Charting biological rhythms

The EPOC laboratory and the Norwegian company Akvaplan-niva have deployed a device in Kongsfjord to collect data on the biological rhythms of mussels "Mytilus sp." and scallops "Chlamys islandica". The aim is to better understand the mechanisms that govern their biological rhythms on a daily and annual scale (circadian and circannual clocks) in a polar environment. Thus equipped, the bivalves also become biosensors that facilitate environmental monitoring of the fjord and the effects of climate change. This report presents some of the material collected during an ethnographic survey carried out in 2019 on the field practices of researchers in Svalbard in the High Arctic. It documents, through the eyes of an anthropologist from the Centre Alexandre Koyré, the deployment of this device. The investigation is based on an immersion of several months within the international research station of Ny-Ålesund and benefited from a reception at the Franco-German AWIPEV base, thanks to the support of the Institut français Paul-Emile Victor (IPEV).