Modell-Ökosystemanlage ¶

We will use a hierarchical cross-scale approach that spans plant physiology, remote sensing, and community ecology to assess the physiological and ecological processes that underpin forest temperature regulation during hotter droughts. The work will take place at the Model Ecosystem Facility (MODOEK) and in Saillon (Valais).

This project explores the specific impact of VPD and temperature increase on tree water use and mortality. It also investigates the potential damages of using X-ray MicroCT to track embolism in living trees.

This research aims to gain a mechanistic understanding of the role of tree species interactions on tree plastic physiological responses to heat and drought stress. It combines an experimental climate manipulation with tree seedlings and fieldwork in a mature forest subjected yearly to hot droughts.

In this project we will assess the physiological processes by which trees adjust and interact among each other under a changing climate, determine the consequences of these processes on forest responses to climatic stresses and improve our understanding of these effects on forests functioning at a large comprehensive scale.

We critically lack leaf temperature assessments because of the difficulties associated with these measurements. The project aims at developing a novel approach that reconstructs leaf temperature over multiple time scales using plant water isotopes.

Ziel des Projektes ist es, die physiologischen Prozesse zu bewerten, durch die sich Bäume in einem sich ändernden Klima anpassen und miteinander interagieren, die Folgen dieser dynamischen Prozesse für die physiologischen Reaktionen der Bäume auf klimatische Belastungen zu bestimmen und unser Verständnis dieser Auswirkungen auf langfristige Verschiebungen im internen Kohlenstoff- und Wasserkreislauf der Bäume zu verbessern.