Monday September 29, 2008

Sunday morning and we will spend a full day working in the field. When we got up, we were told to make bag lunches to take with us. So out came platters of lunch meat, egg salad, lettuce and tomatoes, assorted breads, and cookies. I must say that the baked goods here are delicious.  The temperature had dropped quite a bit so we had to really bundle up. it was the first time that I had put on most of the layers i brought with me. I had a little bit of time before we left so I went to look over my pictures. When I looked out the window, I saw the sky. The sun was just coming up and it was shades of pink, orange and purple. I ran with my camera up the the dome (which is an enclosed  bubble on the roof of the center, and started snapping pictures. (to get to the dome I climb a steep stairway, and then a ladder that is at a odd angle).

The light was just beginning to come up. As you can see from the picture it was beautiful.

We went back to our field and finished our "destructive sampling" of the tree saplings. We then went out to a field that is further away to start the process over again. Here is a picture to the right of us searching for the seedlings. Some are less than a centimeter high. We began with searching for seedlings as they are hard to find. The lichen was very thick as we were in a forest upland location. There were a great many colors and one was called fairy lichen. Below is a picture of the area "BLK" where we were working. 

With all that lichen and moss, it is very difficult to find the tiny seedlings. After awhile, your knees begin to ache, and if you are on a downhill slant, your rear end is in the air and your chin on the ground. All of us get distracted and stand up to take pictures. My teammates were an extremely cheerful group, and the jokes helped us get through what were often tedious tasks. For me, it was interesting to note how laborious scientific research can be and it takes a certain individual to take on this type of career. Yet, the tasks we performed in  collecting the data needed to be accomplished and an individual who is interested in the world and travel can find a calling.  But at the same time, we often found such interesting specimens that you left the site at the end of the day exhausted, hungry, but satisfied.

Here are Carly and Adam our two polar bear watchers. 

Here is "fairy tale" lichen.