The 3D lab

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!

Posted in General | Tagged Art, climate change, Design, Ecology, Experiment, PhD, Photography, Planning, Research, Science | 5 Comments

Tweet tweet

Posted on March 19, 2015 by lembrechtsjonas

Let me celebrate the fact that I am now officially tweeting for the MIREN-network with some cute little birds!

I will be the social media responsible of the Mountain Invasion Research Network and keep the world up to date about all the scientific progress in our group, on a global and a local scale. I will also coordinate some larger updates via the weblog of the Mountain Research Initiative (MRI).

(I was going to brighten up this post with a variety of birds, but then I stumbled on this cute little mallard I photographed at the ZOO, and I wanted to give him the credit his funny modellers face deserves. So please change the ‘Tweet tweet’ of the title into a ‘quack quack’…).

Posted in Belgium | Tagged Birds, Communication, Ducks, Nature, Photography, Science, Twitter, Zoo | 7 Comments

Hallerbos

Posted on March 18, 2015 by lembrechtsjonas

Common ivy on forest floor

I am preparing half a day course on forest types for the 3d years at our university. The course will be completed with an excursion to the Hallerbos, one of the most beautiful and world-famous forests in Belgium.

Understory in dry beech forest is often limited to mosses.

The forest is known for its rich spring vegetation, with endless maths of bluebells, painting the forest a breath-taking purple.

Common ivy

I had to go there last week to investigate the different forest types with my own eyes, in order to be able to teach the students everything they need to learn. Spring is only starting, but I was given a beautiful day with 15 °C and plenty of sun to roam around through the beautiful beech forest.

The bluebells are on their way, but I was there too early to see them flower. I was lucky enough to see the first 3 wood anemones, next to the endless fields of green leaves marking the spots where the bluebells will show of their beauty next month.

The first wood anemone of spring.

Bluebell ready for spring.

I roamed all day through the forest, walking almost 15 km to cover all different forest types in this varied forest. I learned the Hallerbos is mostly beech forest on dry hills, but crossed by several little creeks with their unique and rare wet forest and marsh vegetation.

The science of forest types is a bit of a shady business in Flanders, as we only have some shattered pieces left (around 10% of the total surface). Moreover, many of these little forest patches are not fully developed into mature and natural forests, or they are strongly deteriorating due to external (antropogenic) influences.

It is hence a tricky business to come up with a meaningfull classification of the Flemish forests, the more because the understory does not necessarily match the observed tree species due to anthropogenic cultivation.

The Hallerbos is fairly unique in Belgium, as it is one of the biggest forests we have with distinct climax vegetation and a relatively undisturbed understory. The beech and hornbeam forests with their beautiful spring flora are very important in this system, which is the reason they are conscientiously protected.

Wood sorrel is a typical species of forest understory.

It is a blessing to roam through this beautiful forest and discover a vegetation that still looks like the ancient forests that covered our countries before the age of men took over.

Posted in Belgium | Tagged Beech, Belgium, Ecology, Flanders, Forest, Hallerbos, Hiking, Nature, Nature photography, Photography, Plants, Spring, Teaching, Travel, Trees | 5 Comments

The perfect shape

Posted on March 16, 2015 by lembrechtsjonas

Give a tree all the space it needs and it will grow into one of the most majestic living beings in the world.

Lonely tree in Huldenberg, in the hills of Brabant, Belgium

There is a huge difference between a tree in a forest and a lonely one, without any other trees bothering him. In a forest, there is competition everywhere. Fighting for light in the sky and growing as tall as possible, fighting for nutrients or water in the soil and spending all your energy on digging deeper and further for those precious resources.

A lonely tree has all the space it needs, it does not have to worry about competition. It can grow exactly the shape it wants, which is – again – the ideal shape to catch the light. It is interesting to see how they maximise their light input by creating the perfect shape and how all leaves contribute their part.

It must be fantastic to be a lonely tree…