Meetings and field campaigns

ECOSHRUB

Meetings and field campaigns

Summer field campaign 2020

Summer 2020, six years after the experiment was fully set up, it was time for analysing the effect of the treatments on the vegetation. Øystein, Sigrid and Bente (spending her quarantine doing field work) with the help of three assistants, Eliya, Daniel and Kristel, analysed the 96 plots with the point intercept method. We also placed the seed traps for the first stage of the new plant community dynamics-project. In this project we will investigate how the willow encroachment affect the seed rain. The seed traps were exchanged by Rick and Bente during September on a cold but sunny day. The planted willows and many of the seedlings sown in the plots are still going strong and Øystein found a rather big pine well above the tree line towards our plots.

Three researchers preparing two cages on the tundra. Photo — Now it’s seven years since we carried the cages up to our sites. This summer the vegetation in all 96 plots (of which half are caged) were re-surveyed with the point intercept-method. Although plant growth in the alpine is slow, we now expect to see changes in plant composition as a result of excluding sheep, rodents and other herbivores. Photo: Bente Jessen Graae

Researcher holding a small pine tree. Photo — Øystein and Bente discovered a pretty big pine above the forest line close to our heath site. In time, maybe some of the pine seedlings in our experiment also will grow this big. Photo: Bente Jessen Graae

Researchers Bente and Rick on the tundra. Photo — Bente and Rick out exchanging seed traps in September. The seed traps are part of the new project investigating how the extant vegetation affects plant dispersal. Photo: Bente Jessen Graae

Summer field campaign 2018

This summer, five years after we added seeds to all plots, Øystein counted the seedlings that had survived. Two master students from Wageningen University & Research moved to Hjerkinn for the summer to do field work for their master theses. Floor investigated the performance of pine seedlings and our planted willow transplants, and Jessie established a new side experiment investigating how lichen mats act as environmental filters.

Two researchers preparing for an experiment. Photo — Jessie and Floor preparing for Jessie’s lichen experiment. Photo: Bente Jessen Graae

Three researchers swimming under a bridge. Photo — Nothing like a refreshing bath in Driva after a warm day in field. Photo: Kristin Odden Nystuen

ECOSHRUB meeting and winter field campaign March 2017

Group photo while it is snowing. Photo — Echoshrub meeting Hjerkinn 2017. From topleft: Tomas, Øystein, Pieter, Sigrid, Bente, Rick, Jolanta, Simone. From bottom right: Johan, Juul, Kristin, Mia, Rozi. Photo: Kristin Odden Nystuen

Researcher measuring snow depth. Photo — Rozi measuring snow depth in the shrub community. Photo: Kristin Odden Nystuen

Summer field campaign 2016

Another great summer with field work in Dovrefjell is over. This year we had exceptionally cold and wet weather, but still managed to keep the tradition with post field day swimming in the lake close to our heath site. Now we know exactly what plants, lichens and bryophytes that grow in our 96 plots, we have recorded fitness of the transplanted willows (which thrive pretty well despite another autumnal moth outbreak this summer) and we are surprised to see that most of the seedlings which emerged two years ago still are alive.

Group photo on the tundra. Photo — Vegetation analysis team in the heath. From left: Håkon Holien, Lars Uphus, Eirik R. Åsheim, Snorre Flo, Nick Stam, Kristin Odden Nystuen and Sigrid Lindmo. Photo: Eirik R. Åsheim

Winter field campaign 2016

The first weekend in April we packed our skis, skins and avalanche probes and headed to the mountains to measure snow depth in our plots. The first day we skied to the meadow and willow site. The weather was cold and windy so we quickly did the measurements and rushed back to the field station. The next day was warm and sunny and we had a great trip to the heath site. The heath snowpack was very thin and some plots were completely snow free as you can see in the photo below.

Researcher walking in the snow on the tundra. Photo — Øystein walks between plots in the heath with a great view towards the mountains of Rondane. Photo: Kristin Odden Nystuen

ECOSHRUB meeting February 2016

Once again we had a successfull ECOSHRUB meeting, with presentations of current and finished projects and planning of the field season of 2016.

Group photo in the snow. Photo — ECOSHRUB people present at the meeting that took place at Gløshaugen, NTNU, Trondheim. From the left: Håkon Holien, Pieter de Frenne, Mia Vedel Sørensen, Sigrid Lindmo, Kenny Helsen, Bente Graae, Rozalia Kapas, Øystein Opedal, Kristin Odden Nystuen, Stuart Smith, Richard strimbeck. Photo: Kristin Odden Nystuen

Summer field campaign 2015

The growing season field campaign is running - “Summer” in Dovre

Researchers working on the tundra. Photo — Pieter de Frenne and Lisa Sandal doing vegetation analysis in the willow plant community, Dovre Mountains. Photo: Mons Badia

Winter field campaign 2015

In mid March we made a field expedition to measure snow depth in our plots in the three communities. Eventhough the snow cover was scarce this year, skiing into the sites were nessesary.

Two researchers in the snow with skis on. Photo — Rick and Mia measuring snow depth in the meadow near Hjerkinnhøe, Dovre Mountains, mid March 2015. Photo: Øystein Opedal

Shrub gang meeting January 2015

This time we gathered the participants and travelled to Dovrefjell. It was nice to see our research area in winter, even though we spent most of the time inside presenting and discussing preliminary results, plans for next field season and possible future projects.

Shrub gang people present at the meeting. From the top left: Christian Stærke, Ivan Nijs, Richard Strimbeck, Bente Graae, Rozalia Kapaz, Sigrid Lindmo, Diana Eckert, Simone Land, Kristian Hassel, and Håkon Holien. From the bottom left: Kristin Odden Nystuen, Mia Vedel Sørensen, Kristine Sundsdal, Mons. Photo

The end of field season 2014

To celebrate the end of another field season we invited all participants to Dovre in the evening of the last field day. We enjoyed lovely food prepared by our “field cook” before we went for a walk to “Viewpoint Snøhetta” and admired the aurora showing off on the night sky.

The party took place around the fire inside a sami teepee (Lavo) outside of Villreinsentret. Photo

Field campaign 2014

Willows are now successfully planted in our experimental plots and another experimental gradient focusing on dwarf birch encroachment have been established during the summer. We have measured carbon fluxes, albedo and counted numerous seedlings, just to mention some of the activities we have been busy with.

A bunch of tanned field workers posing outside Villreinsenteret at Dovrefjell where we were accommodated part of the season. From top left: Christian, Mia, Karl-Andreas, Kristin, Simen, Øystein Opedal, From bottom left: Rozalia, Håkon, Simone, Øystein. Photo

Shrub gang meeting May 2014

Some of us had just arrived from a longer research stay at the University of Arizona, but we managed to squeeze in a meeting before the field season started. Project presentations and coordination of field work was the main subjects for this meeting, and we’re looking forward to get away from the computer and be in the field again!

Shrub gang meeting December 2013

Just before Christmas we had a group meeting where we presented the ongoing projects for each other and started the planning of next year’s field season. We ended the meeting with a nice potluck with traditional food from different corners of the world.

Field campaign 2013

The field season was successful as the study sites were found, and the experimental plots with herbivore exclosures were established. We carried out vegetation analysis in every plot, sampled traits for the most abundant plant species and harvested above- and belowground biomass, in other words, a lot of data to start working on already.