CV

Kari Elsa Ellingsen
Position:    Senior Research Scientist

  Telephone: +47 412 23 760
  E-mail: kari.ellingsen@nina.no
 Department:  NINA Tromsø

Knowledge areas
Biodiversity, marine ecology, benthos communities, fish communities, human impact, impacts of climate change on ecosystems, cumulative impacts.

Key qualifications

The main part of my research activities is focused on biodiversity, including functional diversity. This involves the measurement and modelling of biodiversity, issues of spatial and temporal scales, drivers of change, such as, the impact of different types of human activities and climate change, as well as the impact of top predators on other ecosystem components, i.e. cumulative impacts. I am also interested in the potential for reversibility of changes. Much of the research done involves the use of large-scale and/or long-term datasets already collected in scientific surveys or environmental monitoring surveys. I have studied marine biodiversity in different parts of the world in shallow waters, on the continental shelf and in the deep-sea using data on benthos and fish assemblages, including a focus on the High North. Most of my research has been on marine ecosystems, but I am also involved in research related to other ecosystems. I am also focusing on environmental monitoring and study/sampling design. The work implies many national and international collaborations, e.g. with scientists from Europe, New Zealand, Canada, and Australia.

Education
  • 2001: Dr. Scient., Department of Biology, University of Oslo, Norway
  • 1997: Cand. Scient., Department of Fisheries and Marine Biology, University of Bergen, Norway
  • 1995: 'Marine Arctic Benthology', The University Courses on Svalbard (UNIS), Norway
  • 1994: Cand. Mag., University of Bergen, Norway

Experience
  • 2011-present: Senior Researcher, NINA, Fram Centre, Tromsø
  • 2006-2010: Research Scientist, NINA, Fram Centre, Tromsø
  • 2007-2008: Maternity leave
  • 2006-2007: Maternity leave
  • 2003-2005: Research Scientist, Department of Biology, University of Oslo, Norway
  • 2001-2003: Post Doc, Department of Biology, University of Oslo, Norway
  • Fieldwork experiences: Norway (Fjords, North Sea, Barents Sea including Svalbard), Antarctica: 'ANDEEP: Antarctic benthic deep-sea biodiversity: colonization history and recent community patterns'. ANDEEP I: January-February 2002 and ANDEEP III: January-April 2005 onboard RV Polarstern, China (Hong Kong), Australia (Sydney)

Languages

Norwegian, English

Worked in

More than 1 month: Antarctica (Southern Ocean), New Zealand, China (Hong Kong), Australia (Sydney)

Professional societies
Project leader/WP leader/team member
  • 2022-2026: WP leader: Fram Centre program CLEAN: Cumulative impact and multiple stressors in High North ecosystems. WP4: Cumulative impacts of multiple stressors on species, communities and ecosystems. Funded by KLD.
  • 2021-2023: Team member of MAESTRO: cliMate chAnge EffectS on exploiTed maRine cOmmunities. Funded by FRB-CESAB-FFP, France. 
  • 2019-2023: WP leader: CodSize: Resolving impacts of Atlantic cod body size on population replenishment and coastal ecosystem change. WP3: Feeding behaviour and trophic interactions. Funded by the Norwegian Research Council (MARINFORSK).
  • 2017-2022: Project leader: DRIVEBANKS: Drivers of fish extinction and colonization on oceanic banks. Funded by the Norwegian Research Council (MARINFORSK). See http://www.nina.no/english/Fields-of-research/Projects/Drivebanks.
  • 2018-2021: Project leader: DRIVEBANKS Stakeholders. Drivers of fish extinction and colonization on oceanic banks: adding social science and communication with management to ecology and oceanography. Funded by the Fram Centre, Ministry of Climate and Environment.
  • 2016-2019: WP leader: INTEGRATE: Climate impacts on populations and communities: integration of different datasets in analyses and models to increase our ecological knowledge and as a basis for knowledge-based management. WP4: Impacts of climate change on terrestrial biodiversity and scenarios for the future. Strategic Institute Program, funded by the RCN. 
  • 2014-2016: Project leader: FISHDIV: How do a dominant predator and climate shape fish biodiversity over space and time in large marine ecosystems? Funded by the Norwegian Research Council (HAVKYST) with additional funding from the Fram Centre. See http://www.nina.no/english/Fields-of-research/Projects/FISHDIV.
  • 2014-2016: Project leader: FISHDIV Coast: How do a dominant predator and climate shape fish biodiversity over space and time in large marine ecosystems? Focus on coastal areas around Svalbard. Funded by the Fram Centre, Ministry of Climate and Environment. 
  • 2014-2016: Project leader: TOV-Biodiversity: Terrestrial biodiversity over time and space in Norway and relationships to climate. Funded by the Norwegian Environment Agency. 
  • 2013-2016: Project leader: Regional stations along the Norwegian continental shelf in space and time: An evaluation of the environmental monitoring of the offshore oil and gas industry. Funded by the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association and the Norwegian Environment Agency. 
  • 2012-2015: WP leader: ECOCOAST: Human impacts in coastal ecosystems - effects on ecosystem structure and function. WP2: Impacts of bottom trawling on benthic biodiversity in northern areas. Strategic Institute Program, funded by the Norwegian Research Council.
  • 2015: Project leader: The impact of predation and environment for functional diversity and stability in fish communities (Pilot-project). Funded by the Fram Centre, Ministry of the Environment. 
  • 2013: Project leader: Fish diversity in space and time in the Barents Sea: What is the role of climate and cod? (Pilot-project). Funded by the Fram Centre, Ministry of the Environment. 
  • 2011: Project leader: Macrobenthos communities and the impact of petroleum activity in space and time on the Norwegian continental shelf. Funded by the Norwegian Oil Industry Association. 
  • 2010-2011: Project leader: Trawling impacts on the bottom environment and megafauna in the Barents Sea. Funded by the Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management.
Editorial activities: 
  • Associate editor of the journal Marine Biodiversity (2008-2014). 
  • I have acted as referee for the following journals: Chemistry and Ecology, Continental Shelf Research, Deep Sea Research II, Ecology Letters, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, Global Change Biology, Hydrobiologia, Journal of Animal Ecology, Journal of Marine Research, Journal of Sea Research, Marine Biodiversity, Marine Ecology Progress Series, Marine Pollution Bulletin, Offshore Oil and Gas Environmental Effects Monitoring Technical Report, PLoS ONE, Polar Biology, Sarsia, Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology.
Institutional responsibilities/commissions of trust: 
  • 2019-present: Member of Expert Group for the offshore environmental monitoring of the petroleum activity, Norway Funded by the Norwegian Environment Agency.
  • 2019-present: Chair-invited Member of ICES (The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) Working Group on Biodiversity Science (WGBIODIV). 
  • 2011-2015: COST Action ES1003: 'Development and implementation of a pan-European Marine Biodiversity Observatory System (EMBOS)' (European Cooperation in Science and Technology)
  • 2005-2010: Member of the Census of Diversity of Abyssal Marine Life (CeDAMar) Scientific Steering Committee, under The Census of Marine Life (CoML).
  • 2009: Member of the Group of Experts to revise the United Nations publication 'Law of the Sea. Marine Scientific Research. A revised guide to the implementation of the relevant provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea'.

Publications:

Norwegian Institute for Nature Research

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