PhD. Topics
Earth Science Institute of the SAS
Topic
Dynamics of the Alpine Treeline Ecotone under Climate Change
PhD. program
Year of admission
2025
Name of the supervisor
Ing. Svetlana Varšová (Bičárová), PhD.
Contact:
Receiving school
Technická univerzita vo Zvolene
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 primarily climatic conditions (cold, wind, energy balance, and the length of the growing season), limit the development of plant populations. The main objective of this study is to examine the influence of climate on the ATE and to address open questions such as: Is the ATE shifting to higher altitudes due to warming? What role do factors like soil, water, topography, geographic conditions, and other environmental elements play in the extension of tree vegetation in the ATE? How can the research findings contribute to proposing conservation strategies, restoration, and management in protected areas? Various approaches and methods are expected to be used, including experiments, monitoring, modelling, comparative analyses, remote sensing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. ATE research is planned to be conducted in the High Tatras, in the protected area of TANAP, specifically in the Skalnatá dolina area, using the available infrastructure of the observatory of the Slovak Academy of Sciences near Skalnaté pleso, which has over 80 years of high-quality climate measurement records. The topic will be addressed within the framework of ongoing projects VEGA 2/0048/25 and VEGA 2/0115/25.