Plant community ecology of Tibetan grasslands. This project is located in Gansu province, China. Compared to grasslands wo worldwide, Tibetan grasslands have an extremely high level of plant di diversity, averaging 30-40 species per 0.25m2. In contrast to other gr grasslands, forbs can represent up to 95% of NPP. This unique high alpha, hi high beta diversity and large functional group dominance differences make Ti Tibetan plateau grasslands an ideal system to examine mechanisms driving pl plant diversity and plant species coexistence. The Tibetan plateau is also ch characterized by intense above- and belowground herbivory and a long ev evolutionary history of grazing. We hypothesize that this intense herbivory by by a large array of different herbivores is an important factor driving pl plant diversity. For this project, a Master’s degree in ecology and a wo working knowledge of Chinese are preferred.
Fire, deer browsing and nitrogen additions impacts on ecosystem. This project is at Cedar Creek, LTER in Minnesota. Community and ecosystem patterns are d patterns are driven by environmental drivers, and drivers such as fire, herbivory and herbivory and atmospheric nitrogen deposition have changed. This project uses a three f uses a three factorial experiment (fire, deer fencing and nitrogen fertilization) fertilization) to examine community and ecosystem consequences of such changes. changes. Both projects, require an interest in community and ecosystem ecology and an undergra an undergraduate degree in ecology, or a closely related field. If interested, please contact me. Johannes (Jean) M H Knops School of Biological Sciences University of Nebraska 348 Manter Hall Lincoln, NE 68588 Phone (402) 817 6957 Email: jkno...@unl.edu
