Functional and taxonomic diversity of spontaneous trees on tree islands

The study focuses on to identify some environmental variables that influence the taxonomic and functional diversity of spontaneous trees (ST) present on the tree islands in the EFForTS-BEE project. First, I will identify how factors such as distance from forest patches and rivers to the experimental area have effects on taxonomic and functional diversity of ST. Furthermore, I will assess how plant traits such as tree height, diaspore mass, dispersal syndrome, fruit type and fruit size change with tree island size, canopy and diversity of planted trees, which can reflect the ability of ST to establish into the tree islands.

This master thesis is supervised by Fabian Brambach (B06) and Clara Zemp (B11).