Environmental Internship Program - 2023 Booklet

Ariana Di Landro ’25
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
Certificate: Environmental Studies
CLIMATE AND
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
PROJECT TITLE
Mechanism of
Shrubification in a
Changing Arctic
ORGANIZATION(S)
Levine Lab,
Department of Ecology
and Evolutionary Biology,
Princeton University
LOCATION(S)
Toolik Field Station,
Fairbanks, Alaska
MENTOR(S)
Jonathan Levine,
J.N. Allison Professor in
Environmental Studies,
Professor of Ecology and
Evolutionary Biology;
Ruby An, Ph.D. candidate,
Ecology and Evolutionary
Biology
I observed how different drivers such as warming,
nutrient availability and a longer growing season
impact shrub expansion or “shrubification“
across the Arctic, focusing on three species:
Betula nana (dwarf birch), Salix sp. (dwarf willow)
and Alnus viridis (green alder). Other research
has observed that these shrubs are expanding
across the Arctic, but with no clear explanation
for how and why. Understanding the mechanisms
of shrubification is critical in understanding
how shrubs impact carbon cycling. I tracked the
shrubs’ phenological or developmental changes
in summer and fall, for example buds breaking,
leafing out and senescence. I also helped set up
boardwalks for easier access to plots and to limit
the destruction of the tundra, and I assisted
in taking soil cores to determine how nutrient
addition has influenced the composition of the
soil. While learning about plants for the first time
and learning to identify them was challenging,
it was extremely rewarding to look at the tundra
at the end of the summer and be able to identify
most of the species below me. I have gained
an appreciation for the Arctic’s uniqueness as
I gained experience in botany, phenological
measurements, biogeochemical skills and data
analysis.
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