In March 2025, I, along with fellow PhD students Marianela Mariño and Eric Stein, Master student Robin Schweikert and our Professors Dietmar Quandt and Julia Bechteler from the B01/B07 projects, set out to do field work in the Atacama Desert. Primarily, we measured and collected samples of two Huidobria species: H. fruticosa and H. chilensis.
As a PhD student who has joined the CRC1211 in the third funding period, this is my first experience working in the field. It is a great opportunity to experience the conditions under which the plants we are investigating are growing. Before, I had only ever seen these plants as samples in the lab or growing under controlled conditions in a growth chamber. Seeing them in nature complements the picture that I have of these plants.
The great distances between our sampling sites meant we got to see large parts of the Atacama and learned about its different faces, from the rocky quebradas in which Huidobria grows to the sandy dunes which are home to rootless Tillandsia plants.
During the three weeks of field work, we took measurements of over 500 plants and collected various samples from more than a hundred Huidobria individuals, which will be analyzed in the lab in the coming months.
Overall, it was a memorable trip, full of new impressions and experiences, and I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to work in the field.
If you’d like to read more, the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich wrote an article about my experience in the field, which can be found here:
https://www.lmu.de/en/about-lmu/structure/central-university-administration/communications-and-media-relations/research-magazine/heat-01-2025/desert/
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Text: Julia Simonis
