Fjelløkologi

Arvid Odland (Professor Emeritus at the University of South-East Norway, Bø Campus) was one of the founding members of the Quantitative Ecology and Palaeoecology Research Group (QEPRG) in the former Botanical Institute. The QEPRG was the predecessor of the EECRG.

Arvid's new book (2021) on Fjelløkologi - Klimaeffekter på vegetatsjon og flora i fortid, nåtid og fremtid (ISBN 978-82-91768-16-8) published by Fenris Forlag is a unique and major contribution to our understanding of Norwegian mountain flora, vegetation, and environment. In its 319 pages there are ten extensively illustrated chapters, a gigantic bibliography (37 pages), and an appendix on ecological attributes of Norwegian mountain plants. After an introductory chapter there is an account in Chapter 2 devoted to the Quaternary history of the Norwegian mountains. Chapter 3 discusses environmental - particularly climatic, edaphic, and topographic - factors but also biotic factors in the mountains. Chapter 4 reviews in detail the composition of the Norwegian mountain flora and its endemicity, the morphology, phenology, reproduction, and functional types within the flora, and plant-environment relationships. Chapter 5 covers the main mountain vegetation types in relation to elevation, snow-lie, moisture, and soil type. Chapter 6 is devoted to mountain Betula woodlands and topics such as the tree-line and its relation to climate and other environmental factors. Chapter 7 discusses species elevational limits and biodiversity. Regional variation in climate and mountain and arctic vegetation are reviewed in Chapter 8. Chapter 9 discusses floristic and vegetational responses to recent climate change, and Chapter 10 outlines how Norwegian mountain flora and vegetation may respond to future climate change.

This book is so comprehensive that one learns something new in each section within the ten chapters. The book is strongly based on Arvid's extensive field knowledge and ecological expertise and his amazing grasp of the international literature. It presents so many observations and measurements that Arvid has been making in the last 40+ years. It is a most valuable addition to the literature on the Norwegian mountain flora and vegetation; Arvid is to be very warmly congratulated for this really wonderful and important book.