By Xurxo Gago and María José Clemente Let us tell you a story about one of the northernmost vascular plant species that also lives in the coldest place ever recorded for angiosperm life: the purple saxifrage, Saxifraga oppositifolia L. (“Saxops” for friends ;). This is a well-known species in the Arctic thanks to its purple ..read more

Title: Insect herbivory increases from forest to alpine tundra in Arctic mountains Authors: Zvereva, E. L., Zverev, V., & Kozlov, M. V. INTERACT project: (BIH-Arctic) Background insect herbivory in Arctic ecosystems Year: 2022 Field of research: Ecology Link to publication: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.8537 Abstract Current theory holds that the intensity of biotic interactions decreases with increases in latitude and elevation; however ..read more

Title: Shrub decline and expansion of wetland vegetation revealed by very high resolution land cover change detection in the Siberian lowland tundra Authors: Rúna Í. Magnússon, Juul Limpens, David Kleijn, Ko van Huissteden, Trofim C. Maximov, Sylvain Lobry, Monique M.P.D. Heijmans INTERACT project: (VPThaw) Vegetation – permafrost interactions in a lowland tundra ecosystem: shrub decline ..read more

Title: Influence of vegetation cover and soil features on CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes in northern Finnish Lapland Authors: Alessandra Lagomarsino, Alessandro Elio Agnelli INTERACT project: (SAFE) Evaluation of Soil Activity, Functioning and green-house gas Emissions in different subarctic ecosystems Year: 2020 Field of research: Soil Area of research: Northern Lapland (Kevo Subarctic Research Station, Finland) Link to publication ..read more

Title: Rapid Vegetation Succession and Coupled Permafrost Dynamics in Arctic Thaw Ponds in the Siberian Lowland Tundra Authors: Rúna Í. Magnússon, Juul Limpens, Jacobus van Huissteden, David Kleijn, Trofim C. Maximov, Ronny Rotbarth, Ute Sass-Klaassen, Monique M. P. D. Heijmans INTERACT project: (VPThaw) Vegetation – permafrost interactions in a lowland tundra ecosystem: shrub decline due to abrupt ..read more

Blogging from CHARS in Canada with Huw Griffiths and Stefen Roberts Cath is a Polar ecologist with a focus on intertidal and nearshore habitats. Her previous work on community structure and development has been mainly on or around the Antarctic Peninsula and islands. Along with the Arctic these are the fastest warming places on the ..read more

Blogging from Zackenberg Research Station in Greenland I am a member of the Symbiosis Evolution Research Group® at Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland, (the Dream Team, and the Seven – although we are actually ten but hopefully, you get the pop culture reference) https://symbio.eko.uj.edu.pl/en_GB/news. Together with prof. Tomas Roslin (the more handsome gentlemen in the picture ..read more

Blogging from NERC Arctic Research Station, Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard and Kobbefjord Field Station, GINR, Greenland I am a second-year graduate student at Duke University studying Earth and Climates Sciences. This summer, my advisor, Nicolas Cassar, and I are traveling to Arctic and sub-Arctic environments in Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Canada and Alaska to investigate how climate change ..read more

On the way north across the remaining bit of Sweden, crossing the northeast corner of Finland, and driving into Norway, autumn is progressing. The landscape is turning more colourful the further we go. Forests in patterns of green, yellow, orange and red, and peatlands and tundra with a similar colour palette are never boring to ..read more

After a long journey from Bristol, we made it to the Abisko Scientific Research Station north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden – Fin and I, and all 8 pieces of luggage. After a day of setting up the lab and sorting all our field kit in the lab with scenic views of the lake ..read more