Tomorrow I will go back to Sweden to check on my dandelions (and their colleagues).
They got two whole growing seasons to become as distinguished as those three in the picture, but circumstances might have been less ideal at 1000 meters in the Swedish mountains than they were back in the days of this picture…
I will keep you updated about the adventure, already excited about all the new upcoming results!
Just kidding, I love reading papers :). This is just an amazing mural I came across in one of the most famous little allies in Ghent, Belgium, where graffiti artists are free to show that graffiti indeed deserves to be called art.
Zombies, they love you for what’s on the inside.
In other news: a new family of thunderstorms has crossed our country, tomorrow morning will bring the news if my experiment survived again! Crossing fingers here!
Reflections
Enjoy the highlights of Arctic research with these shots!
On thursday evening, a massive cold front rolled over Belgium, accompanied by dark and dangerous clouds and severe thunderstorms.
Of course I was worried about my greenhouse, although we had attached it as good as we could. But it had been having ‘mood swings’ its whole life already, and the design made it very easy for the wind to get trapped underneath.
A huge sailing boat to sail the storm
The worries were not undeserved, because next morning, the damage at first sight seemed huge: the plastic foil had lost the battle, only being hold in place by the net in the middle (no pictures, too worried). Bad luck.
But after a closer investigation, it turned out that only one of the replica’s got any rain, and luckily one of the control plots. Even the drought plot that seemed to be fully exposed to the elements showed no signs of water in the measurements. Maybe the largest damage only happened right after the storm?
At least the net did not move an inch!
What a relief, no damage done! Of course we put the plastic in place again, and we hope it is even stronger now. Let us just hope there are no more storms on the way!
Achillea millefolium
During with the nice and persistent heath we were experiencing in Belgium, we started our drought experiment on the university campus.
With the help of some very welcome extra hands, we put ten by twenty meters of plastic foil over our greenhouse to keep out the rain. The lowest meter stays open to allow the wind to flow through, otherwise it will start heating up as well (like a ‘true’ greenhouse would).
It was our final chance to start the drought, as our plants were growing crazy fast and establishing very well within our experimental gaps. If we would wait much longer, they would grow too strong to experience much damage from our experimental drought.
Measuring light on the soil surface
By now, half of the gaps have suffered a persistent drought of one and a half week. Plants in the gaps clearly slowed down their fast growth, compared to those that generously get precious water from us once every two days.
White clover
With the thermal camera, we closely monitor the temperature in our gaps, especially now, during the drought. On a nice day, temperatures on the soil surface easily rise above 40-45 °C.
But not all plants seem to mind the heat that much. If their roots reach deep enough to maintain access to the precious soil water, they can keep their temperatures low, often staying more than ten degrees below the environmental temperature.
Control gap, with happy dandelions
But with persistent drought and hot temperatures, the soil water will get increasingly difficult to access, making their life a lot more difficult. I’ll keep you updated!
An eccentric yet beautiful sunset over the Leuvense Vaart in Mechelen, Belgium.
The day had brought a small depression with a little bit of rain, but not enough to take away the heat that was lying heavily on the country.
The cloud was giving away to an open sky, preparing for another week of agreeable weather. This could mean that the stress on our plants might reach a critical point this week, especially in the open sandy soil in the big gaps.
I will have to keep a close eye on them!
The 3D lab 