Ecological process analysis on multiple time scales

Ecological observations often contain signatures of various superposed ecological responses on multiple time scales (Fig.1). A specific example is the temperature dependency of soil respiration. Laboratory experiments suggest that short-term responses of soil respiration to temperature can be well approximated based on simple empirical models. However, on longer time series (e.g. on seasonal scales) we see changes in the total amount of carbon that can be respired. Ignoring oscillations on this seasonal time scale leads to confounded estimates of the temperature dependence parameters. In Mahecha et al. (2010) the Scale Dependent Parameter Estimation (SCAPE) approach was developed which resolves the problem by separately analyzing temperature dependence terms on specific time scales. In this project we will work on extensions of the SCAPE framework for improving our understanding of similar ecological processes and consider the opportunities of predicting ecosystem fluxes.

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Unternehmen

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e. V.

Bereich/Abteilung

Biogeochemical Integration

Abschlussart

Bachelorarbeit / Masterarbeit / Diplomarbeit

Ansprechpartner/in

Fabian Gans (fgans@bgc-jena.mpg.de) & Miguel Mahecha (mmahecha@bgc-jena.mpg.de)

Max-Planck-Institut für Biogeochemie
Hans-Knöll-Str. 10
07745 Jena
Deutschland

Branche

Forschung und Entwicklung

Anforderungen

Dedication! Passion for scientific computing (R or julialang.org). Ideally some background in multivariate statistics or time series analysis. A background in ecosystem processes for instance, land-atmosphere fluxes, or soil ecology is helpful but not a prerequisite.

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