Research Jonas Lembrechts

Abstract

There is a growing narrative amongst the ecological community that widespread open and FAIR data mandates ought to come long after the development and widespread adoption of cyberinfrastructures that incentivize actionable sharing. In ecology, extant infrastructures have coevolved alongside fields excellent at expanding the landscape of big data acquisition. Arguably, they offer better technological solutions for mobilising 'born digital' data (e.g. earth observation and citizen science), then they do for low velocity, resource intensive ecological and environmental ground truth data inherently tied to sociological and cultural constraints limiting sharing. Such barriers can be summarised as trust, transparency and control, fundamental properties on which novel technologies such as blockchains have been prefiguratively designed. This nascent distributed ledger technology (DLT) is fundamental to emerging Web 3.0 technologies (i.e. the third iteration of the world wide web - interconnecting data through decentralised, permissionless and trustless digital protocols). It has provided a platform for heightened recognition of decentralised digital networks among an increasingly centralised World, enabling peer-peer decentralised financial ecosystems and pioneering novel regenerative finance systems to drive systematic, sustainable, and positive change among communities and natural environments. With a focus on the forest biome, Forest-Web.3.0 showcases the utility and uptake potential of Web-3.0 technologies in ecology on two fronts. In accordance with the call theme "Innovation and harmonisation of methods and tools for collection and management of biodiversity monitoring data" we first aim for a new paradigm in ecological data curation, governance and sharing, leveraging blockchain architecture to incentivise active data stewardship and facilitate widespread mobilisation of extant low-velocity biodiversity and environmental data. Second, and in accordance with the call theme "Making use of available biodiversity monitoring data" we utilise mobilised data resources in concert with earth observation data to validate and improve upon the ecological realism of forest digital twin models, designed to capture ecosystem integrity and used to evidence and execute nature-based economies within a Web-3.0 regenerative finance ecosystem. Through these enhanced digital twin models and in concert with the exponentially growing voluntary biodiversity market we will evidence to a trans-national network of stakeholders (forest land-owners) economic incentives for preserving high-integrity forests. The ambition here is to generate trans-national inertia in understanding and favouring revenues tied to resource preservation (proforestation), mobilise new actors towards safeguarding and stewarding biodiversity, and ultimately drive systematic and sustainable commitments to nature protection.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Nijs Ivan
• Co-promoter: Lembrechts Jonas

Research team(s)

• Plant and Ecosystems (PLECO) - Ecology in a time of change

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

From noise-sensitive areas to oases of silence: with the large-scale citizen science project De Oorzaak, De Morgen (DM), the University Hospital Antwerp (UZA) and UAntwerpen are focusing on noise and noise perception in an urban environment. In 2024-2025, we will investigate how residents of different neighborhoods in Antwerp, Ghent and Leuven appreciate the environmental noise present. By means of questionnaires (subjective), smart sound sensors (objective) and medical research (UAntwerpen and UZA) we will classify which sounds are heard, what sound level these sounds have, how these sounds are experienced and what impact they have on health, stress, sleep and quality of life.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vuye Cedric
• Co-promoter: Casas Ruiz Lidia
• Co-promoter: Couscheir Karolien
• Co-promoter: de Bruijn Gert-Jan
• Co-promoter: Dens Nathalie
• Co-promoter: Hellinckx Peter
• Co-promoter: Lembrechts Jonas
• Co-promoter: Poels Karolien
• Co-promoter: Spacova Irina
• Co-promoter: Van Hal Guido
• Co-promoter: Vanoutrive Thomas

Research team(s)

• Sustainable Pavements and Asphalt Research (SuPAR)

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Recently, climate change impacts have become strikingly tangible, with prolonged periods of drought, and temperature and precipitation records being broken. These weather extremes strongly impact soil ecosystem services, with potentially important economic consequences for agriculture, nature conservation, garden maintenance and other sectors. Society increasingly needs to cope with these impacts, thus spurring new economic activities that demand large-scale heat and drought monitoring. In this PhD project, I will pioneer cost-effective approaches for large soil microclimate networks that involve 1,000s of monitoring locations. These allow to assess the vulnerability of soil ecosystems to heat and drought, and verify whether implemented adaptation measures are effective (e.g. water infiltration and soil moisture buffering). As a proof of concept, extensive microclimate networks will be deployed in gardens and nature reserves across Flanders, taking advantage of the new TMS-NB sensor, which enables low-cost and real-time measurements of soil temperature and moisture through the Internet of Things. This new data source will allow identifying the drivers of spatiotemporal variability in microclimate along the urban-rural gradient. Novel software tools will be developed for the data streams originating from these sensor networks, thus making the resulting data and insights readily available to relevant societal actors (e.g. farmers, garden maintenance, nature reserve managers).

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meysman Filip
• Co-promoter: Lembrechts Jonas
• Co-promoter: Nijs Ivan
• Fellow: Van de Vondel Stijn

Research team(s)

• Geobiology

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

In this Scientific Research Network, we bring together experts from all these fields to work on a growing database of soil temperatures and associated species data. We aim to complement the existing mechanistic models of soil temperature for use in ecological studies by bringing together regional datasets of topsoil (up to 10 cm below the ground surface) temperatures to work towards an open access global database of soil temperatures (the 'SoilTemp database'). We will use this database to explore general drivers (e.g. topography and vegetation parameters obtained with remote sensing techniques) of soil temperature in space and time, relate patterns in soil temperature to available surface and free-air temperature datasets, and calibrate and validate globally-valid hybrid (statistical + mechanistic) models of soil temperature. The ultimate result will be a set of maps of biologically relevant summary statistics based on interpolated and increasingly calibrated soil temperature across a wide range of habitats (grasslands, forests, croplands, wetlands, etc.) (the 'SoilTemp maps'). These gridded maps/products will be particularly useful to predict responses of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning near the soil surface to global change (the 'SoilTemp applications'). Ultimately, application of the database and its derived maps will facilitate conservation decision making across the world, as it will improve the accuracy of many of our ecological models.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Nijs Ivan
• Co-promoter: Lembrechts Jonas

Research team(s)

• Plant and Ecosystems (PLECO) - Ecology in a time of change

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

UAntwerpen takes it on themselves to clean, expand and harmonize a global geospatial database of microclimate time series and associated biodiversity data (SoilTemp, www.soiltempproject.com). The database will pave the way toward an improved global understanding of microclimate and bridge the gap between the available climate data and the climate at fine spatiotemporal resolutions relevant to most organisms and ecosystem processes. At the time of writing, the database contains over 34000 time series of microclimate data from over 70 countries across the globe. However, fundamental spatial gaps remain, especially in developing countries and remote areas such as mountain regions. UAntwerpen is actively coordinating efforts to expand the presence of regional microclimate networks in these areas, engage, inform and encourage local researchers to gather microclimate and associated biodiversity data and contribute to the global database, and process and compile said data for inclusion into the SoilTemp database. Furthermore, UAntwerpen is spending considerable efforts in harmonizing the database, setting up quality control systems and validating submitted data. The data will then be structured into a relational database and ultimately published open access as a dynamic database free for all to use. This way, we also ensure the availability of correct and accurate microclimate data, especially also for the partners in developing countries and remote regions where such data is hard to come by.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Lembrechts Jonas

Research team(s)

• Plant and Ecosystems (PLECO) - Ecology in a time of change

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Recently, climate change impacts have become strikingly tangible, with prolonged periods of drought and temperature records being broken. These weather extremes strongly impact soil ecosystem services, with potentially important economic consequences for agriculture, nature conservation, garden maintenance and other sectors. Society increasingly needs to cope with these impacts, thus spurring new economic activities that demand large-scale heat and drought monitoring. In this PhD project, I will pioneer cost-effective approaches for large soil microclimate networks that involve 1000s of monitoring locations. These allow to assess the vulnerability of soil ecosystems to heat and drought, and verify whether implemented adaptation measures are effective (e.g. water infiltration and soil moisture buffering). As a proof of concept, extensive microclimate networks will be deployed in gardens and nature reserves across Flanders, taking advantage of the new TMS-NB sensor, which enables low-cost and real-time measurements of soil temperature and moisture through the Internet of Things. This new data source will allow identifying the drivers of spatiotemporal variability in microclimate along the urban-rural gradient. Novel software tools will be developed for the data streams originating from these sensor networks, thus making the resulting data and insights readily available to relevant societal actors (e.g. farmers, garden maintenance, nature reserve managers).

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meysman Filip
• Co-promoter: Lembrechts Jonas
• Co-promoter: Nijs Ivan
• Fellow: Van de Vondel Stijn

Research team(s)

• Geobiology

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

CurieuzeNeuzen is back, but now with a focus on climate adaptation. Whereas the original CurieuzeNeuzen citizen science project has moved mountains with respect to public participation in air quality, "CurieuzeNeuzen goes underground " wants to work on climate awareness in a large-scale way. To this end, we are going to monitor the impact of weather extremes and increasing drought, where citizens notice it first: in their own garden. This garden is close to the heart of Flanders, so the tens of thousands of lawns in Flanders are the ideal canvas for an innovative citizen science project on climate adaptation. Via a large-scale network of thousands of "mini weather station networks" we will measure the soil temperature and soil moisture throughout Flanders, both at home in gardens, as well as in public gardens and parks. This measurement campaign has a specific scientific purpose: we will answer the important question of how resilient our gardens are against future climate change and extreme weather conditions, and what the effect of our garden and landscape management is on that resilience. We take into account the effect of urban heat islands, but also the impact of small, local interventions, such as planting trees and the frequency of mowing. The result is a detailed drought map for Flanders in which risk areas are mapped and, for science, an extensive and internationally unique database on the impact of increasing weather extremes on the soil climate. But above all, we aim for a large-scale awareness of the drought problem in Flanders, and what we can do about this, both as individual and as society.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Meysman Filip
• Co-promoter: Lembrechts Jonas
• Co-promoter: Nijs Ivan
• Co-promoter: Struyf Eric

Research team(s)

• Geobiology

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Current analyses of large-scale ecological patterns and their predictions under anthropogenic climate change are often based on free-air temperature and precipitation patterns with a coarse resolution. They thus fail to capture apparent temperatures and moisture conditions (cf. microclimate) experienced by living organisms within their habitats. We identified the need for a more holistic approach to microclimate data at the local scale for application in ecological studies. With the underlying project, we aim to establish a large-scale and multi-faceted microclimatic network in a subarctic mountain ecosystem, to formally study the role of topography, vegetation and land use on microclimatic conditions. As such, we want to improve our understanding of abiotic conditions in order to improve the accuracy of ecological models, and especially their ability to forecast changes in our vulnerable mountain ecosystems under global change. Using a network of state-of-the-art temperature and moisture loggers in the topographically complex landscape of the northern Scandinavian mountains, as well as drones equipped with thermal and multispectral cameras, we aim to obtain microclimatic data with a high spatiotemporal resolution and extent. This data will be converted into gridded microclimatic time series, from right where it matters for biodiversity, using a new unified statistical framework of spatiotemporal interpolations.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Lembrechts Jonas

Research team(s)

• Plant and Ecosystems (PLECO) - Ecology in a time of change

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Cold-climate ecosystems have long been considered as relatively "immune" to biological invasions by plants because of the harsh abiotic conditions and the sparsely populated landscapes where transport of seeds and other propagules is low. This premise of low vulnerability is challenged by recent studies in alpine and arctic regions across the globe, showing that non-native plant species are present and expand their distribution. The mechanisms behind the apparently increasing vulnerability of cold-climate ecosystems to biological invasions are however far from understood. One crucial factor – often overlooked in large-scale assessments of non-native species distributions – is the role of biotic interactions, both above- (plant-plant) and belowground (plant-microbe). These biotic interactions will likely be altered significantly under the influence of anthropogenic disturbances (e.g. as seen in mountain road- or trailsides), opening up possibilities for non-native plant introductions. Here, we propose an approach to integrate these above- and belowground species interactions with regional-scale non-native species distribution assessments, in order to quantify their role as drivers (or inhibitors) of plant invasions along mountain roads and trails. We will use Joint Species Distribution Modelling (JSDM), a modelling technique that jointly analyzes multiple species' distributions, quantifying both species-specific environmental responses and covariance among species. The study will be performed in the South-American Andes, in 2 core sites of the Mountain Invasion Research Network (MIREN), a global consortium studying native and non-native plant species distributions in mountains. We specifically request funding to isolate DNA from roots and root-tips of focal non-native plant species and subject it to amplicon sequencing (Illumna Miseq) using fungal (ITS) and arbuscular mycorrhiza (SSU) specific primers, in order to obtain data on the belowground symbiont community.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Lembrechts Jonas

Research team(s)

• Plant and Ecosystems (PLECO) - Ecology in a time of change

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

One of the main ecological challenges of our time is understanding how ecosystems deal with the various threats of global change. For many species, the effects of global change – either climate warming, land use changes or any other - result in significant changes in their distribution. To obtain reliable predictions of plant species range changes under global change, however, environmental conditions and species interactions at the local scale are key, and both are so far poorly studied. With this proposal, I aim to unravel the role of climate and land use change on range changes with the help of a set of local observations and experiments, building on a longterm global observational study on plant species distributions in mountains (hosted by MIREN, the Mountain Invasion Research Network). First, I will quantify the relative importance of local land use change (exemplified by mountain roads and trails) and microclimate on regional species distributions. Next, I will use local measurements to fully disentangle the mechanisms at work, ending with a field experiment to validate the observations and models. Altogether, this will help answering timely questions on the importance of local-scale mechanisms in defining species distributions, as well as on the impact of global change on mountain biodiversity.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Nijs Ivan
• Fellow: Lembrechts Jonas

Research team(s)

• Plant and Ecosystems (PLECO) - Ecology in a time of change

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

In this proposal, I aim to combine the strengths of different ecological methods. The international field campaign asks for practical knowledge of field ecology, as well as fundamental expertise on the environmental biophysics behind climate-driven processes. This is complemented in the second part with theoretical modeling with cutting-edge data manipulation methods.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Nijs Ivan
• Fellow: Lembrechts Jonas

Research team(s)

• Plant and Ecosystems (PLECO) - Ecology in a time of change

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

In this proposal, I aim to combine the strengths of different ecological methods. The international field campaign asks for practical knowledge of field ecology, as well as fundamental expertise on the environmental biophysics behind climate-driven processes. This is complemented in the second part with theoretical modeling with cutting-edge data manipulation methods.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Nijs Ivan
• Fellow: Lembrechts Jonas

Research team(s)

• Plant and Ecosystems (PLECO) - Ecology in a time of change

Project type(s)

• Research Project