The 3D lab

I spy a little guy

Posted on April 5, 2015 by lembrechtsjonas

40 centimeters of snow. An angry wind that cuts through ten layers of clothes. Icy rain every two hours. The circumstances at the top of the mountains in Punta Arenas are far from ideal.

And still, surprisingly, there was some cute furry life around. While we were digging through the snow to find back our plots, a little mouse came out of his protective hole to get some late autumn feeding.

He kept us company during the whole fieldwork, nibbling from the grasses and running around on its cute little feet. It was a hearth-warming sight to see it beating the cold, like every proud little animal should!

So we pushed through, set the cold aside and finished two plots in one day, a major accomplishment on this high elevation.

– excuse me for the empty post from earlier –

Posted in Chile | Tagged Animals, Ecology, Fieldwork, Mammal, Mouse, Nature, Photography, Punta Arenas, Snow, South America, Travel, Wildlife, Winter | 5 Comments

Beauty and difficulty

Posted on April 3, 2015 by lembrechtsjonas

A quick report from the field, where adventurers are made! While last year on the third of April, temperatures in Punta Arenas were a nice and sunny 14 degrees, this year brought us… snow!

We drove up the mountain to our highest elevation plot and ended up in a beautiful fairytale world. Amazing views, the best natural beauty of Patagonia, but a little bit complicated for the fieldwork.

This picture shows a close-up of our plots at 450 meters, buried under ten centimeters of snow. But no worries, vegetation is still there beneath the snow and we are figuring out a good approach to get everything out!

To finish: yesterday wàs a very successfull day, as the data from the first – lowest elevation – plot look really promising for the research. Next days also should bring warmer weather again, so everything is gonna be fine!

Now: back to the field!

Posted in Chile | Tagged Chile, Ecology, Fieldwork, Forests, Hiking, Nature photography, Photography, Punta Arenas, Science, Snow, South America, Travel | 8 Comments

Window seat

Posted on April 2, 2015 by lembrechtsjonas

If you fly down through Chile from Santiago to Punta Arenas, make sure you have a window seat!

And not just any window seat, you would like to be on the left side of the plane, cause from there, you can see the Andes!

It is a spectacular side, these mountains, and I was lucky we had a sunny day. The mountains appear a lot smaller from the air, but the breath-taking views of silent volcanoes is undescribable.

We arrived safely in Punta Arenas right at sunset, giving us a spectacular sighting during our landing. It had been a beautiful day in the south and clouds were just coming in from the mountains, bringing a night with heavy cold rains.

But as we landed, everything looked nice and peacefull. Totally ready for our new field campaign!

Posted in Chile, General | Tagged Chile, Fieldwork, flying, Mountains, Nature, Photography, Punta Arenas, Sunset, Travel, Travelling, Volcanoes | 4 Comments

Two links

Posted on March 31, 2015 by lembrechtsjonas

Some good news: my important post on the ongoing pine tree invasion in South America has been featured on the blog of latinamericanscience, sparking interest of scientists all over the world.

I am happy to go back to South America as from today and bring back more stories! Until I can tell more, enjoy the beauty of spring as I added pictures from Belgium to the gallery on the right of my blog!

(I have been experiencing some issues with the links to those galleries, it might be safer to just go to my website and click on one of the pictures!)

Posted in General | Tagged Belgium, Ecology, Nature, Photography, Plant invasion, Science, South America, Spring, Trees | 1 Comment

Goodbye spring

Posted on March 27, 2015 by lembrechtsjonas

Goodbye, spring, it is sad to part again after this awfully short reunion!

We have had some sunny days, hinting towards the beautiful season that should be on its way. Even the flowers felt the change in the atmosphere, budding everywhere to show their most optimistic colours.

Daffodil in Park Den Brandt, Antwerp

But spring did not gather its full strength yet here in Belgium. Most days bring rain and cold and a chilling wind. And even when the situation would improve the coming days, I will not be in Europe anymore to celebrate the true breakthrough of spring.

I will leave again early next week to the other side of the world, for my last fieldwork visit to the Southern Hemisphere, where autumn is now fully on its way.

Wood anemone in a spring forest in Vlaams Brabant.

Predictions for Punta Arenas are even less appealing than the rainy spring weather of Belgium: ten degrees, with rain and a malicious wind of 6 beaufort, at least for the very first days.

I will pack all warm clothes I own, and save those images of happy Belgian spring flowers in my head to keep me warm. Let’s just hope those winds don’t blow me off the end of the world…

Posted in Belgium, Chile | Tagged Fieldwork, Flowers, Forest, Garden, Hiking, Nature, Photography, Spring, Weather | 4 Comments

Summer plans!

Posted on March 25, 2015 by lembrechtsjonas

Designing the experiment might be the most important part of the ecological research. All details have to be well thought-out in order to have a chance to find answers on the questions you have.

Design of my experimental gaps and greenhouses to simulate extreme summer drought in Belgium.

I am currently putting a lot of thought in my experiments for this summer, in between the finishing of my papers, and those plans are starting to look good! It will involve some tinkering to get it all up and running, but that is one of the reasons why I love this job so much!