A while ago, Wetenschap.nu made these really nice vlogs about our field trip in Colombia. The videos didn’t pick up a lot of attention, but nevertheless I am happy that they are out. Now everyone who is interested can see and experience what is like to go on a field trip. Moreover, I hope the videos give an idea about why we go to these remote places, and how we search and sample mycoheterotrophic plants.

In the first video I try to explain our goals, and show the places we will visit in Colombia.

In the second video, it is time to enter the rain forest. We travel to the beautiful coastal forests of Chucheros, and almost immediately find what we are looking for: mycoheterotrophic plants!

In the third video you see how we sample the plants and we show that the work does not stop after returning to basecamp. Cleaning and sorting the samples may not be very adventurous, it is an essential step in the whole process.

After sampling in Chucheros, on the Pacific coast of Colombia, we travel to Letitia, along the Amazon river, and then to Capurgana, on the Caribbean coast. You get a flavour of these adventures in the fourth video.

Obviously, the sampling is just the very beginning of the project. After out return to the Netherlands we process the sampled in the lab. How is that done? Discover it in the fifth and last video!

At the time of writing the material and data collected during this trip is still being analysed, but if everything is going well we should get the first results out soon!