Tag Archives: Nature

Catching carabids and measuring microclimate

Last week, we started our monitoring campaign for carabid beetles in the botanical garden Jean Massart. I already introduced that beautiful oasis in the city of Brussels before, and the idea that within this nice, cool and wet patch of … Continue reading

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36.000 tea bags for science

It has become the go-to technique for many ecologists who need a cheap and simple method to measure decomposition rates in the soil: burying tea bags. However, it is still rather mindboggling that the team behind the international Tea Bag … Continue reading

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A drastic shift in mycorrhizal communities

One of the key findings of the Mountain Invasion Research Network (MIREN) is that mountain roads have a MASSIVE impact on their surrounding vegetation. Whole communities are changing, non-native species are moving in, and all kinds of species are moving … Continue reading

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Microclimate, an important part of ecology and biogeography

From the first days of SoilTemp, we had the ambition to turn this project into more than ‘just a database’. SoilTemp could become the much-needed glue to stick together microclimate ecologists and biogeographers from across the globe, and give them … Continue reading

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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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A new beginning

Last week, I spent a delightful day at my soon-to-be new home university in Utrecht. A day packed with discussions on scientific ambitions, teaching plans, and meeting new colleagues and ongoing research in the group. The first tulip of the … Continue reading

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