CRYPtogams’ Traits In the Carpathians
National Research, Development and Innovation Office – NKFIH – 119208, 2019-2022 / PI: Krisztina Buczkó, Department of Botany, Hungarian Natural History Museum
Responsible for the research on the Romanian side. – Assoc. Prof. Marcel MINDRESCU (http://buczko.eu/cryptic/project_members/project_members.php)
Understanding climate fluctuation nowadays is forefront of the research. Reconstructing lake level is an ideal tool to learn about recent climate change. Several high resolution diatom based analyses were carried out in lowland and mountain lakes in the last couple of years. However, the use of species level approach is time-consuming and financially is not affordable. Furthermore, the lack of local training sets and the continuously changing taxonomy are the drawbacks in recognising general trends in the hydrological process. The trait-based methods in terrestrial botany already proved their usefulness and were successfully applied in the phytoplankton and phytobentos research as well. This project besides traditional – species level analyses – would make possible trait-based paleoecological reconstruction. Approaching climate fluctuations trait database of wider environmental variability is needed for the Carpathians. Aiming to build a database oligotrophic habitats are going to be sampled, from the Carpathians. The last stage of ontogeny of the mountain lakes is typically the overgrowing by bryophytes and filling in. Selecting sampling sites we are aiming to cover all ontogenetic phases of the lakes. Cryptogams will be collected and their traits will be measured from Maramures, Calimani and Rodnei Mts, as well as from the South Carpathians. Special emphasis will be laid upon the complex analyses of Scots pine habitats, as established indicator of cryptic refugia. The re-assessment in the case of Lake Saint Anna, Ighiel and mountain lakes of Retezat ontogeny will be carried out by testing if climate response is independent of different species composition of each lake.
Project page:
TERRANOVA the European Landscape Learning Initiative: Past and future environments and Energy Regimes shaping Policy Tools
EU, +4.000.000 E, 2020-2023 / Beneficiaries: VU Amsterdam, Leiden University, Martin Luther Universitaet Halle-Wittenberg, Uppsala University, Rewilding Europe, Aarhus University, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique CNRS, International Union for Conservation of Nature, University of South-Eastern Norway
Partner Organisation 5 – Ştefan cel Mare University of Suceava; key person – Dr. Marcel Mîndrescu (PI, Geographer, Coordinator; co-supervisor and provides secondment to ESR5): https://www.terranova-itn.eu/1-5-partner-organisations/
TERRANOVAs mission is to develop an unprecedented digital atlas of Europe compiled by an interdisciplinary group of researchers that combine human population patterns in the past, plants and disturbances, animal development, and climate change.
A more nuanced understanding of the deep history of our cultural landscapes and the influence of changing human-environment interactions on the current state of the environment is required to be able to develop sustainable ways of dealing with landscape changes in the future. Particularly important for Europe’s landscapes are their relations to long-term history, as much of their cultural identities and values are embedded in their historical development.
TERRANOVA aims to train Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) working with policy makers and the wider society with a deep appreciation of a wide range of sectors affecting landscapes, and to form a new generation capable of coproducing responses to the interdisciplinary challenges of land management where ecosystem services, cultural heritage, and economic qualities are balanced and preserved, taking into consideration ongoing climate, environmental and social change
Project page: https://https://www.terranova-itn.eu/2-project/
Photo: Central Apennines, Italy – Sandra Bartocha (Rewilding Europe)