The field season is on its way, and fast. With one eye on the weather charts (it is still snowing in Northern Sweden!), we dove into the lab to prepare everything for a quick and smooth first field trip to Abisko.
The importance of those long hours of preparations should not be underestimated! These ‘boring’ parts of the research always manage to stay out of the spotlights, although it might take a lot of time.
It involves the ordering of measuring devices, plant seeds, nutrients, plant labels and practicalities from all over the world. Time flies if one has to count 20 thousand seeds of six different plant species, or label piles of marking sticks.
The success of the experiment highly relies on these preparations. We will be far away from home, so there will be not much room for mistakes or hesitation. We should be able to go out there, to the top of the mountain, 100% prepared and ready to handle all possible difficulties.
Luckily, the Nordic countries are blessed with 24 hours of sunshine in a day, which provides boosts of energy and enough time to finish all the work!
The fourth of July we are off to the North. Then, we will finally find out if our experiment works and what the real survival power of our seedlings is.
Sounds very interesting! 🙂