An interdisciplinary team of botanists from the University of Bonn and University of Heidelberg as well as zoologists from the University of Hamburg were on fieldwork in Chile from February, 13 to March 15, 2023.

The focus was on conducting plant phenotyping and substrate sampling in the CRC1211 wide Tillandsia landbeckii field close to Caldera (B01) and in the coastal Huidobria fruticosa transect north of Paposo (B01, B07). It was nice to find the tagged Huidobria fruticosa plants in good shape and see that they have grown in volume since the last field campaign one year ago. A 10 km transect south of Taltal was newly established for genotyping and phenotyping of over 100 individuals of Huidobria chilensis, aiming at future comparative analyses of this close relative to Huidobria fruticosa (B01, B07).

At all study sites the scientists were keeping an eye open for potential animal-plant interactions and new project ideas. The team greatly acknowledges the support of our collaboration partners Alexandra Stoll (CEAZA La Serena) and Eduardo Campos (Universidad Católica del Norte Antofagasta).

At the Tillandsia landbeckii field close to Caldera Photo: Julia Bechteler

The team after sampling Huidobria chilensis in the Andes. Left to right: Valentin Ehrenthal (Hamburg), Eric Stein (Heidelberg), Paloma Morales and Lara Iaboli (Bonn), Johanna Möbus (Heidelberg), and Julia Bechteler (Bonn). Team members missing on the photo: Danilo Harms and Stephanie Loria (Hamburg), Alina Peters (Heidelberg). Photo: Danilo Harms

Loasaceae flowers everywhere: This nice mosaic on a wall in Taltal is showing a relative to our study system Huidobria. Photo: Julia Bechteler

Huidobria chilensis. Photo: Julia Bechteler

Sampling Huidobria chilensis in our new transect. Photo: Julia Bechteler

Huidobria fruticosa. Photo: Julia Bechteler