Winter is here in Belgium, bringing gusts of frost, snow and icy rain that make for cold noses and toes.

Little snow hat on an Ilex at our university building

With all that cold, I am getting pretty ‘warmed up’ about our upcoming fieldwork trip to South America. Next week, we are sending a little delegation to Concepcíon, Chile and Mendoza, Argentina to collect data for some of our many fascinating MIREN-projects.

We are visiting some of our long-term MIREN-collaborators, so besides warm fieldwork days, I am also really looking forward to a warm welcome from colleagues and friends that we get to see so little.

Early morning snowy walk close to Mechelen, Belgium

The main goal: gathering data for our projects on mycorrhizae, biotic interactions and plant traits, and their role in species redistributions along mountain roads!

The river Zenne on a frozen morning

So stay tuned, as the landscapes on these pictures are likely to get a lot more exciting soon!