No team can work across the entire Arctic. But maybe we do not need to, either? By breaking up bigger tasks into ‘distributed experiments’, we can achieve almost anything: By conducting the same, short protocol at as many sites as possible, we can get a grip on bigger patterns, without a major loss of time and effort for anyone. Thus, by working together, we can accomplish what our network was founded to do: answering important questions in polar ecology at a scale inaccessible to any single research group.
With this objective in mind, it is time to join forces – this time to quantify the food webs regulating insect herbivores across the Arctic. What we hope to achieve is a description of how food webs of Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) and their natural enemies (parasitoid wasps and flies) vary across the Arctic – and how this reflects into a key ecosystem service: flower damage on avens (Dryas).
The sampling routine will require no more than a few hours of work during 2 (or 3) days, spaced about a week apart.
We hope that all NeAT members will join our initiative. Together, we expect to have fun implementing the new project – and to again do important science.
For more information on the project (including how to sign up), please click here. Then keep watching these web pages as we add material and specific instructions during the winter.
Best wishes,
Tuomas Kankaanpää & Tomas Roslin
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Posted on 2.10.2015 by vuorensini
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How did the summer campaigns go? Here’s what NeAT researchers said about this summer’s work in Greenland and North America:
Northeast Greenland –Tomas Roslin (from University of Helsinki)
At Zackenberg, the summer was late, wet and snowy. To sample arthropods, we used skis until the end of June. A total of five people worked in the valley during different parts of the summer, with our main focus on fungal-plant, host-parasitoid and plant-pollinator interactions. Given the late summer, we miserably failed to implement the background herbivory project (our apologies!), but will try again next year. In the Arctic, no years are brothers…
Yukon – Shaun Turney (PhD student with Chris Buddle, from McGill University)
In July 2015, I studied Arctic arthropods along the Dempster Highway in the Yukon. The Dempster Highway makes a fascinating study system, with a huge amount of variety over a distance that can be driven easily in a day. In the north (67 deg N), the sun shone brightly at all hours, the mosquitoes swarmed, and tree stands looked like bonsai gardens. In the south (65 deg N), we experienced brief twilight nights, ground squirrels were abundant while mosquitoes were scant, and lush forests dominated some of the valleys.
South Greenland –Joe Bowden (from Aarhus University)
Toke T. Høye, myself and a number of others (Aarhus University) headed to Narsarsuaq, South Greenland over the summer in continuation and expansion of our monitoring program. It was a particularly late summer for us as snow was not melted from the mountain tops by the time I left during the final week of June. Oskar LP Hansen, who remained in Narsarsuaq for the summer noted that the rest of the summer was sunny and quite warm and much of the water that had accumulated during melt had vanished.
Alaska –Derek Sikes (from University of Alaska, Fairbanks)
Derek Sikes made short collecting trips to various places in Alaska this summer: Barrow, Galena, and Kantishna (first time for these three sites for me), and in the Aleutians to the islands of Adak, Atka, and Little Tanaga. Barrow is the northern most point in Alaska and a hotbed for climate change research. The last attempt at a comprehensive arthropod inventory of Barrow was published by Hurd in 1958.
<header>Posted on 9.7.2015 by vuorensini
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Want to take part in a study that aims for development of a standardized protocol to measure invertebrate herbivory in the tundra?
To recommend robust sampling protocols to measure invertebrate herbivory in tundra we first need to understand some basic things. For example, what are the average levels of herbivory? At what spatial scale does it vary? To try to address these questions we are calling for participants to contribute to a study to be conducted in summer 2015. The goal of this study is to assess the occurrence and intensity of invertebrate herbivory at different tundra sites. If interested, please visit The Herbivory Network website for instructions!
Posted on 16.4.2015 by tokehoye
This academic network on terrestrial and freshwater arthropods of Arctic, Antarctic and alpine regions brings together entomologists from research institutions around the world. The goal of NeAT is to advance communication, collaboration and knowledge about tundra arthropods.
If you have any questions about the network, you can send us a message using the contact form. If you wish to join the network, you can fill out the questionnaire! To see a list of our members, please see our members page.
Date: Tue 15 Nov — Thu 17 Nov
Time: 08:00 — 17:00
Location: AIAS, Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, Høegh-Guldbergs Gade 6B, bygning 1632
The Network for Arthropods of the Tundra (NeAT) is working towards increased international collaboration on topics related to arthropods in alpine and polar environments. Arthropods are highly sensitive to environmental change and arctic and alpine environments are changing rapidly as a consequence of global warming. It is therefore more relevant than ever to unite efforts and study tundra arthropods.
We are very happy to invite you to join the 1st NeAT meeting at the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, Aarhus University, Denmark. This meeting will present the latest topical research and provide a venue for informal interaction among researchers across the world.
More information about the conference: Toke T Høye
Location: Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, Aarhus University Høegh-Guldbergs Gade 6B, building 1632 Aarhus, Denmark.
The registration form for the 1st NeAT meeting at the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, Aarhus University in Aarhus, Denmark on 15.-16. November 2016.
The deadline for registration and abstract submission is 1 September 2016. Please register even if you have been in contact earlier.
The registration form is available here:
https://goo.gl/forms/SXQdQDziHQBWkzCD3
We are very happy to announce, that the meeting itself will be free-of-charge. We will even be able to offer a free conference dinner on 16 November. However, participants are asked to arrange their own accommodation (see suggestions in the form) and travel to Aarhus.
We are working on organizing a special issue of Polar Biology for contributions from NeAT. Please get in contact as soon as possible if you are interested in contributing.
I hope to see many of you in Aarhus in November!
Best wishes,
Toke
More information about the conference: Toke T Høye