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Amy BreenAmy Breen has studied the impacts of climate change on Arctic plant communities for nearly a decade. She is a PhD candidate in the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska, and a member of a team of circumpolar scientists participating in the International Tundra Experiment (ITEX). In July 2008, she’ll begin blogging from the Toolik Field Station, her field site in the northern foothills of the Brooks Range in Alaska.

Project Page: The Changing Arctic

All Posts By Amy Breen


Trees among the tundra

By Amy Breen · October 14, 2008 · comments 3 comments
TOOLIK LAKE STATION, ALASKA-- Balsam poplar is the northern-most tree species in North America. In Arctic Alaska, it occurs sporadically in isolated stands often adjacent to perennial springs or on south-facing slopes. Join our field crew as we venture... {Read More »}


Trucks on the Tundra

By Amy Breen · August 22, 2008 · comments 3 comments
TOOLIK FIELD STATION, ALASKA-- The field station maintains a small fleet of trucks to access field sites adjacent to the nearby Dalton Highway. These trucks have camp names such as, "Blue Dog, Bandit, Cadillac and… {Read More »}


Ptarmigan

By Amy Breen · August 19, 2008 · comments 1 comment
TOOLIK FIELD STATION, ALASKA-- We often encounter ptarmigan hidden among the lichen-covered rock and tundra plants at Toolik Lake. Ptarmigan live year round in the Arctic. They are well camouflaged in both the winter and summer seasons... {Read More »}


Digging Soil Pits

By Amy Breen · August 8, 2008 · comments 1 comment
TOOLIK FIELD STATION, ALASKA– The northern foothills of the Brooks Range, including Toolik Lake, received nearly 15 cm of rain over the past several months. In Fairbanks, the rivers are at levels not observed since 1967. The tundra is fully saturated... {Read More »}


Musk Oxen

By Amy Breen · August 6, 2008 · comments 2 comments
TOOLIK FIELD STATION, ALASKA– Last week, we encountered a herd of musk oxen rambling on the tundra... {Read More »}


Mysterious Ground Ice Feature

By Amy Breen · July 30, 2008 · comments 4 comments
TOOLIK FIELD STATION, ALASKA– Earlier this summer, my friends and I encountered a curious ice feature north of Toolik Lake near the Kuparuk River. Since the ice feature occurs at a familiar site, we knew it was newly exposed ice. So, we set out to learn just what this feature is and how it formed... {Read More »}


In Pusuit of Sour Dock

By Amy Breen · July 24, 2008 · comments 2 comments
QUINHAGAK, ALASKA-- After my final ethnobotany lecture, I offered to help Cecilia, a co-teacher and Yup’ik elder, collect sour dock leaves. Sour dock (Rumex arcticus) is a perennial herb native to Alaska... {Read More »}


Using Indigenous Plants

By Amy Breen · July 22, 2008 · comments 5 comments
QUINHAGAK, ALASKA-- Along with two elders and six students, I journeyed to a field camp near the Yup’ik village of Quinhagak last week. Dr. Kevin Jernigan, from University of Alaska’s Kuskokwim Campus, and I collaborated… {Read More »}


Inventorying Arctic Vegetation

By Amy Breen · July 9, 2008 · comments 5 comments
TOOLIK FIELD STATION, ALASKA-- To understand how the Arctic tundra changes over time, we are inventorying vegetation plots established here nearly twenty years ago. In this video meet my field partners, Joel and Sayuri, as they inventory amidst the rolling tundra and mosquitoes... {Read More »}


Harbinger of Eternal Daylight

By Amy Breen · May 19, 2008 · comments 1 comment
FAIRBANKS, ALASKA-- The snow only just melted in interior Alaska last week. Signs of spring abound here: the sky is light for almost twenty hours a day, leaf buds are nearly bursting on the trees… {Read More »}