The forest-soil-water nexus in climatic transients

Course given at Göttingen University, Module B.ÖSM.300a, in German (but can be provided in English, as well)

Climate change imposes a severe transient on forest ecosystems, which profoundly changes the relations of tree vitalogy, soil properties and water fluxes. This results in impacts and feedbacks beyond the actual ecosystem. Important offsite effects include energy and matter fluxes with the atmosphere and hydrosphere. Understanding these connections requires a systematic and quantitative approach, which will be learned by enganging with the research and teaching project Ebergötzen.

In this course, you will investigate the climatic impact on the forest-soil-water nexus of the Ebergötzen field focus site. You will discuss fundamental system relationships, collect field data, explore multiseasonal data using the software R, and develop and test your own research hypotheses. Apart from that scientific scope, you will be trained in the general scientific approach: logic and argumentation, hypotheses building, research design, work management, focussed reading, scientific writing and ad hoc presentation. A dedicated goal of the course is to get introduced to and apply quantitative data handling.

Materials to this course (slides, practical work, R notebooks, data sets) will be provided in due course