Conferences GCE & Student Activities

Cross-country skiing and coping with the cold: 11th Jyväskylä Winter School of Ecology

Measuring a bankvole (Photo: Judith Schepers)

Three GCE students attended the 11th Jyväskylä Winter School of Ecology organized by the University of Jyväskylä (Finland) from 12. -23.02.2018.

In the first week, the wild life in the deep snow was studied as part of the topic boreal ecology. This included, besides the structure of snow and a general overview, also important topics such as the life and strategies of rodents and fish. This was observed first hand by checking vole and fish traps, cross country skiing and searching for different coping with the cold strategies in the Pyhä-Häkki National park.

The second week focused on population ecology and population cycles. Following interesting lectures also a short introduction to modeling time series analysis with R was given.

The science school finished with a workshop on population cycles, which experts of the topic attended and discussed their current state of work. This gave us the opportunity to get an insight into many researchers work and thus an excellent overview of the topic.

In the free time, we used many possibilities to have fun with snow activities, including snow shoe walks, visiting Jyväskylä and watching an ice-hockey game of the local team, or just walking through the snow and enjoying the frosty nature.

Altogether, it has been a great stay in Finland, where I met many new friends, with whom I had a lot of fun. We had a great time in the marvelous snow and I miss it already.

Cross-country skiing in the Pyhä-Häkki National park and enjoying the snow. (Photos: Judith Schepers)

 

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