Three IPY projects have been awarded to ENRI scientists. Two to Drs. Jeff Welker, Bjartmar Sveinbjornsson and Paddy Sullivan, and one to Dr. Matt Carlson. 

Post-doctoral fellows Dr. Lina Taneva and Dr. Robert Pattison are working with Dr. Welker addressing the how, the why and the consequences of shrub increases in northern Alaska at Toolik Lake, and examining the Pan Arctic responses of plants and soils to long- term warming experiments as part of the International Tundra Experiment (ITEX) at Thule, Greenland.

Dr. Matt Carlson is collaborating with Dr. Justin Whitall at Santa Clara University on the IPY grant "Flower Color Evolution in the Arctic: Integrating Genomic and Ecological Research."

These IPY projects complement other new activities at ENRI including the measuring and monitoring freshwater lakes in south central Alaska, the Boreal Forest Observatory (Dr. Paddy Sullivan) and new studies on the causes and consequences of invasive species expansion in Alaska.