awesome

I have worked at Gudmedalen for 2 summers and always gazed up on the top of Furekamben with a glint in my eyes. „I want  to go up, but there is not time today“. I never took the time to go! So this week, I went all the way up. It’s half an hour walk from our field site at Gudmedalen. Yes, it’s steep and hard, but worth the effort. The view is astonishing. You can see Flåmsdalen, a vertical rock face and where Låvisdalen lies.

So, dear SeedClim and FunCaB’ers, next time you are at Gudmedalen go up to Furekamben! It will cost you only an hour of your time. Half an hour up, 20 minutes slapping yourself, asking yourself why you never went up and then you can enjoy the view. And 10 minutes down.

You probably know X-men and have heard of mutants in the animal world. But mutations can also occur in the plant world and it’s not that rare. But what my students Linn and Signe found in the field a couple of days ago is remarkable.

They are studying phenology and pollinators on common buttercup (Ranunculus acris) and have to look at the plants very carefully. A normal buttercup looks like the plant on the left side.And they found this beautiful plant on the right side! You might think that this is not the same plant, but they have the same leaves, which are very distinct.

This mutant is probably not fertile, because the stigma and stamen are not developed. But it has more petals than a normal buttercup flower and looks like a rose.

Mutant picture from Linn Vassvik.

I am back in Finse to set up a new round of plots. We are setting up a new experiment, where we study consequences of the disruption of plant-pollinator interactions on Ranunculus acris. For this we record phenology, pollinator activity and hand pollinate Ranunculus.

So far the weather has not been great and the plants are growing slowly and few pollinators are around. But the first plants are flowering in our plots!

Elevational gradients are used in many ways to do science. Because it get’s warmer when you go down a mountain, we use them to simulate climate change. But going upwards is like going back in time. There is still snow and spring is just starting up here in Finse. If time goes to fast for you, just take the train up to Finse and you will be back in spring!

We saw Erigeron uniflorus, Primula scandinavcia, Beckwithia glacialis and Rhodiola rosea. (Please correct me if species names are wrong)! Thanks.