With a background in evolutionary ecology my research has mainly focused on understanding how environmental changes, and particularly climate change, affect life-history traits and behaviours in animals that live in seasonal environments. My primary research tool is theoretical models, which I develop and use to uncover mechanisms that can improve our understanding and thereby prediction of responses of marine fishes to environmental change.
My models integrate physiological responses, foraging interactions, behavioural ecology, and life-history theory to predict how variation in temperature, food characteristics, and light seasonality affects energy budgeting and survival, and thereby population productivity, spatial distributions, phenology, and more.
I also have a strong interest in sustainable use of marine biological resources. Together with colleagues I work on several topics related to sustainable fishing in terms of stock status effects and environmental impacts such as greenhouse gas emissions. To assess impacts of marine resourse use at a larger scale we also study food-system interactions between land and sea, including nutritional and environmental consequences of substituting foods from these two systems, the role of sustainable seafood in environmentally friendly and healthy diets, impacts of food versus feed production, and consumer perceptions and behaviours related to seafood, for example in the Future Fisheries project.
Sustainable Development is at the core of my research and outreach activities. At UiB I have led the course SDG214: Life below water and co-hosted the session Sustainable development of life under water at Bergen Summer Research School. I have also held a position in the programme committee for the SDG Conference Bergen 2023 and coordinated the work for the SDG Conference Bergen Day Zero 2023, an all-digital international academic festival with workshops, debates and exhibitions presenting work of relevance to the Sustainable Development Goals.
