Bachelor/Master Thesis

Adaptability of trees to drought and lethal drought thresholds

Start: April 2014

Climate change will be one important threat to forests in the future. Within our E3 project we are working on the influence of drought on trees. Among other topics, we are especially interested in the influence of seasonal/prolonged droughts, increased temperature and different soil types on the adaptability of seedlings and lethal drought thresholds.

Experiments involve seedlings of Pinus sylvestris, Quercus petraea and Castanea sativa. These experiments are conducted in greenhouses and on an open space site equipped with a rainout shelter and an air warming system.

We measure different parameters to determine drought stress and resistance, e.g. water potential, leaf and xylem hydraulic conductivity, cell membrane stability, chlorophyll fluorescence and growth. Measurements will be conducted during the growing season 2014 in Dürnast near Freising.

Contact: Hannes Seidel

Details can be found in the job specification below: