December was a busy time in the lab.
The month opened with the Landscape Ecology Latin American Congress in Temuco, Chile. GLEL-ers Fernanda Teixeira, Gen Perkins, Sandra Martins de Freitas, and Ludmila Rattis came from various corners of the western hemisphere to re-connect with each other and to meet researchers from 15 Latin American countries, all talking about landscapes and ecosystem services.
On the 9th we had Secret Santa, complete with an early start on delicious holiday treats. Yum!
On the 12th we welcomed about 40 researchers from across Canada and Europe. We’re planning a network of researchers to tackle the thorny question, “How can we best configure agricultural landscapes for both sustainable agricultural production and provision of other ecosystem services?” Shouldn’t be too hard to figure out!
And a few days later on the 16th the lab celebrated the holiday season with our traditional Christmas lunch at the Siam Kitchen. Yum again!
We ended the year with a fond adiós to Lluis Brotons who travelled back to Catalonia after spending the fall term in the lab.
A well-deserved break was then had by all!