When is the last time you saw a purple organism? Green, brown, grey, these are common – but purple is reserved for an odd leaf, a strange fruit (eggplant, maybe), some algae and bacteria, and the odd marine animal. That’s one of the reasons I so enjoy spending time in the subalpine zone. Purple flowers…

I just received a letter, notifying me of an unsettling event in my life. The letter was from an airline, congratulating me on meeting the requirements for their next tier of loyalty membership. In the past year, I’ve apparently flown 28,000 miles on 21 segments, with just this one carrier. My best guess is that…

Day three of the INTECOL / British Ecological Society meeting here in London. I was asked to give a talk on a paper that influenced my thinking as an ecologist. Biology was never what I expected to do – I started out in physics, then found that ecology was closer to my heart – more…

Summer is ending, and I’ve migrated back to Copenhagen for the rest of the year. Being an ecologist, one of the first places I went to visit was the botanical garden and the university’s geological museum. I stumbled upon an exhibit of the Flora Danica – a guide to all the plants of Denmark, published…