Ecology – Arctic Research

From Cambridge (UK) to Cambridge Bay (Arctic Canada)

The Arctic is undergoing dramatic changes, including unprecedented decline in sea ice and rising temperatures. These changes are likely to have significant impacts on all Arctic ecosystems, but beaches are often the places we see these changes first. In addition to these pressures, emerging threats such as plastic and other pollutants are impacting marine life […]

by omeinander

Yellow alert for extreme weather – April visit at Sudurnes and Reykjanes Geopark, Iceland

It is now the third storm in a row, told my EU-Interact-BLACK project host Hanna María Kristjánsdóttir, Director of the Sudurnes Science and Learning Center (SSLC) in Iceland. But this is unusual April weather. Today we have yellow alert for extreme weather in many (most) parts of Iceland. People are adviced to stay indoors. In […]

by lembrechtsjonas

Catching the Arctic summer

This post first appeared on lembrechtsjonas.wordpress.com. When summer treats you kindly in the Arctic, there is no better place to be. Summers are short up in the north, however, so you’ll need to be lucky to catch them. We were very lucky this year, and were offered countless beautiful summer days up in the north. […]

by lembrechtsjonas

SoilTemp: towards a global map and database of soil temperature and climate

Short: we are looking for soil temperature data from the Arctic and all over the world for inclusion in our global database. This post was published first on lembrechtsjonas.wordpress.com. Many questions in ecology revolve around climate: what climatic requirements do organisms have, how do they survive in extreme climatic conditions, and – increasingly relevant – […]

by lembrechtsjonas

You’ll never hike alone

This post first appeared on lembrechtsjonas.wordpress.com. It can be quiet lonely out in the mountains: the open vastness of the alpine tundra, the kilometers of rolling mountains in the distance without a soul in sight, or the silence that resonates through the rustling of leaves and the splattering of streams tumbling down a water slide. […]

by yaelteff

Rivers and Mountains: Walking and Focusing in the Scottish Highlands

Driving (on the left) Scotland is beautiful, and so are the people that have shared their time with me and helped me along the way. However, I still had my share of challenges in the Scottish Cairngorms. Firstly, there was the issue of recruiting participants, but I’ll address that in the next section. Second, there’s […]

by lembrechtsjonas

FEASTing in Abisko

It promised to be a windy day with some scattered rain clouds, when we head out to mount Nuolja to join the FEAST-project. FEAST stands for Functional Ecology of Alpine SysTems, a large-scale project to assess soil conditions in mountains worldwide. Such a noble joined effort I find hard to resist, so we signed up […]

by yaelteff

Sleepless in Hyytiälä – part 2

More about the station: A Forest lab, a Sauna and a Lake The grounds boasts an impressive lab within a forest within a lab. Yes, the facility actually has its own forest in which it lets scientists perform a variety of experiments in an authentic, in-home forestry lab. It includes wooden bridges to walk on […]

by lembrechtsjonas

Worth it

Just imagine: your commute to your office includes a one hour drive, followed by a six kilometer hike with a 600 meter elevation increase. Two hours of consecutive hiking, if you follow a decent pace. And then your office day still has to start. And after 8 hours you still have to head back. Heavy? […]

by lembrechtsjonas

The roadside effect: visual proof

Mountain roadsides, the most fascinating places on earth. That is, if you believe a PhD-student who has been studying them for more than 5 years now. We returned safely from our fieldwork season in the northern Scandes, with suitcases full of data proving the fascinating role of mountain roads in plant species distributions. Whether they […]