February 15, 2018

ForestGEO welcomes a new postdoc at SCBI!


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)!

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