Dr. Aino Kulonen holds a Masters from the University of Helsinki, where she specialized in biogeography and arctic vegetation, and a PhD from the University of Bergen. In her PhD thesis, she studied patterns and drivers of floristic change on European mountain summits over the past 150 years. Aino is involved in several international networks collecting ecological data in mountains, and hopes to bring some of the experiences and mood from these collaborations to the MRI.

In Aino’s very first blog post for us, you can read her thoughts on the power of collaboration and about her role in the Summit Flora project exploring the link between climate warming and an increased richness in plant species on mountain summits - the results of which were recently published in the journal Nature.