Are you interested in tropical forests and how they are being affected by human activities? Consider applying to this fully funded Masters opportunity at Bangor University to work with me and Dr. Lars Markesteijn, starting this October!

Please note the very tight deadline - we will be reviewing applications on 18th July!

Title: Quantifying changes in tropical forest canopy structure through degradation and recovery pathways using ground-based lidar

Supervisors’ names: Dr. Marielle Smith and Dr. Lars Markesteijn

Project outline: Tropical forests are being removed and degraded in many different ways, including by fire, logging, forest fragmentation, and overgrazing. However, many areas are naturally regenerating following such disturbances, and these human-modified forests and are increasingly recognised as important for climate change mitigation and biodiversity restoration. We need to develop a detailed understanding of how forests change both as they degrade, but also as they recover. This is critical to being able to predict the forests capable of recovery, versus forests where degradation impacts are so severe that recovery is unlikely. Such information is essential to accurately estimating national carbon budgets, as well as identifying priority areas for restoration and conservation.

Forest canopy structure—the size, quantity, and spatial arrangement of trees and all aboveground vegetation—determines many ecosystem properties and functions, such as wildlife habitat, microclimate, and carbon storage. This project will quantify how tropical forest structure changes through degradation and/or recovery trajectories, using ground-based lidar data. The project will involve analysis of lidar data already collected along regeneration chronosequences in the Brazilian Amazon, with the potential for field work to conduct lidar surveys at sites in Brazil or Ecuador. Depending on student interest, the project could be expanded to include additional components such as assessment of how aboveground biomass, tree species composition, leaf functional traits, and / or microclimates alter alongside changes in forest structure.

Details: 1-year, fully funded Masters by research opportunity, starting 1st October 2022. The funding will cover fees, £16k stipend and “bench fee” for research/training etc up to £5k. UK and international applicants are welcome to apply.

Who are we looking for?: Please see this page for info on entry requirements for the Master of Science by Research programme at Bangor University. We are looking for candidates with a strong interest (though not necessarily prior experience) in tropical forest ecology and remote sensing. Prior experience analysing data using a programming language (e.g., R) would be beneficial (but not essential), as would the ability to speak Portuguese and/or Spanish.

To apply: Please send your CV and a brief statement describing your research interests and background to marielle.smith@bangor.ac.uk.