For the 23rd time we went to an ecology field trip to the island of Svanøy, taking samples of plankton, taking measurements of the sea water, exploring the sea shore ecosystem and getting an insight into sustainable farming of deer. All thanks to long term friendship and cooperation with the hosts from Svanøy Hjortsenter and their leader Johan Trygve Solheim.

The purpose of ecology field trip for biology students is to explore abiotic factors and living communities which define ecosystems – “in situ” or “hands on”. A group of about 50 (biology students and teachers, volunteering staff and alumni), sailed on a motorboat from Haugland to Svanøy in almost Mediterranean weather. These were three very intensive days packed with a variety of activities – and smiles. On board, the students measured, using different devices, various oceanographic parameters ; transparency, temperature and salinity of sea water at different depths. They also took vertical and horizontal samples using plankton nets. This was followed by oceanographic data  analysis and close encounter with a variety of plankton creatures through live microscope images. The students recognized phytoplankton’s major global role in providing oxygen into the atmosphere. They also observed a variety of species of zooplankton, understanding that plankton as a whole makes the fundament of food webs in all seas and oceans.

During the low tide the students went to the sea shore and explored the distribution and diversity of species, in teams. The teams were challenged to present their findings, in both scientific and creative ways during the Sea shore conference. The conference turned out to be a pleasant mix of some solid science observations and data with a variety of creative artistic inputs – the most popular being «Periwinkle rap».

The Svanøy Deer center experts presented the challenges and benefits of sustainable deer farming for meat. The most exciting was a close encounter and mingling with red deer. In exchange for their hospitality we engaged in «dugnad» : coastal cleanup and antler search. On the last day we went for a beautiful hike around Vågsfjellet. Lots of social joy – between humans, deer, peacocks and sheep. Thank you to the Hjortsenteret leader Johan Trygve Solheim and his team:  Rannveig, Joakim and Magnus!

Worrying findings on the Svanøyt Field Trip

This year the transparency of the sea water was at least double of what has been found on other such trips before; there was much less phytoplankton –  in spite of  a sunny spring and relatively warm which would normally make sea water green and quite non transparent.

However, more shocking was observing the significant proportion of oarweed kelp (Laminaria digitata), on our usual investigation site on Svanøy, was bleached. This phenomenon has been observed in British islands and marine biologists relate it to increased sea water temperatures. This was the first time we saw that on Svanøy. We were wondering if that  is connected to our diving observations in last October, on exactly the same spot,  when under 10m depth there was a catastrophic sight: no life at all, everything covered with dark gray sediment. Sad and worrisome!