Valerian flower in a Norwegian valley

We are at the height of our 2017 resurvey of the vegetation along Norwegian mountain roads, and the fieldwork has been highly successfull. It has been great revisiting the plots and discovering the changes – and often the highly interesting lack of it – in the last 5 years.

Harebell flowers on the side of a fjord

The fieldwork brought some annoying bits of rain, yet mostly plenty of sun. It included beautiful flowers and breathtaking views, but also tons of sample bags and hours bending over in roadsides. We climbed rocks, jumped rivers and swam in an Arctic fjord, yet also spent hours in the lab, weighing leaves and sifting roots. An intense ten days, collecting data that can easily keep us busy for a few more years.

Cottongrass in a species-poor mountain marsh

And the first results indeed look very promising, even though a lot of data still has to come in before we can get to any conclusions. Luckily, I can again count on an awesome fieldwork team, this year with three highly dedicated master students who use this extremely interesting study system for their master theses. With their help, the data will soon reveal all its secrets.