Here’s Why Scientists Have Been Fertilizing the Arctic | Science News for Students
![Brooks Range, Alaska, Credit: Jim Laundre](/sites/default/files/styles/focal_point_1000x325/public/2022-12/BrooksRangeAlaska-Credit-JimLaundre-feature.jpg?itok=bZFIanHw)
Toolik Field Station, Alaska – High in the Arctic, more than 160 kilometers (100 miles) from the nearest town, there is a flimsy plank-covered path. Just one or two boards wide, it’s snow covered for nine months of the year. But from June to August, the boardwalk peeks through, threading a path through small rectangular plots of tundra — areas in the far North where most of the year it’s too cold and dark to support plants more than a few centimeters (inches) high.
![grayling young](/sites/default/files/styles/full_content/public/2022-12/350_inline_grayling.jpg?itok=SZ5ism3L)
Some of these plots look exactly like the surrounding landscape. Low grassy tussocks, shrubs and moss fill them. Other patches — some open, others sheltered by small tarps — explode with life like unweeded gardens. There are tall, bright pink flowers waving in the breeze. Some bushes rise almost tall enough to be called a tree. Read more of the article here.
Source: Here’s why scientists have been fertilizing the Arctic | Science News for Students
Field reporting for this story was made possible by the Marine Biological Laboratory Logan Science Journalism Program.