Sowing the seeds

Posted on November 27, 2014 by lembrechtsjonas

There is a high-speed germination experiment going on in the basement.

I will have a student doing a short master project on the survival capacity of gap colonisers this winter. He will keep a close eye on extreme winter temperatures during the whole season and link these extreme events to the survival of plants on different locations in grassland gaps.

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Highly interesting stuff, as it will be the first experimental testing of one of my own theories. I was however not fully prepared to launch the experiment already this year. But when this student showed up in search for a project, I saw a great opportunity to trigger an early launch.

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Of course, this early start means I needed some plants. Luckily, I always have an extra set of seeds available, so those could immediately go under the sun-simulator lamp. With the help of optimal soil-, water-, temperature- and lightconditions, the tiny seeds ‘overtroffen’ themselves and germinated within 3 days.

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That means they could already go to the next phase: a greenhouse with a temperature 2 °C higher than outside temperature. Less ideal conditions, so there quick growth will soon be hampered, but this is necessary to let them adjust gradually to outside temperatures, before they go in full soil next week.

I will keep a close eye on them and wish them all the best!

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Milestone

Posted on November 25, 2014 by lembrechtsjonas

This week I had a milestone to celebrate, as I got my 1000th picture accepted on Fotolia! That was an event I could not just let go by, as reaching this milestone is a serious reward for long hours of work outside in nature, but also behind the computer.

Photographer on mountain top

You can visit this growing portfolio here and wander through rows of travel images from all over the world, details from Flanders fields and close-ups of random objects.

Mustard on field

Photography is big business as making pictures gets increasingly easy, so stock websites have the opportunity to be picky about what they want to accept and what not, making it a certain struggle to get out there.

Boat on lake Nahuel Huapi

However, a certain bit of persistance and a growing mountain of pictures seems to be rewarded now. The next milestone – selling my 100th picture – is even around the corner already!

Mushrooms in meadow

This is also the perfect time to thank my girlfriend for helping with uploading all these pictures, a massive work that should never be underestimated.

Belgian Church

So please forgive me this little celebration with a random selection of pictures recently made available on Fotolia, and feel free to visit my portfolio!

Acrobatic gull catching fish

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The mushroom mystery

Posted on November 14, 2014 by lembrechtsjonas

Claiming that counting plants tells you everything you want to know about their growing success in the mountains is like claiming you know the whole fungi-community by looking only at mushrooms.

Large mushroom in lawn

Mushrooms, those pretty ones with their nice funny heads, are only the fruits, the apples of a massive apple tree, one acorn of a huge oak. The whole body of the fungus is below the surface, and it is there that all the action takes place.

Puffball with a mushroom friend

Understanding a fungus requires some digging, as you will want to know what is going on underneath the earth’s surface. Knowing plants might in the end require the same effort.

Fly amanitas

An important part of a plant’s life indeed happens in the invisible ‘black box’ that is underneath the soil: it is there that they find their nutrients, it is there they dig for water. For a major part, it is decided under the soil surface who is going to live and who will have to die.

Mushrooms on deadwood in a forest

Counting and measuring aboveground plant parts only gives the final result of an ongoing fight below the surface.

Brown mushroom in autumn

So from now on, I will put in more effort to challenge this black box and find out what is happening there. I will start digging for answers to my questions in the dirt and the mud, as it is there that all solutions are hiding.

Fungi growing on dead tree

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Alpine or not alpine?

Posted on November 11, 2014 by lembrechtsjonas

Cotton grass (Eriophorum vaginatum) in a meadowWhen can we call a plant a true mountain plant? What is the optimal definition to divide plants in two categories; alpine or not? Those questions currently keep me occupied during my working day. I thought to shed some light on the differences here with the help of some fluffy examples.

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The alpine zone, the zone above the treeline were the climate is too cold to allow trees to grow, hosts some highly typical plant species. In this harsh environment, you need some special skills to survive, and only the selected few meet these requirements.

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Most species that do fit the bill however loose the necessary skills to deal with the conditions downhill. Especially the power to compete with fast-growing lowland species eradicates their chances to grow on lower elevations. Those cold-adapted, slow-growing dwarfs, like the creeping willow, are true alpine species.

Fluffy seeds of creeping willow

Creeping willows stay close to the ground, safely protected against the elements. They grow very slow and stay small during their whole lives. Ideal characteristics in the alpine zone, but a burden to win the everlasting natural selection in warmer environments under the tree line.

The same holds true for the mountain avens, or white dryas. These tiny roselike plants stick together in colonies to stay warm. In the warm summer months, their flowers and fluffy seeds dare to leave the protective air layer at the surface, but otherwise they will always keep close to the ground.

Dryas octopetala

Cottonweed falls to the other side of the alpine/non-alpine balance. Although these fluffy plants love the wetlands and marshes in the alpine environment, their range is much broader. They survive everywhere where extreme conditions and bad drainage erase all other competitors.

Head of cotton grass (Eriophorum)

Although you can find their cute bunny-tales in between the other alpine species, their optimum lies in the ‘montane’ area, the mountain region underneath the tree line.

  Eriophorum heads

They found a way around the strong competition on the lower elevations by choosing a niche where no-one else wants to live: swamps and bogs. Another strategie, resulting in a totally different distribution: when alpine species will be easy to observe on high elevations, but impossible to find when you go lower, cotton weed will have the same – small – chance everywhere along the gradient, as they will be linked to soil moisture instead of elevation.

Cotton grass head

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Far

Posted on November 6, 2014 by lembrechtsjonas

Originally posted on BioDiverse Perspectives.

In a previous post, the photographing ecologist explained the importance of getting low to get the interesting and catchy pictures of your scientific subjects. As you can imagine the extra effort this would ask from your knees, I here want to highlight one more reason why it is certainly worth the effort: it creates the chance to display your subject in its wider environment.

Invasive red clover along a fjord in northern Norway

Invasive red clover along a fjord in northern Norway

This wider environment is an important factor. As scientists, we have the habit to focus too much on the details. From our first steps in the PhD, we dive too deep in our own little niche. And as we get closer and closer to our subjects, it might become difficult to communicate to uninformed outsiders about the broad picture.

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A good picture could be the rescue here. It provides a non-scientific public immediately with a lot of useful information about your study object and its environment. Especially when you took into account the ‘Low’ and ‘Far’ strategies…

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When you dare to ignore the common urge to take a frame-filling picture of your subject, you improve your chances of explaining the details to your audience. A well-designed picture in which attention has been paid to the background, starts telling a story. A story about the world in which your subject lives, the ecological frame where everything is situated. You loose small-scale details if you refrain from close-up images, but in return you get a large amount of information that broadens the view.

Herd of reindeer in their typical environment: roaming the tundra with the Lapporten mountains in the background

Herd of reindeer in their typical environment: roaming the tundra with the Lapporten mountains in the background

Taking some steps back might also help to get a simpler image, one that is easier to understand. Keep an eye out for distinct lines and shapes in the landscape, as they can provide a pause for the eye of the viewer. This will make the true subject of the picture to stand out.

With this close-up of a dead lemming in the Scandinavian mountains, for example, you can see the details of the gruesome torture that happened to this poor animal.

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But I also love this overview, as it immediately adds an extra dimension to the story. How the little fellow was probably left behind there on that rock by a bird of prey. How the hunter was driven out by an unwanted visitor halfway its meal on its favourite rock overlooking the whole valley.

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So, going ‘far’ from your subject turns out to be an interesting way to tell ecological stories. I experienced the trick to work for people as well. A picture of an ecologist in action in the middle of his ‘natural habitat’ emits a lot more power than any detailed close-up will ever get.

Hiking through the Scandinavian mountains in search for an experimental plot

Hiking through the Scandinavian mountains in search for an experimental plot

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Paradise in the heart of the jungle (2)

Posted on November 5, 2014 by lembrechtsjonas

Something else: no mountains and cold weather this time, but the hot and humid atmosphere of the tropical rainforest.
Some of my fellow PhD-students started a new project in the forests of French Guyana. This is their blog, a nice mixture of scary jungle creatures and exciting ecological research.
Check it out here!

LLL's avatarLore and Leandro in French Guiana

Sunday morning we prepared ourselves for a 3 hours walk in the rainforest: only +- 8 km and 100m in altitude… The only things we took with us were a hammock, a sleeping bag (yes, in het morning with 100% humidity it can be a bit colder), a towel and soap (a shower after a 3 hours walk in the rainforest is really nice!), clean underwear and t-shirt (yes, this is also really nice :p) and a bottle of water (only one per person was enough, because halfway we could refill them from a small creek). At 9.32h we left the Pararé camp (starting point of our walk) and started our walk to the Inselberg camp (end point of our walk).

After this heavy walk, we arrived at 12.36h! First we enjoyed a lunch with crackers & jam, then we relaxed in our hammocks. While Lore stayed in the camp because…

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