i’ve recently had the chance to see the ASIB: Algensammlung am Institut für Botanik der Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck (algal collection of the institute of botany).
in the little laboratory room, there are some 1500 specimens of aeroterrestrical algae and cyanobacteria (cyanoprokaryotes) stored and cultivated. every strain is grown in its own little test tube, and the entire chamber is cooled down to 12 degrees celsius to slow down their metabolism and make them low-maintenance.
the oldest specimen was collected in 1920.

apart from the scientific importance of such collections, i was impressed with the beautiful array of algae in nearly every colour.
 

[view photos: algal collection of the institute of botany]

here’s a glimpse of what the second half of september was like:
cindy and larry byers came to visit austria, and we went to vienna, salzburg, fuschl, hallstatt, zugspitze, south tyrol, …and included some “goode olde innsbruck tyme” as well.
for some reason, the only time i actually find myself looking at austrian sights is when somebody travels 9.000 km to be here…

this set of photos in no way does justice to their visit, but it’s the start of my catching up on photo-blogging.
 

[view photos: the byers visit - 17 photos, 14 days]

walking through the rain in khao sok rainforest, thailand

“we walked for hours through the tropical rainforest in what can only be described as …the rain.” - douglas adams

greetings from koh samui, thailand :)

coconut drink at the beach

about 30 degrees every day, REALLY cheap mango shakes (made from fresh mangoes, 60 eurocents at one restaurant), green curry (80 eurocents) and thai style cuisine w/ lots of coconut milk, little food-stands everywhere… i’m in heaven.
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with the heavy day-to-day thunderstorms, i kind of wonder why i didn’t try this earlier:

flashes of lightning in tirol

after a rather exhausting day of work, i can look back at an unexpected encounter:

en: lesser horseshoe bat (rhinolophus hipposideros), with pup
de: kleine hufeisennase (rhinolophus hipposideros) mit jungtier

in case you can’t tell which is which: the pair of pointed shapes in the lower right is the mother’s ears. its baby is clinging on tightly and makes up the left half of the furry ball.
like all young microbat babies, it’s hanging with its head up at first. later on, the preferred position will be head down.

this summer, i’m working in a project to support certain species of bat indirectly by aiding their respective habitats. although i didn’t expect to see one of the nursery roosts themselves, i did today. the number of bats in this colony is rising, and a high percentage of the females (such as the one in the photo) are currently raising their young.
it was clearly the highlight of the day.

i was supposed to be working in the field around hainzenberg (in the ziller valley), but for most of the day it was raining so hard, that i considered building an ark. thanks, thor!

yesterday, however, was a beautifully sunny day, and i’m hoping that the next days will be alike:

the ziller valley (or zillertal valley),
looking northwards from hippach

—

little sidenote: it’s usually about the time when my friends wish me “nice holidays” that i realize i’ve cramped up almost the entire summer with all things work. will i ever learn to reserve a few days for relaxing time at home? probably not.

(i’m uploading this through a GPRS connection - it takes forever to something as simple as reloading a text page.)