Project properties
Title Anatomical traits regulate cavitation resistance in conifer tree species
Group Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group
Project type thesis
Credits 33-39
Supervisor(s) Yanjun Song, Frank Sterck, Ute Sass-Klaassen
Examiner(s) Prof.Dr. F.J.J.M (Frans) Bongers
Contact info yanjun.song@wur.nl
Begin date 2019/04/01
End date
Description Conifers (co-)dominate in many forests in different climates across the temperate zone, with some species better adapted to cold or dry habitats than others. Their wood anatomical traits (i.e., extremely narrow tracheid size and cell-wall thickness) makes some species more drought resistant than others.
In this project, we use a common garden experiment established 50 years ago in the Netherlands 28 coniferous species to explain conifer drought resistance by studying wood anatomical traits.
Samples were already collected in Schovenhorst, near Putten, the Netherlands and are planned to get analyzed at the Dendrolab.


Tree-ring analyses and wood anatomy, The Netherlands, Temperate zone
Used skills SPSS, R Statistics, Lab work, interest in ecological wood anatomy
Requirements FEM-30306 Forest Ecology and Forest Management; REG-31806 Ecological Methods I;