Climate change is increasingly altering the abiotic conditions of terrestrial ecosystems. Many plant communities have developed over centuries under relatively stable climatic regimes. In recent years, however, substantial changes have become evident: prolonged vegetation periods with mild, wetter winters, increasingly hot and dry summers, and a higher frequency of extreme events.
Dry and wet grassland habitats are particularly sensitive to these developments, as they depend strongly on specific water and nutrient regimes. In addition to climatic drivers, nitrogen deposition and land-use abandonment further influence vegetation dynamics. Many of these grassland types are legally protected (e.g., §30 BNatSchG; 92/43/EWG), thereby establishing a legal obligation for their conservation.
The focus of this project is to investigate the impacts of climate change on different grassland types in order to develop adaptive management and conservation strategies. The focus is on (i) establishment and survey of monitoring plots (vegetation cover, height, biomass) and (ii) analysis of functional traits (seed number, seed mass, Specific Leaf Area (SLA), Lead Dry Matter Content (LDMC), plant height, additional traits.
The project builds on an existing experimental setup and can be adapted to the student’s interests and level (BSc or MSc). Depending on the scope, it may include laboratory experiments, data analysis, and interpretation of results in a conservation or global-change context.
The Bachelor’s and Master’s theses are carried out in collaboration with the Ökologische Station Mittleres Leinetal e.V. (ÖSML). The second supervisor is Florian Gade.
What you will learn
– principles of vegetation science, plant ecology and biology, including different plant traits under environmental stress
– planning and conducting laboratory experiments (experimental design, replication, data collection)
– measuring and interpreting functional plant traits
– statistical data analysis in R, including data visualisation and basic modelling
– scientific writing, from structuring a thesis to interpreting results in an ecological and conservation context
Key references for further reading
Bachelor's and master's theses that have already been completed in the study area. Upon request.
Grime, J. (1974). Vegetation classification by reference to strategies. Nature 250, 26–31. doi.org/10.1038/250026a0
Grime, J. P. (1977). Evidence for the Existence of Three Primary Strategies in Plants and Its Relevance to Ecological and Evolutionary Theory. The American Naturalist 111. doi.org/10.1086/283244
Hurlbert, S. H. (1984). Pseudoreplication and the Design of Ecological Field Experiments. Ecological Monographs 54, 187-211. doi.org/10.2307/1942661
Reich, P. B. (2014). The world-wide ‘fast–slow’ plant economics spectrum: a traits manifesto. Journal of Ecology 102, 275-301. doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12211
Westoby, M. (1998). A leaf-height-seed (LHS) plant ecology strategy scheme. Plant and Soil 199, 213–227. doi.org/10.1023/A:1004327224729
Contact
- Prof. Dr. Sergey Rosbakh | Geobotany | Vegetation ecology, biodiversity and ecosystem dynamics group
