Hi everyone,
Summer is at our doorstep (or rather, it has already come well inside), and preparations for the field season are well underway. After spending most of the year in front of a screen analyzing data or preparing lectures, it’s always positive to get out into the field. It not only provides new data to analyze (though I probably have enough data to analyze for the rest of my career) but getting out into the field often also brings new understanding or ideas that I wouldn’t necessarily have come up with in front of a screen. A digression: Getting people out into nature was also highlighted in a panel debate this week with UiB’s new honorary doctor and driving force behind the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), Anne Larigauderie, as one of the measures in the fight against the biodiversity crisis. She believes that getting out into the woods/mountains will give us a better understanding of the values found in our nearby nature and thus a greater willingness to preserve nature. Katja Malmborg, a postdoc in the Ecology and Evolution faggruppe, could also confirm this from her own observations of students from Nord-Hordaland. Activities in, and knowledge of, the local nature made the students value nature more. Additionally, it is well known that getting out into nature has many positive health effects, so I expect to come out of the field season in excellent health in addition to lots of extra data to analyze.
This will be my last leader, as I am leaving BIO and Bergen over the summer. On days like today, it is of course hard to understand how one can live in a place where it is not possible to see Ulriken every day, but I have been here long enough to know that that is not possible all days here in Bergen either. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at BIO, especially everyone in the faggruppe and EECRG, for a fantastic time here in Bergen, and I wish you all a (continued) great summer.
Cheers,
John-Arvid