The 3D lab

An alligator!

Posted on August 12, 2016 by lembrechtsjonas

‘Oh no, there is these tourists again, just one day visiting the Everglades ad craving to see an alligator. Better do my show-up again!’

The alligator getting closer after he spotted us

You saw him thinking exactly that when he left his chill-out spot to swim right towards us, our maybe there was a modern hunting method involved (‘oh, look, there is those tourists that tend to drop snacks in the water’).

The alligator up close

Fact is, we saw an alligator on the most beautiful spot in the most beautiful swamp in the most beautiful cypress forest I have ever seen. And that was just awesome.

Maybe getting a bit too close, mister Alligator!

Posted in USA | Tagged Alligator, America, Animals, ESA2016, Everglades, Florida, Hiking, Nature photography, Outdoors, Photography, Travel, Wildlife | 7 Comments

These scientists planted these invaders in the mountains and you will never expect what happened next!

Posted on August 11, 2016 by lembrechtsjonas

I know, I know, it is a click-bait title, and that makes the dissappointment even worse: you are not going to find the answer in this article! If you wanted to find out, you had to be there at my talk at the ESA-conference in Fort Lauderdale, where I yesterday presented our surprising results for an audience lucky enough to get the story after the click-bait.

Surprised gull here in Fourt Lauderdale, who never expected what happened next!

For all of you, you will have to keep your patience. The paper is currently under review, and as soon as he is out, I will of course reveal what you never expected to happen next! Let’s just hope that ‘what happens next’ is a very good review…

The convention center, where all the scientific magic is happening

Posted in USA | Tagged Birds, Ecology, ESA, ESA2016, Florida, Fort Lauderdale, Photography, Science, Wildlife | Leave a comment

Through the trees

Posted on August 8, 2016 by lembrechtsjonas

Like the Florida jungle, where at first sight all is a uniform green, before slowly the exciting plants and animals start to appear.

That’s how the schedule of the conference of the Ecological Society of America tends to look. Hundreds, if not thousands of ecologists giving a presentation, tens of sessions at the same time. It is easy to loose the overview.

But there is plenty of hidden treasures in there. Must-see presentations, exciting talks, people you have to meet. And that is the aim of this week: get home from ESA with lots of new inspiration and connections. Wish me luck, I’m about to dive into the jungle!

Posted in USA | Tagged America, Animals, Conference, Ecology, ESA2016, Everglades, Florida, Science, Travel, USA, Wildlife, Wildlife photography | 4 Comments

Florida

Posted on August 7, 2016 by lembrechtsjonas

Good morning, sunshine state!

Allow me to bring some mountain ecology to the Florida wetlands… I’m here in Fort Lauderdale for the conference of the Ecological Society of America, ready to spread the word about our research. Exciting!

Posted in USA | Tagged Boats, Ecology, ESA, ESA2016, Florida, Fort Lauderdale, Mountains, Photography, Science, Water | 7 Comments

The stars of the project

Posted on August 3, 2016 by lembrechtsjonas

You can scroll through lots of pictures of nice landscapes and curious plants in my previous posts on our fieldwork trip to Scandinavia, but that leaves us with one important question: did we actually see any of the stars of the project, our non-native mountain invaders?

White clover, Trifolium repens

Oh yes, we did, and they keep behaving like we always expect them to do: plenty of them along the road and the railroad in the valley, scattered occurrences along the trails towards higher elevations, sudden peaks of occurrence at huts, bridges or ski lifts.

Red clover, Trifolium pratense

We privately hold a tiny competition between this year’s 4 main study subjects: the red and white clover, common yarrow and the narrowleaf plantain. Who would make it the furthest, who has currently expanded to the highest elevation?

Red clover, Trifolium pratense, along the shore of a Norwegian fjord in Narvik

The plantain was the obvious loser. A few individuals down in the village and at the tourist station, but none of them brave enough (yet) to expand any further. The two clovers do much better, yet with white clover easily outrunning its red companion towards higher elevations.

Common yarrow, Achillea millefolium, on a rock on the shore of the Abisko river.

But even the white clover is still a rare occurrences along the mountain trails around Abisko. The only non-native that seems capable of beating the limits is the common yarrow. Its distinct leaves can be found along the trails till well above 700 meters (which feels much higher in the subarctic mountains than the number seems to indicate).

Now it is collecting more data and waiting to see which patterns appear. Hope to have some more cool stories soon!

Posted in Sweden | Tagged Abisko, arctic, Ecology, Fieldwork, Flowers, Mountains, Nature, Photography, Plant invasion, Plants, Scandinavia, Science | Leave a comment

Earth’s stage

Posted on July 27, 2016 by lembrechtsjonas

Concerning the weather, mountains never disappoint.

Remnants of a lenticular cloud over Nuolja mountain

They are earth’s stage for some of the most impressive shows I have ever seen, involving cloud formations of all types and structures.

If it is a thunderstorm racing over the lake towards you, mist catching up with you and suddenly encapsulating you, or a big, white fluffy cloud lurking behind a mountain top, a day in the mountains is rarely free of weather-related excitement.

My personal favourite cloud-related phenomenon is when the mist finally clears up halfway the day: the breath-taking views that appear shattered through the white, only revealing the final view inch by inch. The clouds getting lighter, the sun peering through them and bringing colours and dimensions to the landscape, it all adds to the magique.