DenMet

Assessment of drought stress and growth responses in European forests using high-precision dendrometers

This PhD project focuses on using state-of-the-art automated sensors, known as dendrometers, which are installed on tree bark to provide continuous drought stress and growth signals. However, methods to properly disentangle and quantify such signals for various European tree species need to be developed and validated.

We gather data from multiple sites across Europe, including the VPDrought experiment in Valais, Switzerland; the Swiss Canopy Crane II site near Basel, Switzerland; the Kroof experiment near Freising, Germany; and the FeMoPhys monitoring site in Demmin, Germany. The primary experimental work will be conducted at the KROOF site, where you will work on a rain manipulation experiment to simulate different intensities of drought stress.

Once the methods to disentangle dendrometer signals have been established, we will implement these across a European-wide dendrometer network to map drought stress behavior across Central Europe and identify hotspots of vulnerability.

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