The 3D lab

Hidden in the woods

Posted on May 26, 2015 by lembrechtsjonas

Underneath the cover of a dense forest canopy behind our office buildings on campus, there hides an old and forgotten greenhouse.

In summer, it is almost invisible from the forest edge, as it is completely overgrown by a wild and dense network of nettles, thistles and sprouting trees. It has been standing there for over 30 years, abandoned and forgotten, slowly deteriorating.

Inside, it is a terrible mess, and the greenhouse might seem totally lost for any purpose, just waiting year after year for its death sentence. The metal construction however perfectly survived the battle against time, and it is that unbeatable quality that will safe its life.

For our experiment this summer on the university campus, I was looking for a rain-out shelter to simulate extreme drought conditions. And despite its bad conditions, this greenhouse might perfectly fit those plans.

So next month, we will dismantle the structure and move it to our experimental field site. The content – a complete mess accumulated over 30 years of non-use – will be thrown away, as will be the useless remainders of the cover.

And then: a new life, a new beginning… and for me a perfect solution for my practical problem!

Posted in Belgium | Tagged Abandoned, Ecology, Forest, Garden, Gardening, Greenhouse, Nature, PhD, Photography, Science | 4 Comments

Empowering biodiversity

Posted on May 21, 2015 by lembrechtsjonas

Presenting close to the royal palace

Off to beautiful Brussels today for a conference on the use of large scale datasets in ecology (the future!).

The place to be

I present a poster on my plans to model the distribution of mountain invaders based on our global dataset.

In the meantime, I improve my knowledge on everything that is happening and possible in this fast changing field.

The royal academy in Brussels

Posted in General | Tagged Architecture, Belgium, Biodiversity, Brussels, City, Ecology, PhD, Photography, Science | Leave a comment

Follow your nose

Posted on May 18, 2015 by lembrechtsjonas

In between the corrections of the reports of my students in the course on forest types, I took some free time roaming through little forest patches in the southern half of Flanders, close to the capital.

It was in one of these patches that I stumbled on a nice surprise, early on an otherwise normal spring morning in May. The surprise was called wood garlic and was preceded by an unmistakable fragrance. Following my nose, I found whole forest floors filled with this nice wild garlic plant with its white starry flowers.

For a guy who spent his whole life in Antwerp in the north of Flanders, these forests filled with wood garlic are an uncommon sight. The species prefers loamy nutrient-rich soils right outside seeping areas; conditions that are hard to find in my home region.

And that is a pity, cause this species represents a highly valuable forest type with a wonderful feel (and smell!) But be quick if you still want to see their delicate beauty this year, cause most of the little white stars are fading to green at the moment of writing.

The students did a fine job with their reports, although they, too, seemed to struggle with the borders of the different forest classification. If you move ten meters, and your understory changes completely to the complete other side of the spectrum, this task is indeed not an easy one.

Posted in Belgium | Tagged Ecology, Flowers, Garden, Gardens, Hiking, Macro photography, Nature, Nature photography, Photography, Plants, Spring, Students, Teaching, Travel | 3 Comments

Don’t forget the roadsides!

Posted on May 15, 2015 by lembrechtsjonas

In this spring seasons, flowers are sprouting everywhere, artistically colouring the whole world, as they happily do every year.

Celandine in Wilrijk

It is every year a surprise to see the variety and diversity of flowers that lighten up our days. And it is not only the nature reserves and natural areas that contain this variety, a lot of it can easily be seen from the road.

Narrowleaf plantain in Grobbendonk

I know that roadsides get a fairly negative image through my research, as I study them in the less disturbed world of the mountains, where they show a strongly degraded ecosystem. In Belgium, however, they are amongst the most important areas of nature we have left.

Broom in Grobbendonk

Indeed, roadsides are only a degraded ecosystems. Yes, they only show a fraction of the possible flower diversity in our nature. But still, we should not forget about them, as they are the strongholds of nature within our cities and the much-needed connections between the remaining patches of ‘true’ nature.

Chickweed in Kontich, Antwerp

Posted in Belgium | Tagged Belgium, Ecology, Flowers, Gardens, Nature, Nature photography, Photography, Plants, Roadsides, Spring, Summer | 1 Comment

A helping hand

Posted on May 11, 2015 by lembrechtsjonas

This is a good moment for a little applause for the staff of my local garden shop.

Time after time, they have been giving helpful advice with a smile on their face. And I assure you my questions are not the lightest, as an ecologist might seem to have a peculiar taste for garden equipment.

Scientific gardening in Chile

My most recent complicated question involved fertiliser. What I needed was not just for any garden plant, but for our upcoming experiment in the Swedish mountains, where we want to add an exact known amount of nutrients to the soil. We ploughed through all available nutrient types, all with their small but significant differences, to find the one that suited me best and matched our goals and what we used in our previous experiments.

Adding our carefully selected fertiliser

They might have been wondering a bit about the peculiar composition and location of my garden, but they helped me with excellent advise anyway! And that is how they help tirelessly every time.

Posted in Belgium | Tagged Aveve, Chile, Ecology, Fertiliser, Garden, Gardening, Nutrients, Photography, Science | 1 Comment

Curly

Posted on May 7, 2015 by lembrechtsjonas

I just love buckler ferns! For me, they are the true embodiment of spring, the season in which they start swarming forest floors with their endlessly amazing shapes.

The broad buckler fern emerges from the soil as a cute little ball of fur, growing close together with its other buckler friends.

Carefully, it starts sticking out its head and stretching out its stalk; but it will keep its precious leaves safe for a little while longer. And that is exactly what makes them so adorable: with their strong stalks folded around their precious leaves to protect them against the angry outside world, they look like a mother holding her baby in her arms.

Only when the coast is clear – or so it seems – they slowly unfold their delicately green leaves to their full glory. Ready to green up the forests once again!

Oh, yes, spring is a truly poetic season!

With this happy spring feeling in mind, I am currently preparing everything for the summer – buying seeds, buying labels, finalising the designs – so I will soon be able to show you one by one the realisations of all my new plans!