Adventures of an Ecologist
Adventures of an Ecologist
Arne Scheire – NERC PhD student
Univ. of Exeter – 2021-2024
Arne is a forest ecologist with a keen interest in the functioning, conservation and management of tropical rainforests. Arne is studying how tree height influences the functioning of the world’s tallest tropical rainforest species, with fieldwork taking place in Borneo and Brazil. This involves looking at how water transport in large trees (>80m) is influenced by changes in hydraulic traits, particualrly leaf hydraulic traits, and how this determines their vulnerability to future increases in drought stress.
Huiying Xu – China Scholorship Council PhD student – Tsinghua and Exeter Universities
Univ. of Exeter – 2021-2024
Huiying is interested in understanding and predicting plant trait response to the environment from optimality principles. She works on the trade-offs between traits controlling photosynthesis and hydraulics, and how these traits adapt to climate using data collected in China and global dataset. Huiying’s research aims to provide the theoretical framework for improving fixed trait parameters in vegetation models and improve the prediction of vegetation subject to climate change.
Dr. Patricia de Britto Costa – PDRA
Univ. of Exeter – 2023-2028
Patrícia is a plant biologist with focus on ecophysiology, more specifically on plant mineral nutrition, mostly in nutrient-poor environments. She is currently working on the CASPER- Carbon Storage in Pastures through Ecological Restoration project, to understand how native plant and soil interactions can improve the sustainable use of pastures and aid restoration efforts within the Brazilian Cerrado and Amazon biomes.
Rosie Clegg – NERC Funded PhD student
Univ. of Exeter – 2020-2024
Rosie is studying the biodiversity, biogeography and conservation of inselberg and rock outcrop flora in the dry biomes of Latin America, focusing on the areas across Bolivia and Brazil. The aim of the project is to document the flora and understand the evolutionary processes that shaped these environments. Rosie’s research yield results on the global value of the plants in these areas to inform conservation management.
Kennedy Lewis – PDRA
Univ. of Exeter – 2023-2028
Kennedy is using a mixture of remote sensing and eddy covariance techniques to explore the carbon storage potential of restoration projects Across Brazilian biomes. Working on the CASPER- Carbon Storage in Pastures through Ecological Restoration project, she aims to understand how different land management practices from native vegetation, to silvo-pasture systems to intensive agricultural practices alter the carbon and water fluxes within ecosystems.
Dr. Paulo Bittencourt– NERC Researcher CoI
Univ. of Exeter – 2020-2023
Paulo is a researcher CoI on a NERC standard grant to study hydraulic scaling in some of the world’s tallest tropical rainforest trees. He will be studying the how water transport in large trees is influenced by changes in hydraulic traits with tree height. His studies will take place across Malaysia and Brazil, two environments with very contrasting seasonality regimes, with the aim of understanding how climate and tree structure alters water transport efficiency and vulnerability to drought stress.