Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 October 2009
Plans for a long-term study of Polar Bears (Ursus maritimus) in Spitsbergen were initiated in Norway in 1964. The programme is a joint operation between the University of Oslo and Norsk Polarinstitutt. It is divided in two-main projects:
1. Ecological investigations under T. Larsen, Institutt for Marin Biologi Avd A [Institute of Marine Biology AJ], University of Oslo.
2. Physiological investigations under N. A. Øritsland, Zoofysiologisk Institutt [Zoophysiological Institute], University of Oslo.
A third project, ecological and ornithological studies is under M. Norderhaug, Zoologisk Laboratorium [Zoological Laboratory], University of Oslo.
The preliminary plan for the biological programme in Spitsbergen was presented at the First International Scientific Meeting on the Polar Bear in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 1965.