Project properties

Title How do Brazilian cerrado trees respond to droughts?
Group Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group
Project type thesis
Credits 36
Supervisor(s) prof.dr. PA (Pieter) Zuidema
dr. Peter Groenendijk (University of Campinas, Brazil)
Examiner(s) dr. JP (Peter) van der Sleen
Contact info Pieter.zuidema@wur.nl
Begin date 2023/09/01
End date
Description Increasing temperatures and drought stress may change the responses of tropical trees to climatic variability. In the dry woody vegetation of the cerrado biome in Brazil, these effects are expected to be strong because rainfall is low and droughts are intense. Yet, little is known about these responses. You will sample increment cores in cerrado vegetation in Brazil for one to several tree species, measure tree ring width and analyse growth patterns statistically. Fieldwork will be done in the state of Goias, Brazil; lab analysis at the University of Campinas within the research group of Peter Groenendijk.

Topic(s): Climate change effects / Tree ring analyses and wood anatomy
Region(s): America's
Climate(s): Tropical zone
Corona proof: No
Used skills
Requirements - WEC-31806 Ecological Methods I, or a comparable alternative course;
- One FEM course (at least), depending on the topic of the thesis: FEM-30306 Forest Ecology and Forest Management, FEM-30806 Resource Dynamics Sustainable Utilization, FEM-32306 Agroforestry, or Models for Ecological Systems FEM-31806