Alchemilla alpina, a fish without a bicycle, forms clones via seed (apomixis). This allows it to spread through Arctic and alpine areas with few pollinators. Normally there are risks to a monoculture such as rapid spread of disease, but Alchemilla cheats by having many copies of the same gene within each plant (8-fold polyploidy resulting in over 100 chromosomes). In addition, slow mutation gave rise to 300 microspecies of Alchemilla across Europe and 2000 worldwide. [DOI:10.12705/665.3]
2023-05-18 Svinafellsjökull glacier, Iceland
Still need to be vigilant, even when asleep. Females will pop their eyes open every 4 s to check up on the ducklings. Males also need constant vigilance (every 5 s): drifting into another duck gets you into a fight even when you are asleep. [DOI:10.1080/00063650209461279]*
2023-05-15 Reykjavik, Iceland
* Note: this data is from a study on common pochard (Aythya ferina) not tufted ducks (Aythya fuligula).
Today's evolutionary trick: dynamic dilation for diving ducks. By selective constriction and relaxation of artery walls you can control blood flow throughout the body, getting more blood to the legs (diving is hard work!) while shutting down the wings and the gut. This lets you spend more time underwater munching on mussels.[DOI:10.1242/jeb.168.1.199]
2023-05-15 Reykjavik, Iceland
Still wearing her winter cloak, she is already gathering materials for her nest. Her black and white breeding plumage will be revealed as the brown feather tips break off. Rather than trading off during brooding, the male acts as courier, bringing her seeds every 15 min. After hatching both parents provide for the chicks. Alone the chicks would be malnourished in bad years. [DOI:10.1007/BF00300684]
2023-05-14 Blue Lagoon, Iceland
2:1 male-female so more likely a male, but difficult to tell if they are not side-by-side (females are 5-10% larger).[1] An unequal sex ratio is rare, and usually associated with polyandry. But DNA evidence says these birds are highly monogamous, keeping the same partner year after year. Parents put equal effort into brooding, but females are chased off as soon as the chicks hatch.[2] This male care bias is enough to lead to a male sex bias.[3]
2023-05-14 Hafnarberg Seacliffs, Iceland
[1] DOI:10.1111/j.1557-9263.2008.00148.x [2] DOI:10.1093/beheco/arp187 [3] DOI:10.1038/ncomms2600
Saxifraga oppositifolia eking out a living in arctic gravel. It is a hardy plant found high in the Alps (4500 m) and far to the north (83°). When the flower opens the stigma develops first, allowing cross-fertilization. In case it is too cold for insect pollinators, the anthers will grow after a few days and bend toward the stigma, allowing self-fertilization.[1]
2023-05-17 Fjallsárlón, Iceland
[1] Purple Saxifrage Alberta Plant Watch. https://plantwatch.naturealberta.ca
Glacial icebergs calved from the Vatnajökull icecap in the background. Normally ice forms with tiny air bubbles, so the light bounces around a bit and comes out as muddled opaque white. Trapped in a glacier for a hundred+ years, the weight of the ice above squeezes out these bubbles, allowing the light to pass freely. The O-H bonds in the water absorb the red end of the spectrum, leaving a bright blue glow.
2023-05-17 Jökulsárlón, Iceland
A heavy bird, but once it takes flight it can stay up for a long time: 13 hours non-stop from Britain to Iceland, burning a couple of kilos of fat in the process (25% of lean body mass).[1] Putting on all that weight requires a lot of yummy barley. Perhaps that's why 1 in 7 show up with lead shot despite being a protected species.[2]
2023-05-20 Flói Nature Reserve, Selfoss, Iceland
[1] DOI:10.2307/3677141 [2] DOI:10.1016/j.biocon.2011.02.014
Out on the moor foraging for insects, with a redwing for company. Brooding requires constant attention, with one or the other parent sitting on the nest. For golden plovers the male gets the day shift, feeding at night.[1] Seems a little unfair, especially when you get into the far north...
2023-05-14 Reykjanes Lighthouse, Iceland
[1] DOI:10.1046/j.1365-2664.2000.00519.x
A sister species to the American robin, they breed in the north and fly to southern Europe for the winter. Occasional individuals will stray to the North American coast, west from Iceland or east from Siberia but these are very rare. One exhausted bird even found itself in the south Atlantic, landing on a ship off the coast of Brazil.[1]
2023-05-16 Vik, Iceland
[1] Brito, G. R., Nacinovic, J. B., & Teixeira, D. M. (2013). First record of Redwing Turdus iliacus in South America. Bulletin of the British Ornithologist’s Club, 133(4), 316-317.
An ode to blubber: its thickness insulates against ice cold water without shivering. Dilate some blood vessels and now it is a conductor, pumping heat into the air. A food store in times of need. Shapely, too, the water slides by its smooth curves. And padding gives comfort on the cold hard ice: no mat needed for the banana pose.
2023-05-17 Jökulsárlón, Iceland
[1] DOI:10.1080/23328940.2021.1988817 [2] DOI:10.1086/physzool.68.2.30166505
Woolly sheep, recently shorn. The breed has a dual layer coat, with long thick hairs to keep out wind and rain, and short fine hairs to keep them warm (like merino wool). A rare variant sports four horns, caused by a mutation in HoxD1.[1] This is a fundamental signaling gene related to many aspects of development in vertebrates, co-opted to form horns in bovines. No idea why messing with it doesn't break everything.
2023-05-17 Kirkjubæjarklaustur, Iceland
[1] DOI:10.1093/molbev/msab021
Left alone on acidic rocks Racomitrium lanuginosum forms thick mats of fluffiness.[1] Like pillow lava but soft and woolly. This is part of the Eldahraun lava flow, stretching 60 km along the Laki fissure to the sea. Along with lava fountains over 1 km high, its eruption in 1783 blanketed the earth with sulphur dioxide disrupting weather and causing years of failed crops.[2] The increased poverty and famine may have contributed to the French Revolution.
2023-05-18 Skaftáreldahraun, Iceland [photo by Jay]
[1] Racomitrium lanuginosum (Wikipedia) [2] Laki (Wikipedia)
Black crowberry (Empetrum nigrum) anchored by mosses give colour to an otherwise barren landscape. Even with 1+ m of rain per year it looks like a desert for miles around. Near shore there is a strip of green watered continuously by ocean spray but out here the rain runs through the loose sand and the high winds blow away new seedlings before they put down roots.
2023-05-14 Hafnarberg Sea-Cliffs, Suðurnes, IS
The Alaskan native, Lupinus nootkatensis, thrives in Iceland's climate, painting the hillsides with vibrant hues every summer. Post-colonial deforestation and overgrazing left much of the land barren, so lupines were widely planted for erosion control. They were a bit too successful, displacing native plants on the neighbouring heath, though this may be self correcting as insect populations adapt to this new food source.
2023-05-16 Black Sand Beach, Vik, Iceland