For those interested in vegetation dynamics and/or what I’ve been spending time on… it turns out that interactions between plants have a stronger impact on the occurrence and abundance of those plants than grazing and trampling by herbivores. In other words, in the open fellfields of northern Finland neighbouring plants matter more than reindeer and lemmings for vegetation. This is a main conclusion for a recent paper of mine in Ecology – for more details you can find the paper online here. The finding of the import influence of dominant plants fits broadly with the results an earlier study of mine (which I wrote about here).
This research is based on fieldwork conducted at Kilpisjärvi; you can find previous blog’s about my summer fieldwork here and here. I’m looking forward to heading up to Lapland this winter (watch this space for details…) and again for another summer field season.
Comments by Pete
Photo quiz: Where in Helsinki are we?
"That's a very good guess for photo #6 - you are right that..."
The weeks that were – December 2012
"Hi Michelle - I think the vibe ended up being quite..."
Finnish cuisine: pot-roast reindeer
"Yes - and he tasted great!"
The weeks that were – end of August 2011
"Sweet... but with a little bit of saltiness - it turns out..."
Fieldwork at Kilpisjärvi: working on Halti
"I agree - up on the mountains it was very Marion-like!"