Toolik Field Station

It's always amazing how fast the tundra greens up once summer hits in the Arctic. At just a few days past , Toolik Lake is ice-free, and we're approaching maximum plant greenness. Bring on the lush tundra vibes and wildflowers a-plenty.

Photos by Mayra Meléndez-González and Seth Beaudreault.

Yesterday the first wide-eyed little baby Muskox of the season was found north of camp, right on the heels of Mother's Day.

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Muskox battles, endless ptarmigan, migrating birds and more! Our seasonal naturalist Seth Beaudreault had quite the first day back at the station with wildlife galore. Read more about it in our Naturalist Journal, updated daily.

📸 Seth Beaudreault

We had so much fun at Friends of Creamer's Field Spring Migration Celebration talking all things birds!

New research from past and current Toolik scientists at the Arctic LTER confirms long-term increased in carbon release across the circumpolar Arctic tundra as both plants & microbes respire more with warming.

Will Climate Warming Trigger Carbon Release from Tundra? Massive Study Provides Long-Awaited Answers | Marine Biological Laboratory Media contact: Diana [email protected]; 508-685-3525 The cold, treeless tundra landscape that encircles the Earth just below the Arctic ice caps - including much of Alaska and Canada - is known to contain huge stores of carbon in its frozen soils. But a big unknown in global change biology has b...

For all other cranberry lovers — new resource on how these berries are changing with a warming climate

Alaska Berry Futures unveils third booklet The Alaska Berry Futures Project promotes understanding and sharing of the impacts of climate change on northern berry species and recently expanded its berry booklet series to include a third species, the lowbush cranberry. The series has previously published guides for the cloudberry and blueberry...

The first siksrik of the year has emerged from hibernation at Toolik! The Toolik ground squirrel population usually wakes a little later than those closer to the Brooks Range.

Welcome back to the station, ground squirrel.

https://www.uaf.edu/toolik/edc/journal/index.php?date=2024-04-17

📸 Mayra Meléndez González

Snow buntings have returned to the Toolik area, with sightings every day this week since Sunday! Though we're still a bit away from spring break-up, we're celebrating the strengthening sun and the arrival of these springtime heralds.

Read more about current conditions & wildlife sightings in our Naturalist Journal. https://www.uaf.edu/toolik/edc/journal/index.php?date=2024-04-03

📸 Abby Jackson

There's still a few more hours to give to our student & early career TUNDRA award on UA Giving Day!

By donating to the TUNDRA award, you're not only supporting students & early career researchers with the opportunity to conduct science, you're also giving them the chance to gain confidence in their career, to develop a connection with the land, to start a lifelong passion, and to begin their Toolik story.

Now is your opportunity to show your support for students and early career researchers at Toolik. Visit givingday.alaska.edu/amb/toolik and make your gift to Toolik’s Early Career Research Support fund today to ensure that the TUNDRA award continues for many years to come.

📸 Erin Towns

University of Alaska Fairbanks Institute of Arctic Biology

Meet our past TUNDRA awardees and support future students & early career researchers at Toolik by giving during ! Help us unlock $2,100 through the Toolik Steering Committee Challenge.

Since we kicked off our TUNDRA Award in 2022, we've supported seven students and early career researchers with over 50 days at the station to conduct independent research projects. Together, their projects have introduced exciting new questions to the science supported by Toolik Field Station and are contributing to cutting-edge research taking place in the Arctic.

Last but not least: Dr. Morag Clinton, 2022 awardee

Morag’s TUNDRA award project investigated potential emerging diseases in Arctic grayling populations. Although she didn’t find evidence of emerging diseases in Toolik, she observed multiple parasites with known impacts on fish health, some of which can be harmful to humans when fish aren’t properly cooked.

Morag will further assess how these varied parasitic burdens influence overall fish immunology as she continues in her position as assistant professor in UAF’s Department of Veterinary Medicine and faculty team member on the UAF Tamamta Program.

Our hope is that the TUNDRA award continues to fund future leaders in Arctic research for many years to come. Join and donate to the Toolik Early Career Research Support fund on March 26-28.

https://givingday.alaska.edu/amb/toolik

University of Alaska Fairbanks Institute of Arctic Biology

Meet our past TUNDRA awardees and support future students & early career researchers at Toolik by giving during ! Help us unlock $2,100 through the Toolik Steering Committee Challenge.

Since we kicked off our TUNDRA Award in 2022, we've supported seven students and early career researchers with over 50 days at the station to conduct independent research projects. Together, their projects have introduced exciting new questions to the science supported by Toolik Field Station and are contributing to cutting-edge research taking place in the Arctic.

Up next: Dr. Alex Michaud, 2022 awardee

Alex, a research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, studied thermokarsts, or areas where the ground collapses due to permafrost thaw transform. As thermokarsts develop, soil and aquatic microorganisms are likely affect tundra nutrients and carbon. He analyzed microbial communities and metagenomes to understand the role microbes play in releasing nutrients from thermokarst disturbance features.

Alex’s TUNDRA award allowed him to leverage a seed grant to support further analysis of this data from Bigelow. He's now an assistant professor at Ohio State University.

Our hope is that the TUNDRA award continues to fund future leaders in Arctic research for many years to come. Join and donate to the Toolik Early Career Research Support fund on March 26-28.

https://givingday.alaska.edu/amb/toolik

University of Alaska Fairbanks Institute of Arctic Biology

Meet our past TUNDRA awardees and support future students & early career researchers at Toolik by giving during ! Help us unlock $2,100 through the Toolik Steering Committee Challenge.

Since we kicked off our TUNDRA Award in 2022, we've supported seven students and early career researchers with over 50 days at the station to conduct independent research projects. Together, their projects have introduced exciting new questions to the science supported by Toolik Field Station and are contributing to cutting-edge research taking place in the Arctic.

Up next: Dr. Chelsea Smith, 2022 awardee

Chelsea TUNDRA award research focused on the stabilization of organic carbon in iron complexes buried in Toolik Lake sediment. As a PhD candidate, she took some of the first sediment cores on Toolik Lake to identify how metals and carbon were interacting.

Now a postdoc, Chelsea is returning to Toolik this summer to continue her research on Arctic lakes with new funding. She hopes to illuminate answers to the question of whether Arctic lakes will continue to be carbon sinks or shift to become sources as the region rapidly warms.

Our hope is that the TUNDRA award continues to fund future leaders in Arctic research for many years to come. Join and donate to the Toolik Early Career Research Support fund on March 26-28.

https://givingday.alaska.edu/amb/toolik

University of Alaska Fairbanks Institute of Arctic Biology

Meet our past TUNDRA awardees and support future students & early career researchers at Toolik by giving during ! Help us unlock $2,100 through the Toolik Steering Committee Challenge.

Since we kicked off our TUNDRA Award in 2022, we've supported seven students and early career researchers with over 50 days at the station to conduct independent research projects. Together, their projects have introduced exciting new questions to the science supported by Toolik Field Station and are contributing to cutting-edge research taking place in the Arctic.

Up next: Dr. Mingyue Yuan, 2023 awardee

Mingyue, a PhD candidate at Lund University in Sweden, traveled to Toolik to complete a comparative study between Alaska's and Scandinavia's Arctic tundra. Her project sought to understand why soil decomposer microbes differ between the two tundra ecosystems and what these differences mean for carbon and nitrogen cycling.

Mingyue defended her dissertation earlier this year and is continuing her research on plant-microbial interactions.

Our hope is that the TUNDRA award continues to fund future leaders in Arctic research for many years to come. Join and donate to the Toolik Early Career Research Support fund on March 26-28.

https://givingday.alaska.edu/amb/toolik

University of Alaska Fairbanks Institute of Arctic Biology

Meet our past TUNDRA awardees and support future students & early career researchers at Toolik by giving during ! Help us unlock $2,100 through the Toolik Steering Committee Challenge.

Since we kicked off our TUNDRA Award in 2022, we've supported seven students and early career researchers with over 50 days at the station to conduct independent research projects. Together, their projects have introduced exciting new questions to the science supported by Toolik Field Station and are contributing to cutting-edge research taking place in the Arctic.

Up next: Dr. Megan Wilcots, 2022 awardee

Megan’s TUNDRA award extended her on-going independent research project, Assessing the effects of increasing nutrient availability on CO2 fluxes in the Alaskan Arctic, to better understand how small increases in tundra nutrients have big consequences for plants and carbon. As a PhD candidate, she focused on identifying how rates of net carbon uptake change across the growing season with increasing levels of nutrient addition.

Megan graduated with her PhD in 2023 and is now an Applied Climate Scientist at The Nature Conservancy.

Our hope is that the TUNDRA award continues to fund future leaders in Arctic research for many years to come. Join and donate to the Toolik Early Career Research Support fund on March 26-28.

https://givingday.alaska.edu/amb/toolik

University of Alaska Fairbanks Institute of Arctic Biology

We're halfway to unlocking our $2,100 challenge. Help multiply yours and others' donations by giving to our early career TUNDRA Award during .

Your gift to the Toolik Field Station Early Career Research Support fund will directly grant students and early career researchers access to the world's largest Arctic research station.

Support future leaders in Arctic science and give on March 26-28 at https://givingday.alaska.edu/amb/toolik

University of Alaska Foundation Institute of Arctic Biology University of Alaska Fairbanks

Meet our past TUNDRA awardees and support future students & early career researchers at Toolik by giving during ! Help us unlock $2,100 through the Toolik Steering Committee Challenge.

Since we kicked off our TUNDRA Award in 2022, we've supported seven students and early career researchers with over 50 days at the station to conduct independent research projects. Together, their projects have introduced exciting new questions to the science supported by Toolik Field Station and are contributing to cutting-edge research taking place in the Arctic.

Up first: Dr. Manpreet Kohli & Anna Eichert, 2023 awardees

Manpreet and Anna joined forces on a joint TUNDRA Award to investigate genetic mechanisms of cold tolerance in Arctic aquatic insects.

Manpreet's research is working to unravel the evolutionary dynamics of Arctic-dwelling dragonflies and damselflies to understand how these insects respond to rapid climatic changes. She's an assistant professor at Baruch College in City University of New York.

Anna, a PhD student at the American Museum of Natural History, is uncovering cryptic diversity within stoneflies among Alaska's North Slope, as well as the underlying genetic, behavioral, and physiological mechanisms they make use of to survive in frigid freshwater habitats

Our hope is that the TUNDRA award continues to fund future leaders in Arctic research for many years to come. Join and donate to the Toolik Early Career Research Support fund on March 26-28.

https://givingday.alaska.edu/amb/toolik

University of Alaska Fairbanks Institute of Arctic Biology

starts now! You have to show your support for Toolik and give to our student & early career TUNDRA award.

For the next 49 hours, your donation can be multiplied with the Toolik Steering Committee challenge. It just takes 10 donors to unlock the Steering Committee's generous $2,100 pledge!

Help fund future leaders in Arctic science by donating to our early career research support fund! https://givingday.alaska.edu/amb/toolik

.polar is celebrating And here at TFS the auroras are dancing in excitement.

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Late winter sights from the station. The sun has returned to the Arctic and animals are increasingly active. It may look like northern spring is around the corner, but last week's temperatures below -40˚F say otherwise.

Read more about Arctic weather, wildlife, and environmental conditions in our daily Naturalist Journal. https://www.uaf.edu/toolik/edc/journal/index.php

📸 Mayra Meléndez González

Calling all artists! Toolik Field Station, in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management - Alaska, is seeking applicants for the 2024 Dalton Highway Artist-in-Residence. Open to visual, auditory, or performing artists & writers. Applications are due March 29.

More information & the application at https://www.uaf.edu/toolik/outreach/art.php

The 5-6 day residency will be hosted at University of Alaska Fairbanks Institute of Arctic Biology's Toolik Field Station, located in the northern foothills of the Brooks Range in Arctic Alaska. The AiR will have opportunities to speak with land managers, engage with research scientists, & pursue their artistic discipline amid the varied landscapes of Arctic Alaska. Round-trip transportation between Fairbanks & Toolik, food, & lodging are provided.
📸 Kristin Illustration Kristin Link, 2023 Dalton Hwy Air

Want to support world-class Arctic research? Join our team as our Logistics Coordinator & lead behind-the-scenes work of making science happen. Coordinate moving people & freight to/from Toolik Field Station. Full-time based in Fairbanks w/ benefits

Apply on the UA Careers website. Link in comments.

Stay up to date on Toolik Field Station's 2024 operations by attending our virtual town hall! Join us via zoom on March 8 @ 10 am AK time. Register in advance at www.bit.ly/toolik-town-hall-2024.

We will give an informative overview regarding summer 2024 operations, including updates to the COVID-19 mitigation plan and our summer truck schedule. Following the overview, we will allow time for questions and comments.

Scenes from yesterday’s southbound drive from the station to our logistics office . Now that we’re halfway to the spring equinox from winter solstice, the sun is back and lighting up these Arctic skies!

Only 12 days left to apply for our 2024 Tundra Award!

What's that? The application for our student & early career researcher award is now open?

Apply for our 2024 TUNDRA award! Awardees receive up to 10 days at Toolik to conduct an Arctic research project. Apply by Feb 15. Learn more at https://www.uaf.edu/toolik/outreach/tundra.php

📸 Seth Beaudreault

We're excited to host the Painting in the Arctic course, led by Alaskan artist Klara Maisch and UAF Summer Sessions & Lifelong Learning this coming June. Learn more about the course and register at https://www.uaf.edu/summer/travel/upcoming.php

Come paint with me at Toolik Field Station this June! I am thrilled to be working with UAF Summer Sessions & Lifelong Learning and Toolik Field Station to offer a six-day painting class this summer!!

This class is the first chance I’ve had to share my entire outdoor painting process. There will be numerous painting demos and a lot of one-on-one time as we paint our surroundings and connect with the land. This class is open to beginners or folks who are interested in expanding or supporting an existing art practice.

Travel, food, and accommodations are included in the cost of the class. More info and registration is online through UAF Summer Sessions.

Link in stories!

Photo by Russell Wong from summer 2022

New research from our science co-director on how Russia's war on Ukraine is reducing scientists' ability to predict climate change in the Arctic.

Russian war on Ukraine hampers Arctic change predictions The Russian invasion of Ukraine is biasing predictions of how the Arctic will respond to climate change, according to a team of international scientists.

What's that? The application for our student & early career researcher award is now open?

Apply for our 2024 TUNDRA award! Awardees receive up to 10 days at Toolik to conduct an Arctic research project. Apply by Feb 15. Learn more at https://www.uaf.edu/toolik/outreach/tundra.php

📸 Seth Beaudreault

Learn more about the research presented at last week! Up first: the tundra is surprisingly a decadal source of carbon dioxide, found by Prof Eugénie Euskirchen in plots near Toolik Field Station.

Warmer falls push Arctic tundra into a carbon source for past 15 years Alaska’s Arctic tundra has long been considered a carbon dioxide sink, trapping large amounts of carbon-rich matter in its deep, frozen soils. But new long-term research is finding that may not always be the case.