Thesis supervisor: Károly Penksza
co-supervisor: Sándor Bartha
Location of studies (in Hungarian): Gödöllő Abbreviation of location of studies: SZIE
Description of the research topic:
Experimental results suggest that diversity might buffers ecosystems against climatic extremes. However, the related effect sizes are highly variable. We will explore diversity-stability relationships in natural grasslands and search for factors responsible for the variability of relationship. First, we will analyse long-term grassland monitoring data (from xeric and mesic grasslands) for identifying specific vegetation states (species composition and diversity) and environmental conditions (soil, legacy of past land use, current management) which correlate with high or low resilience of vegetation to past climatic extremes. In the second step, we will establish drought experiments in the field to test hypotheses generated from observational data. Results have implications for sustainable grassland management.