Summary
By Lynn Reed, 2012-2013 Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow, National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs
Einstein Fellows Shelly Hynes and Lynn Reed near Russell Glacier in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland
I am Lynn Foshee Reed, and I will be the 2012-13 Einstein Fellow in the Office of Polar Programs. I am thrilled to be at JSEP 2012, and I thank Shelly Hynes (the current OPP Einstein Fellow) and all the other OPP folks for their support.
Today was a day filled with science and nature. We boarded the bus at 8:00 and traveled to meet and spend the day with Michael Avery and David Watts (assisted by Spencer, Laura, Chris, and Natalie). Michael and David are Penn State graduate students who are researching invertebrate and plant (respectively) phenology – “the study of periodic plant and animal life cycle events and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate.”
First we stopped at a site where Laura demonstrated her work to observe root growth – she’s using clear 5 cm diameter plastic tubes sunk next to the plant, and these will allow for a camera to capture the changes over the growing season. Chris and Natalie (undergrad research assistants for grad student Sean Cahoon) showed us how they measure carbon dioxide gas flux, and at both neutral and “warmed” plant plots (these have plastic slanted walls).
We hiked to a gorgeous overlook of the Russell Glacier. Michael first explained the cyclic nature of caribou (reindeer) and forage plants. Then he captivated us all with his observation and subsequent research interest in caterpillars and the “zombie” fungus: it would invade and start consuming the caterpillar from the inside, avoiding the critical organs until it was ready to spore. At that point, it went for the brain, which in turn somehow turned on a switch for the caterpillar to climb to the tip top of whatever it was on. At that point the caterpillar would hold its position in a true death grip, at which time the fungus basically could release spores to any breeze. The caterpillar would be left as nothing but a carcass of black goo.
More hiking followed, and one group found a superb deposit of garnets left by the receding glacier. All day groups were looking at the rich biodiversity, and after the hike David Watts topped off the day with an activity related to biodiversity. Each group counted and identified all the plants in its assigned 1 square meter plots, and then the groups compared notes.
After returning to Kangerlussauq, we had dinner at the airport cafeteria, and everyone was ready to collapse.
Pictures from Todays Activities
Field School Group Photo with Eric Post's Group at Russell Glacier
Students learning about plant respiration near Russell Glacier, Kangerlussuaq, Greenland
Marisa (US), Nivi (Grl) and Maeve (US) gathering garnets near Russell Glacier, Kangerlussuaq, Greenland
Danish, Greenlandic and US students foraging for Garnets!
Group Work
Group 1 Video Report of the day's activities
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Group 2 Weather
Taken at 4 pm
- Wind Speed : 1.7 m/s
- Temp: 13 degrees Celsius
- Humidity 55%
- Air Pressure: 975.04 mBar
- Dew Point: 3.6 degrees Celsius
- GPS N: 67.107, W:-50.263
- 300 m above sea level
Group 2 Biodiversity Video
A video of David Watts' activity on biodiversity.
http://
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Group 3's Video of Mike Avery near Russell Glacier
http://
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Student Blogs
Sydney Barnes, Tucson, Arizona
Sydney Barnes (Tucson, Arizona)
Today was an awesome day! Instead of taking the trucks out to the glaciers, we all got to ride on this huge tour bus out to the field site. Once we got there, we went on yet another uphill hike (because everything here somehow manages to be uphill both ways). Once we got up to one of the peaks, We met with a few undergrad students who are helping a grad student conduct his research on plants and roots. However, I found the most interesting person there to be Michael Avery (Mike) a student at Penn State who is studying ecology. He studies caterpillars and invertebrates, specifically the Eurois Occulta. We learned that he spends a lot of time making them vomit, which is one of their defense mechanisms. We found one of the caterpillars that he studies, but apparently it wasn’t a very smart caterpillar because it never figured out how to pupate, so it was probably going to die any day. Mike said he could only make the caterpillar vomit if it was warm (and let me tell you, it was not warm out there) so I sacrificed one of my hand warmers to warm it. Once we warmed it up, Mike made it vomit for us. Haha it’s surprising how many people with stand in a little circle just to watch a bug vomit. Then Mike told us about a strange fungus that has been taking over the caterpillars and slowly taking over them, and then making them climb to the top of plants, where they die and then release the spores of the fungus. It’s called Zoophthora Radicans. After he taught us about the caterpillars he gave us little collection vials and we walked around collecting any bugs we could find. I even convinced Maeve to let me kill her caterpillar so I could take it home and give it to Mr. Farr (my science teacher). The best part was that once we put it in the alcohol it vomited and pooped. So I now have a vial with a dead caterpillar, caterpillar vomit, and caterpillar poop. Pretty cool, huh? After that, most of the group went with Mike to a further hike but Dana and I stopped half way up and stayed in a little field of flowers we found. We made hippie flower head bands, laid in the flowers, and took pictures. :) We were probably there for at least an hour before the rest of the group hiked back down and we all got back on the bus. Let me just say the best part of the bus ride was watching everybody try to sleep because we were driving on the bumpiest road ever created. And to make an amazing day even better, we got to eat at the airport instead of Thai food. :) It was a good day.
Malene Olsen, Maniitsoq, Greenland
Hey, my name is Malene Olesen and I'm 19. I'm from Maniitsoq, but live in Nuuk at the moment where I have just finished my first year at GU-Nuuk (high school). I pretty much like all subjects, so I really enjoy going to school. I love being in the nature, so I spend a lot of my summer holidays in the nature near Maniitsoq where I go sailing, fishing, hiking etc. with my friends or family. Recently, me, my boyfriend and two of our friends, we went hiking for two days around our town which is a very hilly island. We destroyed our feet totally, because we had all new shoes on, it was awful. Good times though. In winter, other than going to school I enjoy sports, go for walks, sliding or just being with my friends inside in the warmth and find something fun to do.
Friday the 6th of july was definitely the best day so far, it was a biology day and we went to a field where phenologists and ecologists do research about many different things such as growth of roots, photosynthesis and respiration, different plant and animal species. We collected some insects and put them into plastic cylinder and killed them with alcohol, identified plants and went for a hike over three hills. We saw a musk ox and a hare on the way and enjoyed the fantastic view of the ice sheet and the huge beautiful landscape from the top of a hill. It really was an interesting and exciting day where we learned and experienced a lot of things.