The 3D lab

Cleaning out the forest

Posted on September 27, 2015 by lembrechtsjonas

Autumn is behind the corner, and the mushrooms are here to warn us of its arrival.

These diverse and delicate group of decomposers puts in such great effort to clean up our forests and nature after another successful summer.

I feel the arrival of autumn is the perfect moment to submit a paper on litter decomposition, a project in which I participated with a European network of soil scientists to model the speed at which these below-ground cleaning processes function.

It turns out that breaking down plant litter strongly depends on the climate: the longer and warmer the growing season, the faster the litter disappears. I guess decomposers also prefer to do the dirty outdoor jobs when the weather is nice…

I hope to provide more details on this fascinating subject as soon as the paper is out, cause there is of course a lot to tell.

In the meantime, enjoy these pictures of hard-working mushrooms.

Posted in Belgium | Tagged Autumn, Decomposition, Ecology, Forests, Hike, Hiking, Mushrooms, Nature photography, PhD, Photography, Science, Seasons | 4 Comments

New phase

Posted on September 25, 2015 by lembrechtsjonas

Data for three out of my four experiments has now been collected, processed and stored away, meaning my research has steered into a very important new phase: analysing and writing!

Totally ready for my third year that starts next week!

Posted in Belgium | Tagged Ecology, future, PhD, Photography, Science, study, work | 3 Comments

The cotton castle

Posted on September 24, 2015 by lembrechtsjonas

Please, allow my inner mountain enthousiast to be lyrical about some rocks!

Pamukkale is the Turkish word for cotton castle, so I learned from Wikipedia, and it is a world famous hot spring area, with white calcium carbonate (‘travertine’) terraces overlooking a valley. And it is extremely beautiful!

It is just breath-taking and tops every rock formation I have ever seen, and I have roamed through quite some mountains by now.

Misuse during its long history might have stripped the site of part of its unequaled glory, but its much needed promotion to World Heritage Site in 1988 seemed to have saved this geological wonder for future generations.

Off course, the place is crazy touristic. Luckily, the millions of tourists are not allowed directly on the terraces anymore, except for one small spot with a few artificial pools.

This signs seems a bit out of place, but you cannot see the hundreds of tourisms all around this picture…

Conservation is currently fighting to protect the natural colour and state of the terraces, which they manage by regulating the flooding, in order to prevent both ‘too much’ and ‘not enough’ scenarios. This means that a large part of the pools seems to be empty – unlike on some of the most beautiful pictures on the internet, but hey, conservation goes first!

I have not seen any living plant on this terraces (this beautiful oleander was standing on the top), so the plant ecologist part of me had not much to do, but pure geology can definitely be as exciting.

Rocks are beautiful!

It is interesting to think about conservation of a non-living system like this, as I am used to think about ecosystem protection. Conserving a rock type brings in its own challenges and opportunities, and the integration of natural values and tourism is as complicated as in all ecological problems.

Let us just wish for a happily ever after for all wonders of the world like this one.

Posted in Turkey | Tagged Hiking, Landscape photography, Mountains, Pamukkale, Photography, Tourism, Travel, Traveling, Turkey, World | 5 Comments

Taking the stage

Posted on September 21, 2015 by lembrechtsjonas

This thursday we have the Biology Research Day at our university, an event that for the first time brings together all students and PhD-students in Biology from the whole university, to learn from each other and see what is happening all over the department.

I will take the stage for a 5 minutes ‘pitch presentation’, as it is called beautifully.

I fear the stage will not be as impressive as the one in this theatre in Hierapolis in Turkey…

I have to admit I have had bigger opportunities to present my research, but this particular event does have a little bit extra. I like the idea to present ‘close to home’ for once, to people I know.

It will also provide an opportunity to get students enthusiastic about my topic, and a challenge to summarise my whole PhD in 5 short minutes to briefly show why we should care about what I am doing.

Exciting! I do not need the 15.000 admirers that fit in Hierapolis’ amphitheatre, but some interested students would already make it worth the effort.

Posted in Turkey | Tagged Amphitheatre, Ancient history, Archeology, Architecture, History, Photography, Travel, Travel photography, Traveling, Turkey | Leave a comment

The land of the setting sun…

Posted on September 20, 2015 by lembrechtsjonas

… at least, so it felt after a week of beautiful summer weather.

The western coast of Turkey boarders the Mediterranean Sea, and every night the sun drops from the sky into the water, painting the world with the warmest colours.

Sun setting behind the isle of Samos, Greece

Turkey definitely holds on to the summer a bit longer than I am used to from higher north, and it was a blessing to feel the warmth of the sun for a while again.

The true holiday feel on Kusadasi beach

Recharging the batteries like this gives plenty of energy to dive into new projects.

The Mediterranean sun plunges much faster into the sea than I am used to from higher latitudes. Sunsets are surprisingly short, only in a few minutes skies and clous change colour, the sun grows bigger, kisses the sea and disappears under the horizon.

In Belgium, he lingers much longer on the edge, only slowly approaching the sea and the inevitable end of the day on a slightly less vertical path. In Sweden off course, the sunset-balance has even shifted completely in the other direction. On a nice summer day, the sunset easily lasts the whole night, avoiding the collision with the horizon for hours in a row.

Setting sun in the mountains in the Turkish inlands

Mountains disrupt these sunsets with their shadows, (the undisrupted seasons providing one reason to prefer the oceans). Mountains shorten the days as their long shadows loom over the valleys. But if you climb high enough, slopes on the horizons can add a beautiful extra dimension to the daily sunset routines.

Umbrella sedge

Traveling from oceans to mountains, and from mountains to oceans, it will never grow old.

Posted in Turkey | Tagged Light, Mountains, Nature, Nature photography, Ocean, Photography, Plants, Sea, Summer, Sunset, Travel, Traveling, Turkey | Leave a comment

Feels like cold

Posted on September 12, 2015 by lembrechtsjonas

The atmosphere of autumn in the Swedish mountains is totally different from the feeling of summer. The mountains seem to be a lot less hospitable, with their stubborn clouds and rainy weather.

But for those who manage to look through the curtains of mist, there is a beautiful world hidden up there, with amazing views appearing and disappearing in the blink of an eye.

I am safely home from fieldwork in the north, where winter is rapidly approaching, and I will turn my back to the cold and fly off to Turkey now. I’ll take one extra week of summer to relax in the sun, before plunging head first in the large and interesting data pile that I have been collecting the last few months.