Abisko Scientific Research Station: projects/activities

The greenhouse gas (CO2 and CH4) exchanges in northern wetlands are affected by presence of vascular plants. The mechanisms at function are, however, largely unknown. The root adjacent zone is characterized by intense interactions between plants and their environment and many important processes relating to carbon turnover of ecosystems are taking place in this zone. A fairly large amount of the carbon assimilated by plants through photosynthesis is continuously released from the roots. These labile carbon compounds can serve as substrate for the methanogenic bacterial community of the root zone and have a substantial effect on CH4 production in the soil. Thus, even small environmental changes affecting root zone processes could have far-reaching consequences for the functioning of wetland ecosystem and their interaction with the atmosphere. The objectives of this project aim to broaden the existing knowledge about carbon circulation in wetlands.

1. Supervision of instruments used for ANS´climate monitoring on the Observation Hill. There will be installations and comparisons between instruments used for radiation, wind speed and direction. 2. Data collection and supervision of instruments used in an ANS´project for monitoring air and groundtemperatures, wind spped and direction at a site near Lake Njulla 1000. The lake is situated below the saddle between Njulla and Slåttatjåkka. The program is described in an attachment. For the work on Njulla I plan 2-3 visits, each lasting from approximately 10h to 15h. It would be of advantage for practical reasons and also for security reasons if an assiatant could accompany me during the visits to Njulla. A battery (12 kg) has to be carried from the upper lift station to Lake Njulla.

Reindeer grazing is often considered as a threat against the biodiversity in arctic and alpine plant communities in the Nordic countries. However, there is almost no data on the effect of reindeer grazing on species richness in arctic and alpine regions. If we should understand how reindeer grazing influence species richness, it is important to distinguish between different spatial scales. Species richness on small plots is probably determined by local processes such as competition intensity, germination rate of seeds or nutrient availability, while species richness at larger spatial scales is probably determined by the heterogeneity and the size of the species pool. As different processes influence species richness at different spatial scales, the effect of reindeer grazing on species richness in small and large areas does not have to be similar. My hypotheses is that reindeer grazing sometimes increase and sometimes decrease species richness on small spatial scales, while it consistently increase species richness at larger spatial scales.

Carbon allocation to, and translocation in-between, different below-ground compartments in wet and semi wet mire ecosystems are to be studied during summer 2002. The project is part of EU founded CARBOMONT, where carbon cycling in European alpine regions is studied. Stordalen mireConsidered methods were applied to dry heath ecosystems summer 2001, which successfully produced a budget over carbon allocation to belowground compartments in heath ecosystems. This year’s study is focused on wet and semi wet ecosystems, making it possible to compare below-ground carbon allocation and translocation in different ecosystems dominating Stordalen mire. Stordalen birch forest Carbon allocation to Ericoid mycorrhizae was studied under enhanced precipitation conditions, which resulted in an altered carbon allocation pattern compared to untreated ecosystems. This summer the effects of increased temperature on carbon allocation to Ericoid mycorrhizal compartments are to be studied. Temperature effects on mycorrhizal functions such as 15N labelled amino acid uptake, will also be investigated.

The project aims to develop the use of stomata analysis as a Quaternary palaeoecological tool in Scandinavia following the lead in North America and Siberia (Hansen 1995, Gervais and MacDonald, 2001). A key is being produced to identify the main Scandinavian conifers from their stomata. Surface samples of lake sediment will be collected in catchments with and without the main conifers to determine the extent to which stomata are transported beyond the catchment in which the trees occur. Paleoecological work will be carried out to obtain supplementary information about the timing of the appearance and disappearance of Larix sibirica (Kullman, 1998) and to apply the knowledge gained on the dispersibility of stomata to the arrival and increase of other conifers.Surface lake samples have been collected from lakes in southern and central Sweden. I would like to find some small lakes to surface sample in Northern Sweden. Three promising areas with a high density of lakes have been identified around the Abisko field station and Kiruna areas. I will use a standard surface sediment sampler and will sample between 6 and 12 lakes. This work will have wide applicability in NW Europe, replacing the use of Trautmann's key (1953), and will contribute significantly to the increasing use of stomata as a palaeoecological tool. (see www.kv.geo.uu.se/cas.html for further information)

In 1964 Skuja published the results of his investigations concerning the phycological vegetation in the Torne-Lappmark, demonstrating the impressive biodiversity especially within the group of the Conjugatophyceae (Desmids). As this group proved to be a very sensitive tool to registrate changes in environmental conditions (Kies a. Handke 1990), it seemed to be of importance to have a look on the situation today and to compare the composition of the desmid communities. A further aspect is the analysis of the reliance of the biodiversity of the Conjugatophyceae on the geographical and geological conditions with modern methods. Therefor samples will be taken from swamps, ponds and lakes from the alpine, subalpine and montane regions and their main physical and chemical parameters will be ascertained. The investigations will be completed by lists of higher plabnts growing in the surrounding of the water bodies. Back in Hamburg the samples will be evaluated and used for isolating selected species of desmids not only for further investigations but also for integrating them into our culture collection of Conjugatophyceae (SVCK, Engels 1995) and Engels, 2001: http://www.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/biologie/b-online/d44_1/44_1.htm

To make an inventory of the fossil fauna and trace fossils at Loupakte. Depending on what is found during this inventory, I will study the diversity and possibly some behavioural aspects of the faunal traces found. This will hopefully be part of a larger project concerning Cambrian fossils.

The aim of the project is to investigate the behavior and perception of people who consume natural area for leisur and recreational time. We want to develop simulation tool based on multi reactive system and agent based modelling. The work we want to do on abisko national park is to understand behaviors and perceptions of tourist and local people to calibrate the model. Methodology : inqueries, interviews and tracking people in the park. The objective of the research is to bring to space managers an efficient tool to forecast reactions about their policies. In the same time, we want improve the theoritical field by showing an investigation on microscale interaction is able to shown effects on the whole system and help for emergencing process of structures at macroscale.

A survey of European Sryphidae, Diptera, for which collection of voucher specimens is necessary to confirm identification.

Lakes and dams play crucial roles in the global cycles for nutrients and organic carbon as links from the terrestrial sources to the marine sinks. The degree of retention is sometimes high in these water bodies. Treguér et al. (1995) report that increasing inputs of dissolved inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus into rivers and lakes support enhanced production of diatoms, resulting in decreasing concentrations of dissolved silicate (DSi) in the river loads. The construction of storage lakes in rivers enhances this effect, even in less eutrophicated rivers. This phenomenon is reported for large-scale systems like the Danube and the Black Sea (Humborg et al., 1997), the Mississippi river (Turner and Rabalais, 1994) as well as for more modest rivers like those entering the Baltic Sea (Humborg et al. 2000). A key factor in the retention process of the river system seems to be the residence time. The question is now which physical mechanisms governs the retention process in reservoir vs. dams. A comparative study between Akkajaure and Torne Träsk is under way to resolve the consequences of river regulation.This project is a part of a larger "programme" to investigate the reason for decreasing DSi levels in the Baltic with implications on the World Ocean.

The Navvy Road is an ancient monument of great symbolic value for the entry of the modern times in the Kiruna mountains. The railroad that was built to serve the mines also made the area easily accessible to scientists and tourists. The purpose of the project is to make people aware of the history of the area they see today and to make the remains of the navvies work and living easy to reach and understand. The project started 1987 when I was länsantikvarie (chief antiquarian) in Norrbotten. Most of the road and according traces were overgrown and many places forgotten. The first phase of the project was to locate the "vanished" places and parts of the road and to write information for signs along the road and a book about the navvies and their life. This work was mainly done by Agge Theander, Kiruna in cooperation with colleagues in Narvik (a similar work was done along the Norwegian part of the road)and länsstyrelsen. The work was mainly financed by länsstyrelsen.After I left Norrbotten for a similar work in Skåne the great work to clear the road, build new bridges etc was done under the supervision of länsstyrelsen. Since 1987 "historical paths" have been a very popular mode of making history living all over Sweden. The purpose of my visit is to see how my favorite project is working and to get and give new ideas how to improve the Navvy Road and similar projects in Skåne

My study is focussed on the effects of global changes on subarctic microbial communities in the soil. From previous studies in Cassiope-dominated heaths in the area it is known that experimental warming simulating expected effects of climatic change in this century might affect microbial communities and their activity, for instance shown by changes in trophic structure of nematodes and exchange of greenhouse gases. However, microbial reponses to warming and enhanced nutrient turnover as a result of greater litter supply in more species- and nutrient-rich heaths are not known. The current study will be a part of a long-term global change research project in which 24 plots in a species-rich heath near the heliport in Abisko have been manipulated since June 1999. The aim of my M.Sc. project is to reveal some of the responses of the soil microbial communities to three years of warming and enhanced litter supply. A suite of parameters within the field of microbial biomass, activity and diversity will be measured throughout the plant growing season, or in a final harvest at the end of the season.

This is a Masters project (examensarbete) Exjobbet (20p) innebär två delar, och ska gå på halvtid: Del I: Evelina ska skriva en uppsats (10 p) som utvärderar kontrollerande faktorerna för markandning (som en del av det globala kolkrettsloppet) i subarktiska miljöar. Uppsatsen ska granska den vetenskapliga litteraturen och ge grunden för senare fältarbete. Huvudsyftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur globala förändringar (d v s klimat förändring, samt förändringar i atmosfärisk kemi) möjligen kan påverka C flöden i subarktiska miljöer. Uppsatsen ska vara klar innan slutet av juni. Del II: Experiment ute i fält i Abisko trakten (10 p) som undersöker hur tillgången till nedbrytbara organiskt material, samt inorganiska ämne (t ex kväve eller phosphor) påverkar CO2 utsläpp (som markandning). Fältarbetet ska pågår under 3-4 veckor, och senare i Uppsala ska fältdatan analyseras, och del II av uppsatsen färdigskrivas. Hela verksamheten ska vara klar innan slutet av oktober 2002.

The research addresses questions of drivers and controls of biogeochemical (nutrient and carbon) cycling in arctic ecosystems. The focus is, first, on interactions between plants, microbes and the soil organic matter and the project explores possible, periodic competition for nutrients between soil microbes and plants and the mechanisms of net nutrient mineralisation coupled with plant nutrient uptake. Another focus is on how pools and fluxes of carbon and nutrients in, and between, major ecosystem components are likely to be affected if the arctic climate changes (”the greenhouse effect”). This research is based on data collected from experimental manipulations of arctic ecosystems that have lasted for close to, or over, a decade.

Investigating methods of facilitating revegetation of roadside of the E-10 between Kiruna and Riksgränsen

To find an optimised guideline to accidental risk management where geomorphic, meteorologic and botanical observations are used as background material. The project is a continuation as previous work started up in 1998. A licentiate report was produced in 2001 where slope processes as hazards to the Kiruna-Riksgränsen railway was investigated.

Linnaea borealis is a stoloniferous dwarf shrub with long lasting connections between ramets. Along the stolons three types of lateral shoots can be produced: vertical reproductive and non-reproductive and horisontal non-reproductive, i.e. vegetative reproduction. I want with this study to find out which of the shoot types is most important for the survival of the ramet and if this changes depending on site conditions. I have three sites in the vicinity of Abisko with different light conditions and different forest floor vegetation, at each site 20 ramets have been followed for five years now. This summer the clonal fragments will be harvested.

DART is a project investigating the dynamic response of the forest_tundra ecotone to environmental change. The whole project includes eximination of trace-gas fluxes, decomposition, snow distribution/- melt, browsing, and plant growth responses. My own part of the project deals with the distribution of the tree-line trees and effects of artificial warming on mountain birch saplings (Betula pubescens Ssp. czerepanovii).