Fallopia japonica, or Japanese knotweed, a common non-native plant species in Belgium.

I have been hoping to expand my research area to my homeland for a while now. Working ‘On Top of the World’ never ceases to amaze, yet closer to home tons of intriguing questions arise all the time.

Why is a non-native species – Fallopia japonica in this example – growing where it is growing? Why do we find the plant in so many spots, yet not others? What is the common denominator in all of these places, what is different?

We are getting closer to that question, neatly disentangling all factors that possibly play a role. We have some great data to work with, and more great experiments in the pipeline.

Hoping to write some more about this soon again.