The unseen life in soils at Disko Island under climate change
Short description
Arctic soils house an enormous biodiversity, which help keep carbon (C) in the ground and anchor the foodweb on land. We should therefore encourage the public to understand and protect soils. In our scientific investigations near Arctic Station at Disko we will collect soils from experiments which mimic the ongoing environmental changes. With artwork exhibition and teaching material made from microscopy images and films of the myriads of amoebae, bacteria and algae, we will show these creatures.
Aim
The goal of the project is to bring on knowledge of the miniature life in the soil and of the consequences of tundra fire and winter thaw events in the Arctic to local communities using art- and nature showrooms and to involve a school class from local schools in Illulisat and Queqertarsuaq in a real scientific field experiment. Scientific images of the homeland soil at Disko Island, made in laboratories in Sweden, will show the unseen in these soils and educate the public to protect soil and the life in it.
Focus areas
Our project addresses ‘Planet’ as we focus our research on:
1) soil biodiversity and effects of environmental and climatic effects (fire and heatwaves) on this biodiversity;
2) changes of living conditions for soil microbes (bacteria and fungi), which naturally produce greenhouse gasses (CO2 and N2O and CH4) and for mosses, algae and lichens, with potential to change the tundra storage of CO2.
We also address ‘Peoples’ through the involvement and communication of knowledge to children and adult communities in Greenland and through involving artists, teachers and translators in Greenland. We thereby strengthen the communication, education and competence development while benefitting from local insights ourselves.
We focus on ‘Partnerships’ between researchers, teachers and artists in Greenland, in Sweden and in Denmark, to communicate the research and knowledge out to the public in schools and art and nature showrooms. We will travel from Denmark and Sweden to Greenland for the citizen science-driven field work, where work will be conducted by Danes, Swedes and Greenlanders together.
Milestones
- three new successful expeditions to Qeqertarsuaq;
- winter warming experiment;
- images of soils using the techniques Scanning Electron Microscope, nanoSIMS, soil chips in Sweden
- booklet, artworks, and YouTube videos with QR code access;
- exhibition of images at local Greenlandic schools and at arts and nature show rooms at Greenland
- exhibition of images in museums (TBA)
Researchers
collaborators in Greenland
