NorDigBryo on new adventures

Time for another update from the project! This time we have actually been on a trip to the southern part of Europe. NorDigByro (represented by Mali and Emanuela) attended the Larwood Symposium in the Lerici area located on the northwest coast of Italy! This symposium is a conference for people interested in and working with bryozoans. Such conferences are a great opportunity to get to know other bryozoologists and be updated on what is going on in the bryozoan world.

A map over the northern part of Italy where Lerici is marked off with a symbol
Lerici is marked with the red pin on the map.
Photo shows a seafront promenade med with hills and a sunset in the background
Photo taken from the seafront promenade in Lerici

Here we got to hear about bryozoans in London that are about to move, bryzoans from a 7,000-year-old submarine cave in Japan, how the environment and biology affect the mineralogy of bryozoan skeletons, ancient bryozoans from the Silurian period and many other exciting topics. We (Mali) gave a talk about NorDigBryo about the background and aims of the project, how we are going to achieve the results we aim for and what we have achieved so far. A blog post about this will come later.

A photo of Mali who is giving a talk about NorDigBryo
Here Mali is presenting the NorDigBryo project

The conference also included a field trip to, among other things, a river bank where we could look for fossil shells with encrusting bryozoans. These fossils are about 1-2 million years old and were very well preserved. This day was relatively warm and sunny so we also observed several types of animals such as butterflies, mantises, frogs and lizards!

A photo from the field trip showing a group of bryozoologists looking for bryozoans on a river bank
A group of bryozoologists looking for fossil bryozoans!
A photo of a fossil shell with encrusting bryozoans
A fossil shell covered with bryozoans.
A small lizard among the rocks on the river bank
We did see a lot of lizards throughout the day
A mantis that sits on the hand of a human
We saw some mantises as well. This one actually landed on the head of our guide.

After our fossil hunting adventure, the excursion continued to a village from the Middle Ages where we visited a museum with a focus on geology/paleontology.

A photo from the middle age village Castell'Arquato where you see two persons walking up the street, with old buildings on both sides
Photo that shows parts of the village (Castell'Arquato) 

We had a very interesting and fun time in Italy and hopefully we will be able to attend more symposiums in the future 😊

By Mali Hamre Ramsfjell
Published Sep. 26, 2024 1:57 PM - Last modified Sep. 26, 2024 3:03 PM
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