After a day of coring on Tuesday, we decided to give our arms and backs a rest and collect water and plant samples. We take these samples so that we can characterize the chemical signatures of each plant type, and water from different parts of the system. Then, we can recognize those same signatures in the samples we take from our core. We can use the chemical signatures of the core samples to reconstruct how the vegetation and distribution of moisture has changed in the peatland through time.
While we were collecting our samples, we had a chance to meet some of the characteristic tundra wildlife.
