As an ecologist, Dr Julia Tavares often has to consider how to collect data from remote locations.
But nothing had quite prepared her for the challenges she faced when she started her PhD at the University of Leeds.
As a doctoral researcher in the School of Geography, she took on the task of organising and eventually leading an expedition into the Amazon rainforest - and to record data from the dominant trees that existed at locations ranging from Brazil, Peru and Bolivia.
The study involved overseeing the harvesting of hundreds of tissue samples, work which had to take place in the middle of the night, all in the quest of cutting-edge science.
The research team worked in extreme humidity and temperatures that reached 30 degrees Celsius by eight in the morning and over 35 degrees by midday. And the hot and humid conditions brought out clouds of mosquitoes.
Involving a collaboration of 80 scientists and support staff, the study was looking at how different tree species had adapted to drought, and how vulnerable different forest zones would be to further climate change.
It was the first investigation into the water stress faced by trees across the entire Amazon basin and how they might cope if, as some climate models predict, the Amazon gets significantly warmer and rainfall patterns change.
