Browsing Tag:

Travel

Nature

The Oostvaardersplassen

The complexity of nature

I want to tell you something about a wonderful nature reserve called ‘The Oostvaardersplassen’. The reserve is situated very closely to where I grew up when I was little. My parents still live nearby, so I can still visit the area so now and then by bike. During high school, my class did a project in the Oostvaardersplassen. It was an interdisciplinary project between chemistry and biology. We were divided into little groups and were assigned to plots of 10 square meters. On these plots, we had to map the entire system of plants, animals, and insects. We looked for poop and footprints and we checked the quality of the soil and water next to the plot. Continue Reading…

Nature

My mosquito matters

People who know me a bit longer than today will all know that I’m studying biology. My specialisation is animal adaptation and behaviour, and my focus lies on mosquitoes. But why mosquitoes?

It all started with a report on malaria in high school. My friend Margot and I were discussing a lot of different subjects. It had to be something that would be interesting for us both: Margot as a future doctor and me as a future biologist. I don’t remember how we came to the idea of writing about malaria, but it’s very likely it had something to do with our planned volunteering trip to Livingstone, Zambia, after our graduation. Continue Reading…