We are pleased to
welcome a new postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Norbert (Nobby) Kunert, who will be
working on a new ForestGEO project at Smithsonian Conservation Biology
Institute (SCBI)!
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| Dr. Norbert Kunert |
Nobby’s project
will focus on plant-water relations and tropical forest function measuring leaf
hydraulic and functional traits in species-rich tropical forests. Specifically,
he will be conducting fieldwork in the forest dynamics sites at Barro Colorado (BCI) in Panama and at the Lambir/Pasoh
sites in Malaysia. The aim is to identify key hydraulic, physiological,
anatomical, and functional traits and to parameterize these traits for the use
of tree growth models in response to climate change. Nobby will combine the
collected data with forest plot census data to test the extent that trait
variation is driving tree growth as well as how these traits can predict
drought responses in growth and mortality.
The specific
research questions that he will be addressing are:
- Can hydraulic, physiological, anatomical and functional traits be combined to predict growth and mortality?
- Can this relationship be used to predict climate sensitivity, drought vulnerability, and habitat filtering?
- How does tree size affect hydraulically traits?
Nobby will be based
at SCBI in the Forest Ecosystems and Climate Lab with staff scientist Kristina Anderson-Teixeira. Nobby comes to ForestGEO after his time
as associate lecturer of tropical forest ecology at the University of Freiburg
in Germany. He has previously worked as a post-doc in Brazil and Panama and
received his PhD in Forest Science and Wood Ecology at the University of Göttingen.
Please join us in welcoming Nobby to ForestGEO!
Publications
by Dr. Norbert Kunert