Earth Science Institute of the SAS
Topic
Dynamics of the Alpine Treeline Ecotone under Climate Change
PhD. program
Year of admission
2026
Name of the supervisor
Ing. Veronika Lukasová, PhD.
Contact:
Receiving school
Fakulta ekológie a environmentalistiky TUZVO
Annotation
Research on the dynamics of the alpine treeline ecotone (ATE) is crucial for understanding the mechanisms, manifestations, and impacts of global climate change on the natural environment. The ATE is located between the subalpine and alpine zones, where primary climatic conditions (cold temperatures, wind, energy balance, and the length of the growing/snow season) limit the development of plant populations. The main objective of this study is to investigate the impact of climate on the ATE and to address open questions such as: How are climatic conditions changing in the ATE? How is vegetation responding to warming and weather extremes associated with climate change? What role do soil, water availability, topography, geographic conditions, and other environmental factors play in the expansion of tree vegetation within the ATE? How can research findings contribute to proposing conservation strategies, restoration, and management in protected areas? This topic creates opportunities for employing various approaches and methods, which may include experiments, field monitoring, modelling, comparative analyses, remote sensing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Within Slovakia, the research will be carried out in the High Tatras, specifically in the Skalnatá dolina valley, using the available infrastructure of the Skalnaté Pleso Observatory of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, which provides more than 80 years of high-quality climate measurement records. The topic will be addressed within the framework of the ongoing projects VEGA 2/0048/25 and VEGA 2/0115/25.