Another beautiful, sunny day in the arctic today. Team Squirrel spent the morning at the Atigun River site near the Arctic National Wildlife refuge. There, we downloaded weather station and soil…
With all the state and federally mandated testing, today's current educational paradigm seems to be "No Child Left Untested". Perhaps school districts and state boards of education should be held…
There are strange things done 'neath the midnight sun,
By the tundra birds that toil.....
The arctic trails have their secret tales,
That just might surprise you!
Among the many science teams…
Today we left Toolik to visit the Prudhoe Bay oilfields. This is about a 3 hour drive up the Dalton highway - the farthest north one can drive in North America. Along the way we saw beautiful…
Last night the weather came in with a vengeance and the snow piled up rapidly. We were happy to finish our day in the field before it got too nasty. After a couple of hours, there was enough snow…
The "phase shift" experiment we are conducting with arctic ground squirrels is essentially like bad jet lag. When a person flies somewhere in a different time zone, their body's internal clock…
One of several questions Team Squirrel hopes to answer is
why arctic ground squirrels, unlike other arctic vertebrates, appear to maintain 24-hour rhythms during the continuous daylight of summer.…
The study that I am assisting this summer is part of a much broader long term line of research to better understand ground squirrel biology. It is not just about the squirrels, they merely serve as a…
Today was a big day chasing squirrels at our Atigan river site. So far catching the squirrels we need has proven difficult. with 100 traps out, we captured 3 male squirrels which are needed for Cory…
Team Squirrel (us) spent the day on the tundra near Atigan Pass in the Brooks Range with our namesake-the arctic ground squirrels. We set out 40 wire cage live traps baited with carrot sticks. Yum.…
Today Team Squirrel left Fairbanks for the drive up the Dalton highway to Toolik Field Station. The group so far consist of the project's principal investigator (PI) Cory Williams, Kate Wilsterman,…
Phenology is the study of seasonal life cycle events in plants and animals. Following local phenology can be a fun way to stay in touch with one's natural surroundings. For me it is a good excuse to…
