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Starting date: October 2022
Location: Bayreuth, Germany

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“No photos!”, the older man shouts, walking from the bow to the stern of the rusty cutter-like ship. Luckily, I had already stopped taking photos before as it was announced earlier that it is forbidden to take photos on that particular sector of our trip on two beautiful lakes. Both lakes are located within the Valdaysky National Park which lies between the Russian capital Moscow and Saint Petersburg in the Novgorod Oblast region.

The exploration of the national park is part of a summer school I participated in. Valdaysky National Park is characterised by picturesque lakes and forests of the Southern Taiga vegetation type. Besides lakes, conifers, mosses, ferns and bilberries are dominating the scenery. Many animal species like moose, beavers, wolves, brown bears and lynxes and a high diversity of bird species can be found in the national park. From 1936 to 1941, the area was under protection as a natural reserve but lost the status because its timber was used and roads were constructed after the Second World War. In 1992, the Valdaysky National Park was founded. Today, the national park is divided into three zones: The first zone is a natural reserve with the strictest protection of nature, the second zone is designed for ecotourism and the third, biggest zone for recreation.

Hydrologic Monitoring

During our excursions in Valdaysky National Park, staff members of the government-funded “Valday Hydrology Institute” showed us their hydrologic measuring stations and instruments.
Earlier the same day when we had to stop taking photos, we follow two scientists of the institute and the captain on the cutter-like ship. It is a partly cloudy day, the sun is sparkling on the water surface most of the time. During the next hours, the ship will travel to three fixed sample areas on Uzhin Lake and Lake Valdayskoye. The sample areas are differing in size of the respective lake (which affects the influence of the wind speed) and proximity to the next city (which affects the influence of human activities). In every sample area, the transparency of water, photosynthesis, the amounts of nitrogen and phosphor and the temperature are measured every ten days. By taking samples, one of the scientists is telling us that they have to manage their research with a small amount of money. For instance, they are still using some older instruments and had to stop to measure the pH value of the water since the instrument has broken.
However, during another excursion we noticed that imported modern technologies do not need to be helpful if they are not adapted to the local conditions. One middle-aged scientist on that place demonstrated how he is measures the flow velocity of a river. To do so, he has a modern equipment now: A machine made in Germany which is driving a modern Russian instrument into the stream water with the help of a power generator. While the previous non-electrical equipment also worked during floods, the new one can only be used during normal water levels. Another example was given by a young scientist on an excursion through the forest: She is measuring the amount of rainwater by an automatic pluviometer as well as a non-automatic pluviometer. This is necessary because sometimes there is no electricity in the forest and then the automatic pluviometer does not work anymore. That means, every ten days, a scientist has to come into the forest and measure the collected water in the tank of the pluviometer to make sure that no gap in the records occurs.

Back on the ship, the old scientist is not talking about challenges only but also about the success of the water monitoring: Because of the measurements the waste water is not directly introduced in the lakes anymore, our accompanying professor is translating from Russian into English.

Attraction of humans

During the shipping, I see coniferous forests surrounding the lakes most of the time. Therefore, it is very striking when suddenly something golden is glaring: The Cathedral of the Russian-Orthodox Valday Iversky Monastery. The monastery, founded in 1653, actually is standing on an island but a street mainly brings tourists and pilgrims from onshore to the historic place nowadays. Disregarding the cars and visitors, one still can feel the wind of former times blowing from the monastery.

Another area is attracting my attention during the excursion on the two lakes: Safety fences, cameras and camouflage nets are safeguarding the lakeshore on one area which is a residence of Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia. We are told that also conferences with international politicians took place there. Our ship needed a special permit to pass that sector of the lake with the constraint of not taking photos of the area. For a few minutes, I forgot to be in a national park and felt the atmosphere of Russian policy. I can understand why the place of Valdaysky National Park has been attracting humans in the past to this day, no matter whether they are cleric, politicians, tourists or something else.
Before I came to the national park, I expected to learn more about the local flora and fauna, when I left it, in addition to that, I have learned something new about scientific work in Russia, about the (dis)advantages of new and old scientific instruments, about the Russian-Orthodox church, the Russian history as well as about Vladimir Putin.
Valdaysky National Park is full of surprises and full of stories whereof many still need to be told …

Note: The information in the text are originating from my notes I took during the excursions. Because of language barriers the accuracy of the information cannot be guaranteed.

The post Where you can find moose, bears, scientists, monks and sometimes even Putin: Valdaysky National Park appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

As a master’s student of natural science, I know of what I am speaking: A vast number of scientific papers is extremely hard to read (and therefore understand). Additionally, the reach of the publishing journals is limited – often, you need to pay high amounts of money just to access a paper. People with a good understanding of the subject and with the ability to communicate these papers are truly needed. In order to get insights into this business, I went to the 11th World Conference of Science Journalists (WCSJ) in Lausanne, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. It took place in the L’Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), a research institute and university in Lausanne.

The WCSJ is an event by the World Federation of Science journalists and is held every two years. In 2017, it was in San Francisco, USA. The next conference will take place in Medellín, Colombia, as was announced at the end of the event in Lausanne. This notice made for loud cheering from the side of the Colombian people at the conference.

In total, 1200 people took part in this conference: journalists, scientists, members of the EU, chairpersons of international scientific associations such as the IPCC or IPBES, members of communication boards of universities all around the globe – and some (very few) students like me. The aim of this biannual conference is to bring together professionals and students in science journalism to exchange skills, ideas and thoughts. But also, to build networks and form collaboration on a global scale. During the conference, many science journalists reported about their way into science writing and the possibilities and challenges of this job. 

The spectrum of talks, panel discussions, workshops and presentations was broad. There were three big auditoriums, hosting one major event after the other with a variety of topics. “The new goldrush: Prospects and controversies in deep seabed mining”, “Fake-news in science: How to recognize and fight it” or “Biodiversity: Reporting a silent crisis” – there was something for everyone. Researchers and science journalist from all over the world came together, discussed possible solutions for different challenges. Not all speakers could attend the conference physically, which is why some of them were called in via Skype. During a talk about marine protection, a number of researchers took part in a panel discussion, some of them sitting in chairs at the beach on a small island in the Indian Ocean, their feet in the white sand, the sound of the waves in the background echoing in the big hall in Lausanne. One of the highlights of the conference was the talk of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) chairman Hoesung Lee. The auditorium was jam-packed, everyone wanted to hear what he had to say. He spoke about the findings of the current report on 1.5°C warming. He especially pointed out the necessity of combining different fields of research: “We have a good understanding of the technological and economic feasibility, but the social dimensions leave room for more knowledge”, Hoesung says. “We need a change in behaviour. We need a different economy.” He also talks about the choices in private and daily life. Particularly, he emphasizes the need for better infrastructure in remote areas: “Public transportation in cities is often very good. But in the countryside, you often have no choice.” Yet, one aspect he is not talking about – even when asked from the audience – is a change in diet. Even though it is well known that the meat consumption is one of the main reasons for greenhouse gas emissions. “What food choices people make, is not our area.”

Another special feature of the conference were the field trips offered on various days. Every participant could sign up in advance for the field trip they were interested in. Those trips included, for example, a trip to the research station at Jungfraujoch at 3700 meters of altitude, where climatic research has been done for the last 100 years. As temperature measurements at the station suggest, that the annual mean temperature has risen by 1.8°C since 1933. “I remember, when I started my research here around 40 years ago, the glacier was so much bigger”, Bertrand Calpini says and lets his glance wander over the Eiger glacier, which spans under the research station. He is head of the Deputy Director of the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology (MeteoSwiss) and Head of the Measurements and Data Department in MeteoSwiss.

The final speech of the conference was held by Bob Watson, chairmen of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) since 2017. With wild gestures and his loud voice, the 71-year-old scientist with the greying white beard calls the audience for action. In his speech – which was originally set for 40 minutes and shortly before Watson’s presentation was cut to 20 minutes – he urges everyone to do write about biodiversity loss and climate change, pointing out the absolute necessity to change humankind’s current lifestyle. “In 2060, we will be probably beyond 2°C of global warming, more likely are 3-3.5°C”, he says while walking on the stage. “That means that countries have to double and triple their efforts to maintain the climate below 2°C warming! This is necessary to secure biodiversity and the global climate!”

What I have taken home from this conference is that it is absolutely necessary to look at as many facets of science as possible. Only focussing on one topic, one direction, may give ideas for this very subject. Yet, in order to understand the bigger picture, and to be able to write about it in a comprehensible way, it is essential to illuminate it from every perspective possible. It’s not only political injustice – but it can also go in hand with environmental disasters caused by political decisions. It’s not only climate change – it’s as well the social impacts that go along with it.

The post A review on the World Conference for Science Journalists appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

“In La Palma, we want the students to get in touch with science from a to z”, Irl says. The 34-year-old professor has been part of the annual La Palma Summer School for 10 years. “For us, this summer school is really important because we accompany the students’ working groups from the creation of a research concept to the final presentation about the whole project.” During the two weeks, there were also professors and specialists from other European countries supporting the students with their projects.

The biggest part of the work is done by the students in a self-directed way which can, according to Severin Irl, also cause problems during the working process or with the results themselves. “Actually, we just throw the students into the cold water and want them to learn how to swim”, Irl says and laughs. Sometimes, students who participated in the La Palma Science School are choosing a scientific career after experiencing this special research training. “This research project is one of the most important ones for the department of Biogeography here in Bayreuth because we are working together intensively with the students during the whole time.” The project takes two semesters in total, from the first approaches in methods to the final written paper. “As they are dealing with the project for such a long time, some students even kind of adopt it as their baby”, Irl says, a with a twinkle in his eye.

26-year-old Dagmar Hanz is one of the PhD students in the department of biogeography in Bayreuth. She is funded by the Ecopotential project, we recently wrote about. This year, she was also part of the research group on the Canary Island. “We are cooperating a lot with the local authorities, our results often help them with nature conservation projects on the island”, she says. “I am glad to have been part of the Science School, it was really good to actually use various methods. In university, we read about them, but experiencing them is something completely different.”

La Palma is an excellent spot for the research which aims at studying plants and their multifaceted interactions with the environment. This is mainly because the island is very mountainous and therefore has a broad variety of climate and vegetation zones: you can find steep coasts with species adapted to salty and dry conditions (such as sea lavender), dry regions that are crowded by succulents, and even dense laurel forests which grow due the humid trade winds. Also, you can find lots of endemic species there. Even though the island is not big, roughly 40 kilometres long and 30 kilometres broad, it takes quite a while to circle it. “The roads in La Palma are in some parts steep and extremely curvy. It took us up to five hours to circle the island once”, says Dagmar Hanz and laughs.

“Another important factor is that – compared to some of the other Canary Islands like Tenerife or Gran Canaria – mass tourism has not had such a huge impact on La Palma yet”, Severin Irl says. It is still quite untouched in some areas which often brings surprises: This year, the research team might have stumbled upon a new species of carline thistles in the far North of La Palma. “We have identified it as a species from the genus Carlina but we are not sure yet about the species’ name”, Irl says. “Every year again, La Palma is just beautiful.”

The post “We want students to get in touch with science from A to Z.” appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

First of all, meeting all these people, specialists, freelancers, professors at universities was quite a nice experience. They come from all over the EU, some of them are currently working and living at such distant places as New York State in the US or the French island La Réunion in the Indian Ocean. In total, there were around 25 people coming by train, car or plane to Burg Rabenstein. They have totally different backgrounds in their studies and also work for different institutions like universities, research institutes or the United Nations.

It was fascinating to see how EU projects work. There were different topics researchers are working on: Some groups dealt with mountainous ecosystem services and how they could be assessed, others wanted to create a new type of databank, in another room, the members aimed to assess the services of Lake Ohrid in Macedonia. Also, the functioning of the group as a whole was interesting because so many different nationalities and cultures clashed during these intense workshops – it was noticeable in subtle ways like the different forms of approaches or varying opinions on the meaning of certain words. Some discussions took much more time than they were meant to, for reasons like a very long debate about how to use the term “ecosystem services” correctly. Despite all differences and discussions, it is remarkable that there was never a lack of respect and even though hands were thrown into the air and, during heavier discussions, loud sighs were made and sometimes eyes were rolled, there was an overall kindness and understanding for the others.

As the topics were widely ranged as mentioned above, the groups worked also with different approaches. Some groups would directly start off with brainstorming and writing their ideas down in a word document. Others made mind maps and drew graphs on paper, trying to get their topic from another angle. While a few groups only consisted of two or three people, in others there were more people involved. Not all members of Ecopotential could manage to come to Franconia to join their colleagues. So, there were quite a lot of Skype calls during the working sessions.

During these days of intense workshops, I had the chance to not only see the researchers as such, but also to look behind the facade. This is a very important fact that we often tend to forget: Researchers are also only human beings. This means they have a passion they live and work for but on the other side, this means that they also have “normal” interests besides their research like good food, music, books. They have families and other beloved ones they care for. And some of them are extremely funny – something that doesn’t really correlate with the stereotype of the serious researcher who appears to be from another planet.

It was an eye-opening time in Burg Rabenstein because in another context I would have gotten to know these professors and international specialists in another way. Maybe this is something, we should do more often: Read between the lines, look at things from other perspectives and to think outside our own very narrow box.

The post Ecopotential – Insights to an EU-funded project appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

IPBES Chair Sir Robert Walton released the following statement:
“The issue of gender is of paramount importance to IPBES, but we still have a long way to go to get balanced representation. I encourage all governments to nominate women to all IPBES structures and activities.”

While there clearly is a great deal of work remaining to better promote and elevate gender equality, one thing is certain: the work of IPBES would not be possible without the superb contributions and leadership of women.

The future is female!

The post IPBES5- International Women’s Day appeared first on Global Change Ecology.