The 3D lab

Survival tricks from the plant world

Posted on December 11, 2013 by lembrechtsjonas

What I find highly fascinating about plants is how they trick us all. At first sight, they look so helpless. Which, I assure you, they are NOT!

There is this saying: “if you don’t like it where your are, just move, you are not a tree”. True, if a tree grows somewhere, it can not move anywhere. Plants however possess a whole scala of possibilities to find the right spot in the first place, or to make a spot fit their strenuous needs. If you don’t like it in the desert, because there is no water, there is no reason at all to give up. Just growing several tens of meters of root system does the trick perfectly. The same holds true for nutrients. If you do not find enough food, just bond with a bunch of fungi and let them bring you everything you want. Helpless? Not at all!

And then there is that one fascinating trick I really love: if you don’t know the faith of your children, just make thousands. Send them out to all directions of the wind and hope they find a good life. Chances are high that at least part of your offspring finds what they need.

I like how some plants give every one of their children a little parachute and, with the blessing of mummy, launch them into the sky. It is wonderful to see how successful this strategy turns out to be. So wonderful I made it a major factor of my research: traveling plants and how they find their perfect location.

Posted in The research | Tagged Ecology, Plants, Research, Science, Seeds | Leave a comment

A cold scientist is not a scientist

Posted on December 7, 2013 by lembrechtsjonas

I already shared a lot of stories about the cold (here, here and here). As a researcher in the subarctic mountains, this cold is an omnipresent companion, so it is definitely worth the thoughts.

It is from uttermost importance to keep your internal temperature sufficiently high in the field; not only for your physical health (although the own body should always be more important than the research), but also for the sake of the experiment. ‘A cold scientist is not a scientist,’ and beside feeling unhappy, he starts making mistakes he will regret later on. Thinking is difficult when you feel frozen, but it is even more difficult to give the fieldwork all the angelic patience it deserves (and that’s a lot!).

Luckily, I found another fantastic tool to fight this omnipresent companion: my beloved, highly isolating tea thermos. It keeps my tea warm forever, and if you add a lot of sugar, it also provides the sweet kick that keeps you going forever!

Science, here I come!!

Posted in Belgium | Tagged Abroad, Fieldwork, Scientific equipment, t | Leave a comment

Vandals!

Posted on December 5, 2013 by lembrechtsjonas

It is one of the major challenges in field ecology, although it is not more than a practical question: how can I leave my scientifical equipment out in the field?

You want to measure soil water content during the whole growing season, but don’t want to travel up the mountain every day?
You are on a hunt for mammals that are very hard to see and you want to leave a camera trap in the forest?
You put seeds of your favorite alien species in the soil and want to put some sticks to mark the plot?

There are plenty occasions that field ecologists have no other option than to leave very expensive (economically and/or emotionally) material in the field, unprotected an vulnerable for our worst enemies: vandals!

It happens more often than good for science: vandals take away your equipment, damage it, destroy it or in any other way they ruin your experiment. I know a story of an experiment high in the mountains in Northern Scandinavia, on a place where nobody ever comes. The small sticks that marked the experiment where all carefully collected and put on a pile. It is not less than a horror story for every field ecologist, because it could imply everything from a small delay to starting over from the very beginning.

All my own plots were still intact last time I checked, and most of them should be save, but as soon as someone starts mowing the plots closest to the city, the experiment is doomed. And save in my office in Belgium, I have no way to save them if needed.

I read a fascinating article about this issue (more easy info here). It is a (real) scientific publication about dummy boxes that looked like expensive scientific equipment. In order to find a way to avoid damage by vandals, the scientists attached 3 different messages: a neutral one (please don’t disturb), a very aggressive one (something like: we are watching you, police will find you if you mess with this box!) and a more personal approach, associated with a cute picture of a squirrel to melt the heart of even the meanest vandal.

As you may have guessed, the cute squirrel won the contest, as the least contact with vandals was recorded (most of the time moving of the box, but also opening, damaging or even stealing of all that precious research material!). Maybe more surprising is the fact that the aggressive sign had the least impact.

After: Clarin BM, Bitzilekis E, Siemer BM, Goerlitz HR (2013) Personal messages reduce vandalism and theft of unattended scientific equipment. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. doi: 10.1111/2041-210X.12132

Moral of the story: if you ask vandals kindly to stop vandalizing, you have the highest chance they’ll listen.

Posted in General | Tagged Experiment, Field ecology, Fieldwork, Science, Scientific equipment | 2 Comments

At the zoo

Posted on December 3, 2013 by lembrechtsjonas

One day, halfway my quest to become a biologist, I had to make the tough choice between plants or animals. Although I truly loved both, I had to choose; there is not enough time to dedicate your scientific life to two such different disciplines.

Many people wonder why I chose the plants, those silly motionless creatures that are obviously much less interesting than these merry furry animals. My answer lies in the fieldwork: I just fell in love with the way in which plant ecology was done in the field, which to me sounded much more exciting than behavioral ecology. That is why I decided to leave the animals for my spare time. To enjoy them as much as ever, but without the need to work with them all day.

Sometimes, I almost regret this decision, especially when I am at the zoo. There, all these funny animals look at me with in their eyes the message: “Don’t you wanna know why I behave so weird?” But then I remember the joy of what I am doing now. I quickly take a picture of the funny face and go back to my seeds, nutrients, soil samples, mountain views, squishy cushion plants, tiny but lovely seedlings, proudly growing flowers and the glorious wonder of how all these ‘motionless’ plants manage to travel more than the average migratory bird.

Here (and in the photo gallery ‘Animals’, check it out!!) I share some of these funny faces with you. I kindly invite you to regret my decision with me…

Posted in Belgium | Tagged Animals, Birds, Science, Zoo | 4 Comments

Bringing nature to the office

Posted on November 29, 2013 by lembrechtsjonas

The main advantage of being a field ecologist is the field. You have to go outside to collect your data. The main disadvantage, however, is that this fieldwork takes at most 10 percent of your time, while the other 90 you are still looking at the screen of your computer. Trying to read everything that exists, trying to proof something that you have seen or trying to write something that convinces other people from what you have seen.

If lack of free air is driving you insane, it helps to bring nature closer to the office. I am lucky to have a window overlooking a forest, for it helps me feeling a little bit connected with the nature I study. It is however just a small patch of forest, so to make things a little bit more exciting (I aim at my own personal National Geographic documentary), I put out some bird food. Today I got my first visitor, which of course made me really excited.

Great tit

I even saw this little beauty from a distance longing for the food, so I hope I can get him a little bit closer the next days.

Squirrel

Posted in Belgium | Tagged Animals, Birds, Garden birds, Office | 2 Comments

Walking with the death

Posted on November 27, 2013 by lembrechtsjonas

One of the main places worth seeing in Punta Arenas serves the death, not the living. It is intriguingly beautiful for a city with so few attractive places. So impressive that it even got listed by the CNN as 1 of the 10 most beautiful cemeteries in the whole world.

The cemetery really deserves the nomination, because the Chilean people take good care of their deceased relatives (at least those who can afford it). The cemetery serves as the eternal home for some of the wealthiest local families from the 19th and 20th century. Even some of the real pioneers of the region from whom the whole population descents, found their final resting place here.

One of them was Sara Braun, the extremely wealthy and (as the rumours say) beautiful wife of one of the pioneers in sheep cattle raising in the area. According to the legends, she declared the main gate should stay closed forever when she finally went through it to be buried in her marvellous chapel. So it remains till today; secondary entrances are everywhere, but the main gate is hermetically closed as an honor to the last wish of Sara Braun, who on her own provided most of the grandeur the city has today.