Possible topics for B.Sc. and M.Sc. theses in the Dept. of Bioclimatology
If you are interested, please contact the corresponding scientist.
Some topics listed below can be worked on as B.Sc. or M.Sc. thesis and thematically adapted accordingly. Own suggestions for topics are also always welcome.
We have obtained optical LAI measurements with a LI-2000 for multiple years. These data should be processed, analyzed and extended by additional new measurements, so the dynamic of the canopy can be compared between years and seasons. Furthermore, these data can be compared with digital hemispherical photos, satellite data of EVI, PAR radiation measurements above and below the canopy, and ecosystem flux measurements obtained with the eddy covariance method.
We take every half hour photos of the canopy top at our forest study sites Hainich and Leinefelde. Based on these time series of photos, periods of leaf out, leaf fall, snow cover etc. can be determined automatically and compared between years and sites. The thesis would include scripting an analysis tool (in R or python, e.g. usage of phenopix R package) to determine such main events in the forest. Furthermore, the analysis could focus on individual trees in the photos.
We obtain CO2 concentration measurements with various infrared gas analyzers at our study sites. These analyzers tend to drift in their measurement accuracy and precision with time, thus, a regular calibration is needed. In this thesis project, the concentration data will be reanalyzed considering the instruments’ offsets detected by each calibration and the drift between two calibrations. The impact of this concentration correction on estimated annual ecosystem fluxes should be quantified.
The so-called RothC model describes the turnover of organic material in the soil and the dynamics of soil carbon. Based on biochemical and meteorological measurements the model can be set up and interrelations with soil temperature, moisture and material composition can be analyzed. The model output (soil CO2 efflux) can be compared to soil respiration measurements obtained with an automatic chamber system. Thus, the RothC model can be evaluated for the application to forest sites.