Tag Archives: Microclimate

Scouting the cliffs of Freÿr

On a sunny day in early spring, our team took the car to one of the most monumental locations in Belgium: the cliffs of Freÿr. These beautiful slabs of ‘naked’ limestone of up to 120 meter, overlooking the river Meuse, … Continue reading

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The true thermal niche of forest plant species

I might have mentioned this before*, but microclimate is crucial to improve our estimates of species distributions. As species are reacting to micro- rather than macroclimate, and both are at the local scale only very weakly correlated, ignoring microclimate could … Continue reading

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A correction and a warning

Finally, we got to publish something that was véry long overdue: the necessary correction to our ‘Global maps of soil temperature’. A correction, indeed, as we had identified an error in the analyses that had to be rectified. So, what … Continue reading

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A call answered across the globe

It’s safe to say that last month’s call for microclimate data for our growing SoilTemp database was a success. Almost two hundred new datasets, ranging from just a few sensors to a whopping 32 thousand per dataset, poured into our … Continue reading

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Microclimate can save plant species from population migration

Global warming would force plant species to move dozens of kilometres north at breakneck speed to still find suitable habitat. “A failure for flora,” was the scientific consensus for a long time. Recent research suggests that such population relocation would … Continue reading

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Botanical scouting

I spent a beautiful spring day last week in one of Brussels’ most fairy-tale-like places: the botanical garden Jean Massart. This little piece of biodiversity sits in a picturesque valley bordering the E411 highway and that famous chunk of Brussels … Continue reading

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