1. Unit startpage
  2. Employees
  3. Alexander Tøsdal Tveit
Bilde av Tveit, Alexander Tøsdal
Bilde av Tveit, Alexander Tøsdal
Institutt for arktisk og marin biologi alexander.t.tveit@uit.no +4777644401 Tromsø You can find me here

Alexander Tøsdal Tveit

Job description

Jeg er en mikrobiolog med PhD i mikrobiell økologi fra UiT, Norges Arktiske Universitet. Jeg studerer hvordan fysiologiske endringer i mikroorganismer kan påvirke den globale karbonsyklus. Jeg leder prosjektene Cells in the Cold (CECO) og Living on Air, samt forskningslaben "Cells in the Cold laboratory" med støtte fra Tromsø forskningsstiftelse og Norges forskningsråd. CV er å finne under "Vedlegg".

  • Andrew, Gabrielle Emma, Stephen Matthew, Dimitri Stanislas Desire, Geert, Tristram et al.:
    Methane in Svalbard (SvalGaSess)
    2025 DOI / ARKIV
  • Mathilde Borg, Stella, Andrea, Marina, Laureen Sarah, Magdalena et al.:
    Quantifying Soil Microbiome Abundance by Metatranscriptomics and Complementary Molecular Techniques—Cross-Validation and Perspectives
    Molecular Ecology Resources 2025 DOI
  • Tilman John Siegfried, Anne Grethe, Julia, Hannes, Arno, Benjamin et al.:
    Physiological basis for atmospheric methane oxidation and methanotrophic growth on air
    Nature Communications 2024 DOI / ARKIV
  • Andrea, Laureen Sarah, Mathilde Borg, Páll, Coline Le Noir de, Biplabi et al.:
    Microorganisms in subarctic soils are depleted of ribosomes under short-, medium-, and long-term warming
    The ISME Journal 2024 DOI / ARKIV
  • Lisa-Marie, Alexander Tøsdal, Andrew, Kevin P., Dimitri Stanislas Desire :
    Chemolithoautotrophic bacteria flourish at dark water-ice interfaces of an emerged Arctic cold seep
    The ISME Journal 2024 DOI / ARKIV
  • Shalaka Kiran, Tajul, Alexander Tøsdal, Andrew, Lise :
    Targeting methanotrophs and isolation of a novel psychrophilic Methylobacter species from a terrestrial Arctic alkaline methane seep in Lagoon Pingo, Central Spitsbergen (78° N)
    Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. International Journal of General and Molecular Microbiology 2024 DOI / ARKIV
  • Maria, Athanasios, Ruud, Alexander Tøsdal, Flemming, Francisco Campuzano et al.:
    Abrupt permafrost thaw triggers activity of copiotrophs and microbiome predators
    FEMS Microbiology Ecology 2023 DOI / ARKIV
  • Victor William Christophe, Léa, Frederic, Laure, Céline, Karla et al.:
    Biogeography of microbial communities in high-latitude ecosystems: Contrasting drivers for methanogens, methanotrophs and global prokaryotes
    Environmental Microbiology 2023 DOI / ARKIV
  • Alexander, Andrea, Edda Marie, Alena, Anne Grethe, Liabo et al.:
    Thermal acclimation of methanotrophs from the genus Methylobacter
    The ISME Journal 2023 DOI / ARKIV
  • Mathilde Borg, Andrea, Páll, Ivan, Josep, Bjarni D. et al.:
    Long-term warming-induced trophic downgrading in the soil microbial food web
    Soil Biology and Biochemistry 2023 DOI / ARKIV
  • Andrea, Joana, Mathilde Borg, Liabo Lillien, Judith, Erik et al.:
    Down-regulation of the bacterial protein biosynthesis machinery in response to weeks, years, and decades of soil warming
    Science Advances 2022 DOI / ARKIV
  • Åshild Ønvik, P., Kevin K., Jesper Bruun, Eva, Virve et al.:
    Five decades of terrestrial and freshwater research at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard
    Polar Research 2022 DOI / ARKIV
  • Maialen, Laure, Frederic, K Martinez, Armando, C. et al.:
    A combined microbial and biogeochemical dataset from high-latitude ecosystems with respect to methane cycle.
    Scientific Data 2022 DOI / ARKIV
  • Kathrin Marina, Mette Marianne, Yuntao, Andreas, Julia, Bodil et al.:
    Microbial responses to herbivory-induced vegetation changes in a high-Arctic peatland Download
    Polar Biology 2021 DOI / ARKIV
  • Joana, Andrea, Craig W., Petra, Judith, Erik et al.:
    Increased microbial expression of organic nitrogen cycling genes in long-term warmed grassland soils
    ISME Communications 2021 DOI
  • Edda Marie, Victor William Christophe, Caroline, Mette Marianne, Alexander :
    The influence of above-ground herbivory on the response of arctic soil methanotrophs to increasing CH4 concentrations and temperatures
    Microorganisms 2021 DOI / ARKIV
  • Sizhong, Susanne, Mette Marianne, Alexander :
    Decoupling of microbial community dynamics and functions in Arctic peat soil exposed to short term warming
    Molecular Ecology 2021 DOI / ARKIV
  • Alexander Tøsdal, Tilman, Anne Grethe, Matteus, Alena, Mette Marianne :
    Simultaneous Oxidation of Atmospheric Methane, Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen for Bacterial Growth
    Microorganisms 2021 DOI / ARKIV
  • Alexander Tøsdal, Andrea, Mathias, Fabian, Tomáš, Mette Marianne et al.:
    Environmental patterns of brown moss- and Sphagnum-associated microbial communities
    Scientific Reports 2020 DOI
  • Edda Marie, Victor William Christophe, Alexander Tøsdal, Mette Marianne :
    Methanotroph populations and CH4 oxidation potentials in high-Arctic peat are altered by herbivory induced vegetation change
    FEMS Microbiology Ecology 2020 DOI / ARKIV
  • Lea, Frederic, Laure, Armando, Karla, Roman et al.:
    Anaerobic oxidation of methane and associated microbiome in anoxic water of Northwestern Siberian lakes
    Science of the Total Environment 2020 DOI / ARKIV
  • Alejandro Salgado, Alexander Tøsdal, Andre-Denis, Phillip, Monica Alterskjær :
    Characterization of the cecum microbiome from wild and captive rock ptarmigans indigenous to Arctic Norway
    PLOS ONE 2019 DOI / ARKIV
  • Alexander Tøsdal, Anne Grethe, Serina Lee, Arno, Svetlana N., Nico et al.:
    Widespread soil bacterium that oxidizes atmospheric methane
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) 2019 DOI / ARKIV
  • Andrea, Alexander Tøsdal, Morten, Samantha Joan, Mia M. B., Jörg et al.:
    Holistic Assessment of Rumen Microbiome Dynamics through Quantitative Metatranscriptomics Reveals Multifunctional Redundancy during Key Steps of Anaerobic Feed Degradation
    mSystems 2018 DOI / ARKIV
  • Carsten Suhr, Tue Kjærgaard, Jan Kjølhede, Peter, Jeppe Lund, Jana et al.:
    Inter-laboratory testing of the effect of DNA blocking reagent G2 on DNA extraction from low-biomass clay samples
    Scientific Reports 2018 DOI / ARKIV
  • Andrea, Clarissa, Thomas, Alexander, Alexander Tøsdal, Christa et al.:
    Phylogenetic and genomic analysis of Methanomassiliicoccales in wetlands and animal intestinal tracts reveals clade-specific habitat
    FEMS Microbiology Ecology 2016 DOI / ARKIV
  • Ragnhild Helene Grøholt, Andrea, Camilla, Alexander Tøsdal :
    Seasonal dynamics in RNA:DNA ratios of marine microbial communities in a high latitude estuary.
    UiT Norges arktiske universitet 2025 DOI
  • Marja Helena, Karley, Alexander Tøsdal :
    Experimental Assessment of Sea Ice Bacterial Respiration Potential
    08. mars 2025
  • Silje Sofie Waaler, Jemma Louise, Philipp Kurt Wolf, Alexander Tøsdal, Pedro, Group MSCA Doctoral Network :
    MCSA ICEBIO - Center for glacial biome doctoral network
    2025
  • Sylvain, Gesche, Stef, Kari Anne, Elisabeth, Stephen James et al.:
    Introducing the Circum-Arctic Present and Future Ecology of the Soil Food Web Group
    Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft für Ökologie 2024
  • Andrea, Laureen, Mathilde Borg, Pall, Liabo, Eva Marie et al.:
    Is soil microbial biomass depleted of ribosomes under short-, medium-, and long-term warming?
    2023
  • Dimitri, Tilman, Pernille, Franziska, Annemarie, Mette Marianne et al.:
    Arctic terrestrial seeps; an overlooked microbial methane sink?
    2022
  • Andrea, Joana, Mathilde, Liabo, Judith, Erik et al.:
    Physiological responses of soil microorganisms to weeks, years, and decades of soil warming
    2022
  • Shalaka Kiran, Andrew, Francesca, Nusar, Stefan, Alexander et al.:
    Microbial Community Structure in Lagoon pingo, a terrestrial methane seep in Central Spitsbergen
    2022
  • Shalaka Kiran, Andrew, Stefan, Alexander, Lise :
    Microbial community patterns from methane seep sediment at Lagoon pingo in Svalbard
    2022
  • Yngvild, Kathrin Marina, Liabo, Bente, Andreas, Victoria Sophie et al.:
    Higher rRNA concentrations lead to elevated methane production rates during cooling in Arctic peatlands?
    2022
  • Kathrin Marina, Andrea, Victoria Sophie, Yngvild, Maarten, Andreas et al.:
    Herbivory-driven vegetation change shapes the soil microbial food web in high-Arctic peat
    2022
  • Andrea, Alexander :
    What’s new in Tromsø?
    2021
  • Andrea, Borg Dahl, Joana, Judith, Erik, Bjarni D. et al.:
    Central Metabolic Responses of Microorganisms to Years and Decades of Soil Warming
    2021
  • Mette Marianne, Alexander Tøsdal :
    Soil bacterium that lives on air
    20. août 2020
  • Andrea, Alexander :
    Metatranscriptomics revealed multi-layered microbial responses to long-term soil warming
    2020
  • Pernille, Dimitri, Alexander Tøsdal :
    Novel methanotrophic community assemblages in a terrestrial methane seep in Svalbard
    UiT Norges arktiske universitet 14. août 2020
  • Joana, Andrea, Alexander, Petra, Craig W., Tim et al.:
    Soil warming leads to an up-regulation of genes involved in the decomposition of organic N in a subarctic grassland
    2020
  • Andrea, Tilman, Alexander :
    Temporal Dynamics of Cold-Adapted CH4-Cycling Microorganisms & Microbial Communities in a Changing Arctic
    2019
  • Andrea, Alexander :
    Natural soil warming of Icelandic grasslands – metatranscriptomic insights – mRNA
    2019
  • Alexander Tøsdal, Mette Marianne, Andreas, Thomas, Rares :
    Temperature Adaptations in Arctic Peat Microbiota
    2017
  • Alexander Tøsdal, Alena, Hans-Jorg, Thomas, Mette :
    Regulatory and evolutionary temperature adaptations in globally important methane oxidizing bacteria of the genus Methylobacter
    2016
  • Alexander Tøsdal, Alena, Hans-Jorg, Thomas, Mette :
    Regulatory and evolutionary temperature adaptations in globally important methane oxidizing bacteria of the genus Methylobacter
    2016
  • Alexander Tøsdal, Alena, Hans-Jorg, Thomas, Mette Marianne :
    Regulatory temperature adaptations the in globally important methane oxidizing bacterium Methylobacter tundripaludum
    2016
  • M., L., C., P., F., A. et al.:
    Diversity and activity of methane-linked microbial communities in high latitude ecosystems affected by climate change
    2016

    • The 50 latest publications is shown on this page. See all publications in Cristin here →

    Research interests

    Research interests
    I am a microbiologist with a PhD in microbial ecology from UiT, The Arctic University of Norway. I work with microorganisms that are involved in the production and consumption of methane and carbon dioxide, and how they interact in soils and sediments. In particular i want to understand how climate change influences microbial physiology and the effects on carbon cycling.

    Currently I am leading the research lab and team Cells in the Cold (CECO) laboratory with financial support from Tromsø research foundation and the research council of Norway. In our lab we perform studies in three major directions where the aim of each part is to contribute knowledge about microorganisms with an important role in global carbon cycling.

    I) Physiology and ecology of atmospheric methane oxidizing bacteria and other methanotrophs (see CECO-LoAir).

    We have isolated the first pure culture of an atmospheric methane oxidizing bacterium and characterized it phylogenetically, genomically and functionally. These initial findings were published in PNAS in 2019 and the study was awarded the prestigous Cozzarelli Prize by the National academy of sciences, USA (See CV in attachments). Now we are working to identify the phylogenetic distribution of atmospheric methane oxidation and to understand how they are able to live on trace-gases in air. Ongoing experiments will also uncover how these microorganisms react to the atmospheric composition predicted for the future and how they survived under the lower greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere prior to the industrial revolution. From recent findings we also see a large untapped biotechnological potential in these organisms and are preparing for moving in an applied direction in the coming years.

    II) Long-term soil warming effects on microbial metabolisms (see CECO-ForHot)

    Using geothermally warmed grassland soils in Iceland as a model system we study how the metabolic activities of specific microbial populations are modulated in soils affected by long term warming. Our recent study, published in Science in April 2022 (See CV in attachments), demonstrate that adjustments of the protein biosynthesis machinery is central to how soil microorganisms respond to global warming. This study has attracted alot of attention from our colleagues and may represent critical knowledge for understanding global warming effects on soil ecosystems.

    III) Carbon cycling in Arctic peatlands (see CECO-TimeEnergy and CECO-InterACt).

    We are studying how organic matter in Arctic peatlands is degraded, which organisms are involved and how they interact. This includes general physiological responses to temperature, organisms involved in syntrophy and methanogenesis, and also microbial food web interactions. Our work on this springs from three studies published in PNAS and ISME in 2013 and 2015 (See CV in attachments).

    Currently, three topics within this direction are of primary interest to us:

    1) Microbial physiological responses to temperature change, focusing on protein biosynthesis adjustments.

    2) Effects of above-ground herbivory and plant community changes on the microbial foodweb dynamics and methanotrophic community below-ground

    3) Anaerobic carbon dioxide fixation, which may be an important but overlooked process in Arctic peat. 

    Teaching

    I am involved in two courses. In both of these our aim is to provide the students with tasks that demand they learn and use the entire skillset needed to work scientifically within our discipline (adapted to the level of the students - bachelor, master or PhD). Theory is a small but crucial part of the teaching. The other parts are

    - Experiment planning and ability to follow protocol

    - Fieldwork, chemical and process measurements

    - Laboratory technique and use of calculations in daily work

    - Molecular work (PCR, cloning, qPCR, preparation for sequencing)

    - Bioinformatics (phylogeny, blast and data handling)

    - Data analysis, statistics

    - Scientific writing

    Bio 2018 - Were we teach theory and techniques in genetics. 

    Bio 3018 - Here we teach molecular methods and theory for research at the interface of molecular biology, physiology and ecology research.

    ResearchGate

    Member of research group

    Cells in the Cold Laboratory   English content Microorganisms and Plants   English content
    Biologibygget 2.028


    Click for bigger map

    Attachments: