Category Archives: Science

Database progress

Posted on January 16, 2023 by lembrechtsjonas

Last week, we bid farewell to Amber, a bittersweet goodbye that marks the end of a successful chapter in our ‘SoilTemp’ project. Yet it also provides closure to a very good story, as you’ll see. Amber joined us as a … Continue reading →

Posted in Science | Tagged Database, Ecology, Microclimate, Mountains, SoilTemp, work | Leave a comment

Hitchhiking mountain roads and trails

Posted on December 29, 2022 by lembrechtsjonas

The Mountain Invasion Research Network (MIREN) has made itself ‘world famous’ through its protocol for the long-term monitoring of vegetation along mountain roads. We even got a recent publication dedicated in its entirety to that protocol! However, mountains – and … Continue reading →

Posted in Science | Tagged Ecology, Global change, Hiking, Mountains, Nature photography, Plant invasions, Science, Trails | Leave a comment

The energy balance of a leaf

Posted on May 12, 2022 by lembrechtsjonas

I am currently co-teaching the course on ‘environmental biophysics’ to our ecology masters, a largely theoretical course in which students get to know the physical equations behind ecology and the interaction between organisms and their environment. Besides this formula-juggling, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Science | Tagged Biophysics, climate change, Ecology, Microclimate, Plants, Practicum, Teaching, Temperature | Leave a comment

What microclimate sensor to use?

Posted on April 25, 2022 by lembrechtsjonas

I often get the question what microclimate sensor I would recommend. To facilitate my answer to that, I decided to summarize my ideas on the matter here. Note that this is a far from exhaustive musing on the different factors … Continue reading →

Posted in Science | Tagged Climate, climate change, Microclimate, Nature, Outdoors, Sensors, technology | Leave a comment

What we know about snow

Posted on February 21, 2022 by lembrechtsjonas

We’re going to have to talk about snow. Snow is fabulous, it is unique, it is beautiful. But it also turns ecological processes and principles on their head: snow accumulation determines ground temperature, light conditions and moisture availability during winter. … Continue reading →

Posted in Science | Tagged arctic, Ecology, Mountains, Nature, Outdoors, Snow, Winter | 1 Comment

One protocol to track them all

Posted on February 15, 2022 by lembrechtsjonas

It was the year 2005. A group of mountain ecologists gathered in Vienna, Austria, for what would turn out to be an appointment with history. Their topic? Plant invasions in mountains! A consensus was soon reached that there was an … Continue reading →