The Landscape Laboratory

Skálanes functions as a landscape laboratory where ecological systems can be studied directly in the field. Unlike controlled laboratory environments, landscapes cannot be isolated from external influences. Weather systems, species movement, land use history and climate dynamics interact across space and time.

East Iceland provides a particularly interesting setting for this type of work. The fjords and coastal mountains form a transition zone between oceanic and sub-arctic environments, creating strong environmental gradients over relatively short distances. Coastal cliffs support large seabird colonies, while wetlands, grasslands and upland vegetation occupy the valleys and surrounding mountains.

Within this setting, the Skálanes reserve offers a defined area where multiple habitats can be observed together. Wetlands, coastal systems, upland vegetation and former agricultural land exist within the same landscape.

Long-term observation is especially important in regions such as this, where baseline ecological data remain limited and environmental change is increasingly visible. Field stations such as Skálanes provide a base where these patterns can be documented over time.

For students and researchers working here, the landscape itself becomes the primary source of information. Fieldwork, monitoring and conservation work take place within the same environment, allowing ecological questions to emerge from direct observation rather than controlled experiment alone.

In this sense, the reserve operates not as a simplified research site but as a place where environmental change can be studied as it unfolds within a real landscape.