Unravelling biogeochemical,microbial and vegetation feedbacks driving soil development and Arctic greening under a warming climate,RIS 11961

With the help of this smaller project that is part of the Arctic Greening project (RIS 11961), I want to find out if and how the Arctic cushion plant Silene acaulis adapts to different climatic conditions. For this, I have already genetic material in form of leaves from several populations across Svalbard. The fieldwork in 2024 around Ny-Ålesund and Prins Karls Forland would help me to complete my dataset. Especially as these regions show a large precipitation gradient in the climatic niche of S. acaulis. Additionally, I plan to survey around the settlement in Ny-Ålesund and Barentsburg to identify non-native species and their distribution. Also I want to observe, if they are able to reproduce by seeds, as this has never been described before in that area.