Thesis supervisor: Csongor Gedeon
co-supervisor: János Farkas
Location of studies (in Hungarian): Institute for Soil Sciences, Agricultural Research Center, Hungarian Research Network Abbreviation of location of studies: TAKI
Description of the research topic:
"Many burrowing rodents move significant amounts of soil when digging their burrow systems. They are ecosystem engineers of grasslands, i.e. they create habitat for other organisms, enriching the surface and subsurface heterogeneity of the soil, increasing its biodiversity and improving its structure, water balance, aeration, physical and chemical properties. On the other hand, the burrows of certain species can sometimes compromise the stability of water barriers, reducing their protective role. In other words, from both conservation and environmental engineering perspectives, they play a cardinal role in shaping or functioning of their habitats or ecosystems (especially grassland ecosystems).
Both globally and domestically, there is a steady decline of endangered ground squirrels and species alike, often for unknown reasons. To monitor population sizes and detect decline in real time, identify the causes of these declines, and to improve the management of populations eventually, it would be essential to estimate the abundance of local populations more accurately using modern, non-destructive, (semi-)automated methods.
We address this question above by combining novel, non-destructive surface and near-surface imaging, data acquisition (spectral data analysis), and classification methods based on advanced statistical (machine learning, multiple-point geostatistical) methods.
One important observation and correlation that underpins the applicability of the entire approach is that ground-dwelling animals leave distinct holes and mounds on the surface that can be distinguished from other surface/ subsurface objects. These objects may persist for long periods of time, but active burrows entrances can be separated from abandoned burrows by field observations. The other important observation is that air-filled subsurface burrows can be visually separated from the ground by their dielectric properties using ground-penetrating radar. This method allows the creation of a three-dimensional model of the burrows from spatially discrete, point-like, ground-penetrating radar data and spatially continuous, point-like, surface data (""burrow-entrance map""), and by taking into account the regularities of the burrows network, and then estimating the inaccuracy of the model and the corresponding number of individuals in the colony."
Required language skills: English Further requirements: M.Sc.;knowledge in relation to the topic and tools (Ground-penetrating radar particularly); willing to do field and office work; willing and practice in writing publications; for those who do not speak Hungarian:English knowledge at advanced(C1)level
Number of students who can be accepted: 1
Deadline for application: 2024-05-31
2024. IV. 17. ODT ülés Az ODT következő ülésére 2024. június 14-én, pénteken 10.00 órakor kerül sor a Semmelweis Egyetem Szenátusi termében (Bp. Üllői út 26. I. emelet).
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