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Svalbard part 9 |
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28 Juni 2003: Today was another day of field work. The main theme of our thesis is "The effects of UV-Radiation on the Arctic Tundra". One of the aims is to investigate the phenology of a couple of plants including the Polar Willow (Salix polaris). Phenology is the timing of processes like budding, flowering, producing fruits, etc. We check to see what stage each individual plant is in. Then we count the total number per stage. One of the stages of the Polar Willow is catkins with pollen grains. You can see this stage in the picture below. The pollen grains are the yellow parts. Like most arctic species the Polar Willow is a very small plant.  Polar willow 29 Juni 2003: Even though today was Sunday we did field work. This is because we start a course at the UNIS tomorrow. This course will take a lot of time so we will be very busy from now on. The course is about arctic plant ecology and will consist of lectures and excursions. We will also make a long excursion by boat to visit some beautiful locations on the west coast of Svalbard. On the way back from our field work we stopped at the dog camp to look at the Arctic Terns. There are always a few of them present there, though I suspect that they don't breed over there because they don't attack us when we pass. In the picture below is an Arctic Tern preparing to flying away. I always enjoy watching this magnificent birds!  Arctic tern |
 Arctic fox In the evening the first students from the course arrived. After introductions we had dinner. Then suddenly the Arctic Fox showed up again. This time it was walking close to our barracks looking for food. Then one of the people from upstairs threw a piece of salami out the window. It is prohibited to feed them but it was clear that this one was used to it  Arctic fox The fox ran quickly towards the piece of salami and ate it right down. Afterwards, he sat close to our barracks waiting for more food. In the mean time we all got our cameras out and took some very nice pictures of it. The Arctic Fox wasn't in his beautiful white fur anymore having already changed half of his fur to the brown summer colors. At one point it looked like the fox tried to threaten us to try and get more food. You can tell by the way it's ears are flattened. Again, it was a beautiful experience to be able to look the fox from such a close distance.  Arctic fox |
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