“ SWEDEN
IS SUCH A
PLEASANT
PLACE TO
LIVE WITH
SUCH AN
ORGANIZED
AND SIMPLE
LIFESTYLE. ”
Did you know that although
Northern peat lands only occupy
around three percent of the world’s
land area, they store an equivalence
of 60 perecent of all atmospheric
carbon and contain larger stocks of
carbon than other terrestrial ecosystems?
Neither did we until we sat down
to interview Anna Normand, a Ph.D.
candidate in Soil and Water Science
specializing in Wetland Biogeochemistry. Anna recently spent eleven
weeks in Sweden collecting samples
and attending a Ph.D. course with
14 students from Scandinavian universities.
As Anna likes to say “wetlands are
everywhere,” and that is certainly true
of Sweden. Headquartered in Lund,
a small college town in the South of
Sweden, Anna was able to collect peat
samples from wetland sites across the
country that provide insight into the
impacts of climate change on wetland
ecosystems.
Northern peat lands like those
found in Sweden act as important
carbon sinks that help remove carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere.
However, climate changes may eventually transform these same wetlands
from carbon sinks to carbon sources
responsible for releasing additional
greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
As Anna’s dissertation work addresses wetland responses to climate
change on a global scale, she is now
comparing her data from subarctic
Sweden with findings from global
peat lands in the temperate, subtrop-
ical, and tropical climate zones. As a
Louisiana native, Anna comes from
a region rich in wetlands and initially began her wetland research as an
undergraduate at Louisiana State
University.
When asked about her time in
Sweden, Anna mentioned the
immense beauty of the Swedish landscape:
“My experience in Sweden was
amazing. Sweden is such a pleasant
place to live with such an organized
and simple lifestyle. The country is
very unique as you move from south
to north. In the North, the mountains near Norway are beautiful, the
sun is out 24/7 in the summer, and
the Northern lights are visible as early
as September!”
While Anna was less impressed by
the expensive fare in Swedish restaurants, she loved her time immersed
in Swedish culture and declares that
Swedish butter and strawberries are
the best in the world.
When asked for some pieces of
advice for other scholars heading to
the Nordic region for research, Anna
had some really positive things to
share:
“Sweden is a great place to do any
breadth of research. The universities
are some of the best in the world with
renowned scholars. Don’t be worried
about being a foreigner because the
universities are very international
with students from many different
cultures. Don’t be afraid of striking
up a conversation with anyone in the
streets. Swedish people are very nice
and helpful: they speak great English.”