Summer is here (soon?)!
In our faggruppe this means fieldwork for many. Whether it’s monitoring bird boxes with newly hatched blue tit chicks (which so far seem to have a much better year than last year when most of the chicks starved to death), collecting pine pollen to create models that will be used to estimate the UV radiation experienced by ancient pine trees, measuring and comparing carbon storage in different ecosystems, or investigating if alpine plants have climbed a bit higher up the mountainsides in response to a warmer climate. In addition to the value these data collections have in themselves, I would argue that fieldwork also contributes with variety and inspiration in the work as a researcher and teacher. Definitely a nice break from all the time spent in front of the computer screen the rest of the year.
However, there will still be some time spent in front of screens for many of us, both students and professors since this is also the time for the final push in completing a master’s degree for many. Good luck to both candidates and supervisors! Regarding completed degrees, in our (extended) group, there have been 4 doctoral defenses, and if you’re reading this on Friday, maybe Camila is waiting to see if the committee approves her PhD. Good luck, Camila! And congratulations to Ragnhild, Jarrod, Anja, and Marius Ole (the last two are technically bioCEED PhDs, but since they sit with us, we’re overlooking this technicality). Finally, a big ‘well done’ to Pete Manning, who just sat down in his office chair as a newly hired faculty member (okay, it’s been a year already…) before submitting an application to ERC. Fingers crossed.
With the gold finally at home (if this does not make sense, ask a native football fan, and I am sure that (s)he will be happy to explain) and brighter nights (and maybe summer on its way?), there are hardly any better places in the world than Bergen. Enjoy! Experience tells us that autumn will come…
John Arvid Grytnes
Faggruppeleder
Ecology and Evolution