different vegetation.</p>

Effect of maintenance liming with olivine, dolomite and calcite on growing-season N2O emissions in an arable soil of SE Norway

<p> </p><p>There is growing evidence that liming reduces the magnitude of N2O emissions in acidic soils. Here we report N2O emissions from a liming experiment with olivine, dolomite and calcite and of maintenance liming with the same materials in clay loam soil at Norwegian University of Life Sciences research farm. The field was bulk limed in 2014 and monitored for N2O fluxes by an autonomous filed flux robot (FFR). Over the course of four years, the fluxes varied but showed a potential of lime as a mitigation tool, with calcareous treatments (dolomite and calcite) displaying a clear decline in N2O emissions compared to unamended plots. To explore the effect of maintenance liming, subplots were maintenance limed and compared with bulk limed controls after sowing the field to winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in summer and fertilizing with 50 kg NPK-N.</p><p>Growing-season N2O emissions (June-September) in maintenance limed dolomite plots were on average 26% lower than bulk limed plots and the corresponding reduction in calcite plots was 16%. There was no effect of maintenance liming in the olivine treatment. N2O emissions decreased in the order unlimed control > olivine > dolomite > calcite, covering a pH<sub>CaCl</sub><sub>2</sub> range of 4.9 to 6.5.</p><p>Our results suggest that maintenance liming, as a component of good agricultural practice, is important to maintain the N2O reducing effect of liming over time. However, the amount of CO2 released by the dissolution of lime should be investigated in order to fully explore the mitigation potential of soil pH management in crop production.</p>

Fossil charcoal quantification using manual and image analysis approaches

Charcoal particles are evidence of past fire events and macro-charcoal particles have been shown to represent local fire events. There are several methods for the preparation and quantification of macro-charcoal particles, none of which have been universally accepted as standard. Very few studies compare methodological differences and no studies to date compare quantification by mass with quantification by volume using image analysis. Using three cores taken from a peatland located in SE Norway, we compare these two established methods using a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) and a split-plot ANOVA test. We show that charcoal volume (image analysis method) was a better predictor of charcoal mass than charcoal particle number and the same size classes of charcoal as size class distributions were not spatially and temporally correlated. Although there is still a need for a common and unifying method, our results show that quantification of charcoal particles by image analysis including size (e.g. height in mm) and area (mm2)/volume (mm3) measurements provides more significant results in cross-site or multiple-site studies than quantifications based on particle number. This has implications for the interpretation of charcoal data from regional studies that are used to model drivers of wildfire activity and environmental change in boreal–temperate landscapes during the Holocene.

The aquatic glacial relict fauna of Norway – an update of distribution and conservation status

<p>The aquatic “glacial relict” fauna in Norway comprises a group of predominantly cold-water animals, mainly crustaceans, which immigrated during or immediately after the deglaciation when some of the territory was still inundated by water. Their distribution is mainly confined to lakes in the SE corner of the country, east of the Glomma River in the counties of Akershus, Østfold and Hedmark. We review the history and current status of the knowledge on this assemblage and of two further similarly distributed copepod species, adding new observations from the last decades, and notes on taxonomical changes and conservation status. By now records of original populations of these taxa have been made in 42 Norwegian lakes. Seven different species are known from Lake Store Le/Foxen on the Swedish border, whereas six species inhabit lakes Femsjøen, Øymarksjøen and Rødenessjøen, and five are found in Aspern, Aremarksjøen and in the largest Norwegian lake, Mjøsa. From half of the localities only one of the species is known. The most common species are <em>Mysis relicta</em> (s.str.), <em>Pallaseopsis quadrispinosa</em> and <em>Limnocalanus macrurus</em>. Some populations may have become extirpated recently due to eutrophication, acidification or increased fish predation. Apart from the main SE Norwegian distribution, some lakes of Jæren, SW Norway, also harbour relict crustaceans, which is puzzling. The region is disjunct from any current fresh- or brackish-water sources, whereas following the early deglaciation it bordered the large, dry landmass of Doggerland, now the submerged bottom of the North Sea. While the Jæren <em>Mysis</em> population indeed is found to represent a different, plausibly more salt-tolerant species than that in SE Norway, the recent discovery of the freshwater amphipod Pallaseopsis quadrispinosa from the same lake upholds the zoogeographical enigma.</p>

Late-Holocene fire history as revealed by size, age and composition of the soil charcoal pool in neighbouring beech and spruce forest landscapes in SE Norway

European beech and Norway spruce are late successional tree species that have become rapidly dominant in northern Europe in late-Holocene. The northern distribution limit for natural beech forests is in SE Norway, where beech forests and boreal spruce forests meet. Here we have estimated the size, composition and age of the macroscopic charcoal pool to infer past fire history and the establishment of neighbouring Norwegian beech- and spruce forests. To encompass landscape level scales of variations in the charcoal pool, we have analysed the charcoal record in 100 soil cores that were collected using a restricted random procedure. The sizes of the soil charcoal pools ranged from 2 to 1214 g m−2, and they were significantly more spatially variable in the beech forest landscape than in the spruce forest landscape. We show that today’s beech forests took over the dominance from Norway spruce in the landscape about 300 years ago, and that fire disturbances on the landscape level preceded the establishment of beech in the former spruce forest landscape. Interestingly, large-scale fire disturbances have not occurred ever since beech gained dominance. Conversely, we show that today’s spruce forests took over the dominance from Scots pine in the landscape, and that also the establishment of spruce was preceded by fire disturbances on the landscape level.