ForestBuffer
Forests buffer understories against increasingly frequent heat and drought. This climate buffering capacity is highly dependent on the local water balance, as moist sites cool the understory more efficiently. I aim to quantify the interactive effects of canopy cover and soil moisture on forest buffering and understory biodiversity and develop tools and strategies to secure forest buffering in a changing climate.
While using also existing forest microclimate datasets from forests of different biomes, I have also initiated a national microclimate monitoring network in Sweden. Microsensors that have been logging air and soil temperature and soil moisture every 15 min since July 2022 have been installed in three areas using the SITES network: Asa, Grimsö and Svartberget/Krycklan (see exact locations here). Interested in collaborating? Contact me! |
Within this project, I work with colleagues from SLU in Umeå and Uppsala, as well as researchers from Czech Republic, Finland, Norway, Belgium and France, also using the SoilTemp database and network. The goal is to pool our datasets and find generalities and differences in European forests when it comes to forest microclimate buffering. In the context of this research, I also collaborate with Rob Lewis from Norway in the project "Understanding the role and interplay of forest microclimates for successfully balancing productivity and biodiversity among Nordic forest landscapes (ForestMicroClim)" - funded by SNS. To the right: Fieldwork impressions |