We are back to semi-civilization after our second field data collection trip up into the alpine. This time the adventures and challenges were of an either furry, wet or buzzy nature.

Our first challenge appeared just as we were getting ready to head for bed on the first night. Haydn saw something blond and furry ambling around in the tundra a few hundred metres from our camp. It was what looked to be an adult male Grizzly bear that we called Jean-Pierre. We watched Jean-Pierre’s reactions to our presence and he seemed pretty relaxed, yet wary of us. With our food well cached far away and our tents close together, we felt it was safe to head to bed with our neighbour continuing his foraging into the night.

Over the rest of the trip we went on to see at least four bears total and perhaps more. We saw another chocolate brown Grizzly on a couple of occasions that we named Jean-“Clawed” a mom and a cub (Francine and “Fur”-dinand). The Kluane Plateau is a very bear-y place, but the bears were very respectful of us as we were of them. And bears weren’t the only wildlife we saw: there was a bumbling porcupine, soaring ravens, wandering tattlers, the robin with a nest and three blue eggs next to our camp, and more – including mosquitoes…

The next challenge was the day of rain that slowed down our progress. We tried to sleep in until the rain stopped, but the rain kept raining. So we made our breakfast in the drizzle, which reminded us all of truly Scottish weather, and then headed out for some field data collection. After a couple of hours, the wet was starting to seep through our rain gear, down our necks and up our sleeves and we were starting to get pretty cold. So we returned to camp and to our tents. The boys played games of cards in very cramped conditions, and some of us read books if we had brought them along, whereas I just rested my eyes. I haven’t got that much sleep over a 24 hour period for years!

The final challenge of the Kluane Plateau was the bugs. Once the rain had cleared and the sun returned, the normally stiff alpine breeze was absent and this meant mosquitoes. For the following day, there was a persistent humming in our ears, flies in our food and itchy bits on any exposed skin – we are still itching away. One member of our team, Joe, has decided to be truly epic (or possibly foolish) and to go without bug spray. The rest of us were only too happy to spray on some temporary relief from the insistent clouds of biting insect at every opportunity. (Don’t tell the rest of the crew, but the number of bugs that we were experiencing up on the Plateau was nothing to what we could encounter when we get up to Herschel!).

After four days of sample collecting and adventures in the alpine we made our way back down to “Base” (a.k.a. The Kluane Lake Research Station). But before leaving our temporary home on the Kluane Plateau we decided to summit the ridge as a group to take a last look at the panoramic views of snow-capped mountains and a glacial-fed lake (positively limnic!). As we reached the summit, we felt true “Tatenfreude”, the joy in anticipation of accomplishing something (or as Isla likes to think of it “Tartan-freude”, the joy that people from Scotland feel when they accomplish something).

By Isla

P.S. Our major scientific finding of the week is that willow (Salix pulchra and Salix richardsonii) seed germination rates can be very high when the catkins are freshly picked of the tundra shrubs. Check out these SUPER CUTE baby willows!

You can probably tell from our previous blog posts that we are having the time of our lives in the Yukon, but do not be fooled by the fact that the radiation shields for our temperature sensors are made of beer can holders: we are doing some pretty intense science over here! Today we will let you in on a few of our recent discoveries from Pika Camp and share some secrets for successful fieldwork in the alpine – shhhh.

Our trip to Pika camp was a great warm-up exercise to get all of our respective projects going. Those newest to field ecology discovered, and those more experienced were forcibly reminded that:

• When you plan your schedule, you must double the time you think it will take, and then add at least half an hour;

• You must always carry a spare pencil;

• And spare batteries;

• A small piece of pink flagging tape goes a long way when it comes to retrieving eight sunflower seeds in the tundra;

• On the other hand, you cannot always rely on bright colours to safeguard you: a lurid yellow notebook can be irremediably lost in a field of equally yellow wildflowers;

• And just as a reminder, you must ALWAYS carry a spare pencil AND spare batteries.

The powdered coconut milk, dried hummus and refried beans that made up most of our midnight fusion cuisine fuelled lively conversations about the findings of the day. Here is a selection of our observations, musings and scientific discoveries:

• Sandra and Isla discoverd that five years after being completely clipped to the ground, willows can resprout and reach up to a meter in height. Quite a consoling fact considering we spent most of our time in Pika camp uprooting shrubs, leaving a scene of total desolation behind us at the end of the day in our dendro sampling plots.

• Joe and Jakob found the highest seed predation at intermediate elevations. Could this be because small mammals find the best compromise between foraging resources and predation risk at this altitude? Or is this just where the marmots and ground squirrels were hanging out on our elevational transect.

• Shrubs are usually thought of as strong competitors that prevent other species from establishing, but they can also act as a windshield and create a favourable microclimate for tiny tundra flowers, the same tundra flowers that Haydn was picking for his decomposition experiment.

• Jakob found out that dwarf birch is relatively rare up there in the alpine (especially when you are actively looking for it), but it can form dense, continuous patches at lower elevations, and isolated individuals can be found all the way up to the shrubline.

• Sandra and Haydn discovered that the roots of medium-sized willows (half a metre tall and one or two meters in width) can run underground for over three meters, which means that below-ground competition between shrubs could be pretty intensive at greater distances than we previously thought.

We are heading off again for four days of scientific adventures on the Kluane Plateau. Happy Canada Day (1 July) and stay tuned for fresh stories when we get back!

By Sandra

Busy times since our arrival at summery Kluane: Lots of DIY, prepping for our upcoming excursion to Pika camp, digging in the garden and an invigorating trip to the Kluane plateau – scouting for potential sampling sites.

Above the shrub-line in the epic Kluane Range

Sandra and Jakob at the top surrounded by the smoke of Alaskan forest fires

The common garden (with shrubologists)

And to prove that we do science after all: here is Isla ageing young Salix richardsonii

Base seemed quiet this morning, as it probably is every June 22nd. Some people had planned to take the morning off – the rest wish they had – but eventually we all creaked out of bed. Team Shrub only have 24 hours until we’re leaving for a 5 day trip to Pika Camp, and we’re not exactly ready. Yesterday afternoon’s work was written off to prepare for the solstice party, which didn’t help, but we can’t escape the feeling that staying up all night playing rugby and burning a giant cardboard goat had more of an influence.

Seeing as solstices and equinoxes can bring out our inner pagan – any Edinburgher who’s been to Beltane or Samhuinn will agree – what could be a better celebration than a fire? Our answer was with multiple fires, lots of beer, and a piñata.

We were joined by visitors of all ages from local towns and other nearby research facilities, and after a titanic game of touch rugby, the first bonfire was lit and Lance’s infamous white lightning started flowing. We spent hours looking for the perfect spot between having a cold, bug-bitten back, and being slowly grilled, but the feeling of people coming together to sit and laugh round a fire was timeless – craft beer and Gortex aside.

By Joe

Busy times since our arrival at summery Kluane: Lots of DIY, prepping for our upcoming excursion to Pika camp, digging in the garden and an invigorating trip to the Kluane plateau – scouting for potential sampling sites.

By Jakob

After three days of shopping, packing and late night barbecues, we have now left the city of Whithorse and our jet lag behind us. A late night drive up the scenic Alaska Highway took us out to our new homebase at the Kluane Lake Research Station. Today the weather is summery, the surroundings stunning and the chipmunks just charming.

Now it’s time to put on our gear, grab our daypacks and go out into the field!

By Jakob

Here is my shrub cake (clearly a willow) made for me by postdoc Anne Bjorkman.  It was delicious!

We had a record sized team shrub meeting this week with Meagan Grabowski visiting from UBC/the Yukon, Anne Bjorkman visiting from iDiv/Germany and our new programmer Damien Georges joining the team!  Congrats to Haydn and Sandra for passing their PhD confirmation panels!!!

The sedate photo

And the jumping photo!