The 3D lab

Flen

Posted on June 2, 2015 by lembrechtsjonas

Tomorrow morning I will be on a plane again. A short trip this time, 3 days up and down to the south of Sweden, where we have a meeting with the MIREN-network (all our colleagues from all over the world who study plant invasions in the mountains like I do).

I had a busy time the last weeks preparing as many results as possible for the three main parts of my work that are going to be discussed there, and now I am packing my bags.

I always love these kinds of meetings, as they force me to wrap things up and summarise how far I am with my work. When everything is listed, the summary looks pretty good, but I can see some busy summer months ahead!

But first, I will enjoy the sunny spring weather in Flen, a little village south of Stockholm. And under this nice sun, I will gather plenty of useful ideas for future work and get useful comments on what I have been creating. Just hoping there are not too many interesting things to do!

The associated pictures have nothing to do with Flen, off course, but I just wanted to show the spring feeling from the garden in Belgium, as those pretty flowers seem to fit in the moment.

Posted in Sweden | Tagged Ecology, Europe, Flowers, Garden, Nature, Nature photography, PhD, Photography, Plants, Science, Sweden, Travel, Traveling | 1 Comment

That’s invasive!

Posted on June 1, 2015 by lembrechtsjonas

Science has to keep up with the rest of society, in order to stay meaningful. Luckily, science is all about innovating, so the good ideas are plentiful.

Through the ‘Empowering biodiversity research’ conference in Brussels, Belgium, where big datasets in ecology got the praise they deserve – I stumbled upon a precious little thing that might symbolise the future of large-scale data collection in biodiversity conservation.

That precious little thing is called ‘That’s invasive’ and it is a smartphone app (available for Android ànd iPhone!) to collect data on some major plant and animal invasive species.

Invasive rhododendron, beautiful flowers, but unfriendly against all other plant species. Record its presence through the app.

The app contains 24 highly invasive species from Europe, with clear pictures and explanations. It is very user-friendly (again, that’s part of the future) and allows you to locate the invader on a map, upload pictures and specify the level of invasion . The app contains animals like the American Mink, Canada Goose, Ring-Necked Parakeet and American Bullfrog, together with a bunch of water plants and species like Himalayan Balsam and Giant Hogweed.

Seedling of Japanese knotweed, enough to trigger a whole new invasion! The app could help following these new outbreaks.

With enough community awareness, this app could be the key to follow plant and animal invasions at the front line and as such, it definitely deserves our support and a bit more publicity!

Currently, the app focusses on 24 European invaders, but it could do with some more species and a global scale. Tracking the global expansion of red clover, for example, would be a nice extra.

Find more information on the website of RINSE and start recording your own invasive species!

Posted in Belgium | Tagged Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecology, Europe, Field ecology, future, Gardens, Invasive species, Nature, Photography, Plant invasion, Plants, Science | 3 Comments

University of the Arctic

Posted on May 31, 2015 by lembrechtsjonas

It are the little things that can make someone happy. Some of my Swedish pictures are featured on the website of the University of the Arctic.

That idea is already nice, but I also find it nice to be associated with this initiative. As they say it themselves: the University of the Arctic (UArctic) is a cooperative network of universities, colleges, research institutes and other organizations concerned with education and research in and about the North.

This page shows you a nice map with a bunch of yellow dots, with all the institutes associated with the University of the Arctic. They study a broad range of disciplines, from business to art in their aim to connect everything that is known about the Arctic.

Such a global collaboration effort deserves some support, as it might strengthen the future of this precious cold region.

Posted in Sweden | Tagged arctic, Cold, Ecology, Hike, Mountains, Nature photography, north, Photography, Science, Scientists, Travel, Traveling, University | 3 Comments

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.