The winter moth (Operophtera brumata) has expanded its outbreak range northward and eastward throughout the tundra-forest ecotone of northern Fennoscandia, until reaching the boundary of the low-arctic tundra on the Varanger peninsula around the mid-2000s. From 2017 and onwards, there were several novel reports of winter moth outbreaks on willow thickets at considerable distance from the ecotone, suggesting that the outbreaks had started to penetrate into the tundra. In this seminar, we examine the results from a Fram Centre incentive project that has evaluated whether sustained spread of the outbreaks further into the tundra is likely, based on tests of the suitability of low arctic willows as host plants for the winter moth and monitoring of winter moth densities along a gradient running from the ecotone to the tundra.  

Note that the correct time is 12-12.45