Category Archives: General

The virtual lab in lockdown

Posted on May 6, 2020 by lembrechtsjonas

We are all at home, unfortunately. That means: reduced social interactions, much less scientific discussion, and the loss of the support system of colleagues and friends. It’s tough for all. Luckily, our virtual lab has some experience with running remotely, … Continue reading →

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The holy trinity of global change ecology

Posted on April 25, 2020 by lembrechtsjonas

A few weeks ago, the journal Annals of Botany asked me to write a commentary pieceon a new paper coming out on the effect of climate change on grass species on a subantarctic island. An intriguing paper, as they compared … Continue reading →

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Same data – different analysts

Posted on April 22, 2020 by lembrechtsjonas

So here is an important question: if you give the same dataset to different scientists, will the outcomes be the same? This question is not trivial. It’s actually one of the most important assumptions in the way we currently do … Continue reading →

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SoilTemp: a database of near-surface temperatures

Posted on April 21, 2020 by lembrechtsjonas

Let me tell you something important – which won’t be a surprise to regular followers of this blog: weather station data doesn’t do the trick for ecologists. It is just too different from the climate as experienced by most organisms, … Continue reading →

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Bluebell beauty

Posted on April 20, 2020 by lembrechtsjonas

This would normally be the season where we take the students to the beautiful Hallerbos, close to Brussels, to teach them all about forest types and keystone plant species. This trip would importantly also involve stunning purple fields of bluebells … Continue reading →

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The coronavirus microclimate

Posted on April 12, 2020 by lembrechtsjonas

For us scientists, it is tempting to throw our expertise into the fight against COVID-19. For spatial ecologists, this often means: predicting the risk of spread of the virus based on species distribution models, trying to identify its climatic niche … Continue reading →

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