The 3D lab

Pilot whales

Posted on February 13, 2014 by lembrechtsjonas

Somewhere offshore from the coast of Tenerife lives a large family of pilot whales.

They stay the whole year in the same part of the ocean, peacefully plowing through the water and spurting water.

Pilot whales are funny animals, with their stumpy heads and curvy dorsal fin. But they have a nice serenity around them, as they enjoy day after day in the wide ocean.

It makes you wonder how they deal with the immense amount of space all around them.

But they seem to do fine as they get support from each other to make the big ocean that little bit less overwhelming.

The pilots are real stars. They provide all on their own one of the main touristic attractions of Tenerife, and that means a thing. They see a lot of cameras every day, which could make you wonder if this ecotourism is that healthy for wild animals. On the other hand, the economical value of the pilot whales is huge, which is the reason why they are probably among the better protected animals in the world. If you are worth more alive than dead, they hopefully keep you in that state as long as possible…

Posted in Canary Islands | Tagged Abroad, Adventure, Animals, Ecotourism, Ocean, Pilot whales, Tenerife, Whales | 8 Comments

At the foot of the volcano

Posted on February 10, 2014 by lembrechtsjonas

A huge volcano in the ocean. The highest peak a stunning 3700 meters, excluding another 3000 meters of mountain hidden beneath the surface of the ocean. That is Tenerife.

A cat overlooking the world from a pole in volcanic rock. The volcano itself looms on the horizon. This view perfectly summarizes the magical atmosphere on this huge rock in the sea.

A volcano in the middle of the ocean creates a world of volcanic stones crumbling down under the combined power of winds, ocean and time. One day raised from the ocean, some day in the future doomed to disappear again.

It makes you wonder about our continuously changing natural world. Thousands of years ago, a hot, steaming, lifeless mountain arose from the sea. Every one of the animal and plant species now living there had to colonize that rock from the mainland. The whole vegetation, all of it arrived slowly over time from over kilometers of ocean. Species gathered from everywhere, ultimately creating a unique ecosystem totally different from the mainland.

This unique system is the main reason why such an island is a fascinating place for an ecologist. Over the next days, I will share my pictures and stories from this beautiful and amazing place.

Posted in Canary Islands | Tagged Abroad, Adventure, Colonization, Mountain, Ocean, Sea, Tenerife, Travel | 11 Comments

A line-shaped ecosystem

Posted on January 30, 2014 by lembrechtsjonas

Roadsides are wonderful. Over only a span of a few meters, the vegetation changes completely. A line-shaped ecosystems that differs in all imaginable conditions from the natural, undisturbed vegetation next to it.

Over the pace of only a few footsteps, you can find a completely altered microclimate, messed-up hydrology and a changed nutrient composition. Roadsides get often a lot more sun because they are less shaded by a plant canopy. Disturbance by cars and road building often provides a reasonable amount of bare soil. And that is very important: that exhausting competition for resources with other species is finely reduced!

Let this be exactly the kind of ecosystem loved by our aliens. This particular combination of factors results in a nice and clear correlation: where you have roadsides, you find aliens. Only a few meters away from the road, they disappear.

The extent of these road effects, although not always visible, can sometimes be felt even far away from the road. Even more important in our story, roadsides can become a source of alien species, releasing their aliens in the undisturbed nature away from the roads. If the aliens manage to escape from the roadsides – where their damage is limited to these few already ruined meters, they can become a real problem.

What happens with these roadsides and their associated aliens in the mountains is one of the main questions from my research. So I promise you to reveal more about this line-shaped ecosystems as soon as my paper is published.

Posted in The research | Tagged Abroad, Aliens, Ecology, Experiment, Field ecology, Fieldwork, Invasion, Mountains, Plants, Roads, Science, Sweden | 3 Comments

Fish markets

Posted on January 28, 2014 by lembrechtsjonas

Less than a week and I am off to the ocean, mountains, nature and sun of the Canary Islands! It is getting me excited already.

It gives me a nice opportunity to publish something else that I really love about the sea: fish markets! Their busy atmosphere, combined with the serene look in the eyes of the dead fishes, makes it a place of continuous wonder.

The fishes try their best to make the crime scene feel really dramatic.

A visit to the south or the sea can not be successful without a good fish market. I just have to go there to pass my greetings to all these sad animals.

Posted in Canary Islands | Tagged Abroad, Adventure, Animals, Canary Islands, Fish, Fish market, Ocean, Sea | 3 Comments

A hare’s tail

Posted on January 25, 2014 by lembrechtsjonas

It is one of my all-time favorite plants from the high north: cottongrass (called Eriophorum vaginatum on its passport).

It should be obvious why it is often named the ‘hare’s tail cottongrass’. But this fluffy appearance only hides one of the strongest and most impressive arctic mountain plants.

It is highly common in the arctic tundra everywhere around the north pole. What makes it so impressive is that it proudly sticks its fluffy head out high above all other vegetation. Alpine plants normally keep their heads low to the ground, where the biting winds are less strong and damaging. But the cottongrass does not seem to care at all. The hare’s tail fights against the elements, creating a very nice view, especially on the worst days.

One of my next research subjects will be to check how these typical mountain plants react to our unwanted infiltration in their area, and all the disturbance of habitats following from that. Some of the species will do better, some of them worse, but I am gonna find out why. With that information we know which species are most important to target for conservation.

For now, I can only hope that these cute fluffy balls will come out as survivors!

Posted in Sweden, The research | Tagged Abisko, Abroad, Alpine plants, Ecology, Mountains, Plants, Research, Subarctic, Surviving | 2 Comments

Aliens in your garden!

Posted on January 22, 2014 by lembrechtsjonas

This week I presented the concept of invasive species to a very interested group of gardeners. It turned out to be a really fascinating talk in which we together looked at the story from a more practical point of view.

My main objective was to create a nuanced image of invasion, showing all major pro’s and con’s of our modern habit of moving around all kinds of species on this planet.

I also wanted to prevent them from blindly tearing out all plants in their beautiful gardens the moment they realize most of them probably are aliens. Because that is what I had to tell them: most of the plants in our gardens are not native for Europe. Exotic plants with nice colors, beautiful flowers and fantastic structures, introduced here from the tropics, from South-America, from Asia. All brought here deliberately, all of them nicely fitting the definition of aliens.

Dahlia’s, exotic but not invasive… And a great plus for the native butterfly populations!

However, not all alien species are a problem. On the contrary, most of these garden plants only have advantages as they stay well-behaved within the edges of your garden. There is this easy rule that only one out of 1000 aliens becomes invasive. That is only a tiny percentage, so you can for now leave your dahlia’s unconcerned where they are!

A lot of exotic garden plants do not have much invasive potential

Of course, this one unfortunate bastard that beats the other 999 contestants can become a real plague as it changes status from ‘alien’ to ‘invasive’, leading to damage up to billions of euros (damage caused by aliens will be discussed in a later post).

It is very hard to predict in advance which species will be the ‘chosen one’, so a little bit of care will never be unnecessary. If a nice local alternative is available (for example if you think about planting a tree), the best strategy is to give a native option priority. And always keep an eye open for the black list-species, as they should better be avoided!