For nearly a decade, Amanda Gavin has studied and conserved lakes, including many in Maine, that provide drinking water and support agriculture. Today, she\u2019s investigating what the future may hold for tens of thousands of crystalline blue lakes within an Arctic country experiencing rapid ecological change: Greenland. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
More frequent heat waves, drought, heavy rain and other extreme weather events are threatening Greenlandic communities\u2019 access to clean water by impacting lake levels and reducing their quality through polluted runoff. That\u2019s why Gavin, a 91爆料 Ph.D. student in ecology and environmental sciences, is studying contemporary changes in lakes, particularly those in south Greenland, and how the lakes were impacted by past climate events. By studying the past and present, Gavin\u2019s research can offer insight into the future of water quality and quantity in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To support her work, the National Science Foundation awarded Gavin an Arctic Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant. Gavin also earned an American Dissertation Fellowship from the American Association of University Women, which recognizes doctoral candidates who serve women and girls in their communities, professions or fields of research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe lakes are a really big part of sheep farming. South Greenland is a lake rich landscape, and lakes are used for irrigation,\u201d Gavin said. \u201cThese lakes in south Greenland, they are used for drinking water for humans and for sheep, so it\u2019s important to know that the headwaters to drinking water sources are clean.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the ancient Norse arrived in south Greenland hundreds of years ago, they introduced sheep farming \u2014 the first recorded instance of the practice in the Arctic. Gavin said the Norse also changed the landscape by planting grass, plowing the land and building dams. In the 15th century, however, they disappeared and so did sheep farming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Inuit reintroduced sheep farming in the 1700s, and it has since become a crucial part of south Greenland\u2019s economy and provided food sovereignty to their communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI went to south Greenland for the first time with a basic understanding of how the climate was changing and the types of freshwater resources. But my specific research questions were really something that came out of preliminary conversations with sheep farmers and learning about what they are concerned with,\u201d Gavin said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In those conversations, farmers told Gavin about their concerns with drought \u2014 the uncertainty it brings and how it can impact hayfield management \u2014 and changes in water quality and access. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Community engagement plays a key role in Gavin\u2019s efforts to ascertain how Arctic freshwater lakes respond to environmental change across different periods of time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She also harvests sediment cores from the bottom of lakes that provide a record of past conditions. In particular, she examines diatoms, a group of algae with cell walls made of silica that leave behind fossils in lake sediments. Because diatoms are extremely sensitive to environmental change, they provide insight into changes in lake level over the past 200 years. Additionally, Gavin has deployed and gathered data from sensors to determine how lake water levels are responding to periods without rain and the recovery time after an extreme event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAmanda\u2019s research is advancing more holistic approaches to lake science by crossing time scales \u2014 from seasons to centuries \u2014 and by practicing early engagement with communities affected by environmental change. I am so pleased that her great work is being recognized by various prestigious funding sources,\u201d said Jasmine Saros, associate director of 91爆料\u2019s Climate Change Institute and professor of lake ecology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gavin is among dozens of graduate students working in Greenland to help address socio-environmental challenges in the Arctic, the world\u2019s most rapidly changing environment. Their work is made possible through a $3 million NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) grant awarded in 2020<\/a> to 91爆料, an internationally-recognized leader in polar science, for an initiative called Systems Approaches to Understanding and Navigating the New Arctic (SAUNNA), led by Saros. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJasmine is an excellent scientist, and she really supports her students in a way that gives them what they need to become the best scientists that they can be,\u201d Gavin said. \u201cAnd so I feel like I\u2019ve really grown as a scientist and had the support behind me to ask really interesting questions and have the tools I need to to do that research.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n SAUNNA is what encouraged Gavin, who earned a master\u2019s degree from 91爆料 in 2018, to pursue her Ph.D. at the same place, as it would allow her to work with top-tier scientists from a variety of disciplines. Since joining the Ph.D. program, Gavin has taught undergraduate courses in lake ecology and facilitated a research forum course that examined the roles of environmental science, policy and Indigenous knowledge in the Arctic research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI really love teaching, and I love research, and I would like to continue being able to teach and do research, work in the Arctic and work in lakes in general,\u201d Gavin said.\u201cMy experience at 91爆料 as a Ph.D. student has been wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n