Aim. Understanding the forces shaping biodiversity patterns, particularly for groups of organisms with key functional roles, will help predict ecosystem responses to environmental changes. Our aim was to evaluate the relative role of different drivers ...

Although grass dominates most agricultural systems in the North Atlantic region (NAR), spring barley is the most important cereal and is used for animal feed and food and drink products. Recent changes in climate have resulted in warmer conditions ...

This article describes how natural geothermal soil temperature gradients in Iceland have been used to study terrestrial ecosystem responses to soil warming. The experimental approach was evaluated at three study sites in southern Iceland; one grassland ...

Degradation of ecosystems and introductions of invasive species pose a threat to global biodiversity. Ecosystem restoration and revegetation actions are important for amending habitat loss and for the protection of species of plants and animals. Iceland ...

Pollinator communities have an integral role in facilitating sexual reproduction within and between flowering plant populations. Declines in abundance and diversity of pollinating insects are widely documented throughout Europe, primarily the result ...

Bumblebees (Bombus spp.) are pollinators of especially high conservation interest. They have behaviours (pollen-gathering, buzz pollination), morphological structures (branched body hairs well-adapted for retaining pollen), and endothermic capabilities, ...

Barley is of great importance in modern agriculture and is currently the fourth most important cereal after wheat, maize, and rice. It is well adapted to a range of climatic and day-length conditions, with a distribution from Ethiopia to northern ...

Genetic parameters for carcass conformation, carcass fat, ultrasound eye muscle depth and ultrasound fat depth over eye muscle were estimated with data from Icelandic farms during three periods, 2001-2003, 2006-2008 and 2011-2013. Heritability ranged ...

Particulate matter mass concentrations and size fractions of PM1, PM2.5, PM4, PM10, and PM15 measured in transversal horizontal profile of two dust storms in southwestern Iceland are presented. Images from a camera network were used to estimate the ...

In the last decades, several endangered breeds of livestock species have been re-established effectively. However, the successful revival of the Dutch and Danish Landrace goats involved crossing with exotic breeds and the ancestry of the current ...