## THE WILLOW PTARMIGAN PROJECT IN LIERNE Since 2015, reserachers from the Norwegian Institute for Nature Reserch (NINA) and Nord University has studied the ecology and population dyanmics of the willow ptarmigan population in Lierne, central Norway. A core research agenda is to use the willow ptarmigan as a model species to study effects of fluctuating environmental condictions and human activites such as recreational harvest affect life history traits and in turn population dynamics of populations of wild species. A key methods applied to this end is to each year capture and equipe ca. 40 willow ptarmigan individuals with small radio tags. This allow us to closely monitor the life histories of the marked individuals. Beyond the core activity related to monitoring the radio marked birds, we also have a range of other related activities related to other aspect of willow ptarmigan biology. These include short term add-on field studies to study specific additional questions in detail. But it also include more long-term involvement, such as our collaboration with local management authorities in relation to population monitoring. Beyond the core research group at NINA and Nord University, we are collaborating with many other institutions in the project. Importantly, much of the filed work during the winter months is conducted in close collaboration local mangament authorities from "Lierne Fjellstyre", that provide invaluable help. In addition, we collaborate with several other research institutions in different parts of the project, including NTNU and NMBU. At this site, we will collect information relating to project progress and activities. The site will also be a focal hub, collecting the various specific research questions, hypothesis and publications we are working on.