2 MSc Internships on bryophyte functional trait research

Internship on bryophyte functional trait research
(two MSc projects)

Nadia Soudzilovskaia and Hans Cornelissen

Systems Ecology, Dept. of Ecological Sciences, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, VU University Amsterdam

Use of plant traits (features) for prediction of ecosystem functioning is a hot topic in ecology. Traditionally scientists always considered particular species to be responsible for processes that drive ecosystem development (examples are: nitrogen fixers, very fast or very slow decomposing species, species with certain nitrogen of phosphorus content etc.) Now we suggest to look at the feature itself (trait), instead of the species hosting it. When one knows what spectra of traits represent species that are present in an ecosystem, he/she can predict how this ecosystem would function. The group of Systems Ecology is a pioneer in this (nowadays very popular) research line.

Today, relatively much is already known about the traits of vascular plants and their role in their host ecosystems. In contrast, trait research in cryptogams (mosses, liverworts, hornworts and lichens) is only starting now. Almost nothing is known about trait spectra of these small, beautiful, very interesting plants. Hans Cornelissen and Nadia Soudzilovskaia started the research about it recently. Would you like to join the group of pioneers? We have two projects for highly motivated students.

(1) Literature analysis project on nutrient content of bryophytes (mosses and liverworts). There is quite a lot of data on nitrogen and phosphorus content of mosses and liverworts in the scientific literature. However, this data is sporadic, because it is reported within scopes of various studies. We would like to assemble this data into a database and investigate the relationship between nutrient content of the bryophytes and soil fertility. Is this similar to that of vascular plants or not?

(2) Investigation of specific leaf area (SLA, surface area per unit leaf mass) of bryophytes. Although a lot is known about SLA of vascular plants and its role in ecosystem nutrient turnover, nobody ever looked at SLA of bryophytes. It is a challenging task, because you would also have to develop a methodology for such investigation. Would you like to try? The project includes methodological as well as theoretical issues and will be partly run at sub-arctic Abisko research station (North Sweden).

If you are interested, please contact Nadia Soudzilovskaia (post-doc in Systems Ecology Dept., room A-167, email: nadia.soudzilovskaia@ecology.falw.vu )
or Hans Cornelissen (Systems Ecology Dept., room A162, Email:  hans.cornelissen@falw.vu.nl )

Added: January 5th 2010