Welcome to FunCaB!
This spring, the University of Bergen in Norway advertised two PhD positions within the Ecological and Environmental Research Group. The topic: climate change effects on carbon and biodiversity dynamics in alpine areas. I couldn’t let such an opportunity slip by. However, like most PhD positions, one of the requirements was the completion of a Masters. Despite having another three months of Masters-thesis writing, I decided to apply. I was therefore very surprised to be invited for an interview, and absolutely delighted to be offered the job!
Two months and a Masters thesis later, I moved to Bergen to become one of two PhD students in the ‘FunCaB’ project. Inge Althuizen and I are attempting to disentangle the roles of plant Functional groups (ie. grasses, herbs, mosses) in mediating climate change effects on Carbon and Biodiversity dynamics in alpine ecosystems in western Norway. Alpine areas are important for providing crucial services including biodiversity, water, cultural and recreational services. We have seen that a century of warming has already caused many changes in mountain areas, from shrinking glaciers to shifting plant communities. Mountains are home to a quarter of the world’s population, and more than half rely on mountains directly or indirectly for the resources and services they provide. Climate change is most noticeable in mountains, so they effectively act as an early warning system for the lowlands. It is thus essential to monitor shifts in mountain regions. This project aims to disentangle how shifts in plant communities will affect carbon dynamics and biodiversity, and in turn ecosystem services, in mountain regions in Norway. More project details are available here and here.
Since June we have already completed our first season of fieldwork. This blog will document the progression of the project, with insights into our fieldwork campaigns, publications, and travels. We’ll also write from time to time about interesting topics in the news and academic field, and more generally about life as a PhD student.
Francesca
Good luck with your application and with the blog. It’s very interesting. That is quite a lot of snow you drove through in the one of the shots in the video. I’m surprised there were any plants to survey!