Before I begin my blog, I’d like to warn you all that I have no prior experience with blogs whatsoever.  What does that mean, you may ask?  Well, that means that I may end up writing about very non-bloggish things.  For example, in a hypothetical blog reading context, I would assume readers would like some idea as to their writer.  Who is this person, what do they look like?    so I shall diverge slightly from climate science blog topics to describe myself fully.  I’m Brian.  I have brown hair and brown eyes.  I wear size 11 shoes, and i have a strong affinity for walnuts.

okay, now that you know just who i am, and what i’m like, i can commence my official blog:

So I, like many of you or your close relations, am preparing to go to siberia.  Currently I’m in California with my fellow St. Olaf student representative, Erin Seybold.  We’ve already left our homes in Minnesota, and, with our captain of operations John Schade,  have spent the last two weeks in northern california experimenting a bit with local streams.  More specifically, we’ve been studying nutrient spiraling in three local streams, to which we will compare previous stream experiments back at home in northfield, and upcoming experiments in Siberia.

Resource limitation is a concept widely understood throughout ecology.  In our work, however, we’re focusing on nutrient spiraling, a concept essential to understanding stream nutrient limitation.  Where some streams (like those we studied in northfield) are phosphorus limited, others, such those here in the reserve, are nitrogen limited.  Nutrients flowing through a stream are assimilated and mineralized again and again, conceptually spiralling in and out of the stream biota, or organic form.  Furthermore, limiting nutrients generally spiral quicker.  that is, limiting nutrients are taken up faster than nonlimiting nutrients.  What does that mean?  Why does it matter?  By investigating how fast nitrogen and phosphorus are taken up in a stream–how fast they cycle in and out of the biota–we can garner a better understanding of local influences and ecological processes.  For example, with nutrient spiraling research, we can begin to ask important questions as to how soil type, light abundance, and anthropogenic influences, among others, shape ecological processes.

Our upcoming work in Siberia will utilize this knowledge to investigate nutrient limitation in arctic streams.  As climate change thaws permafrost and releases many otherwise frozen sources of nutrients, stream dynamics will undoubtedly change, ushering forth nascent influences to climate change.  Understanding this, of course, is our goal.

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed my blog.  I’ll be back, no doubt.

–Brian