biomet innsbruck - // turbulent research

Presentation by Albin

Today Albin was invited at the Institute of Meteorology and Geophysics of the University of Innsbruck to present our recent modelling work on grassland carbon and water cycling in their weekly seminar series. The presentation, which covered much of the work we have been doing over the past two years within the frame of the GrassClim project, can be found here.

Gerrit Schoups visiting

Gerrit Schoups (Delft University, The Netherlands) was visiting us to discuss Bayesian parameter estimation methods based on uncertain input and calibration data and to give a presentation in the seminar series Ökologisches Kolloquium. The picture shows Gerrit and Albin during a field visit at Neustift.

Biomet in the news

Following a press release prepared by Gabriele Rampl (Scinews), reports on our research on mountain grasslands and in particular about our recent paper on the effects of changes in snow melt on mountain grassland carbon dioxide source/sink strength have appeared in several newspapers (WienerZeitung, Standardonline) and media (ipoint of the University of Innsbruck, ORFonScience, Innovationsreport, APAScience).

The moles strike back

We are using small, solar-powered ultra-sonic devices anchored into the ground to chase away the moles at our study site Neustift, which are a real pest in particular in spring time. As you can see in the picture, it looks like that this year the moles have decided to strike back, taking revenge on an ultra-sonic device by burying it in a molehill. Looks like we need to consider other options to get rid of them …

Teaching stomatal conductance

Within the TeefürPUK project we have today hosted a class from the Reithmanngymnasium in order to introduce the pupils into leaf gas exchange. Georg discussed with the pupils the basics of leaf CO2 and water vapour exchange and in particular strategies of plants involved in the regulation of stomatal conductance. Then pupils could get a hands-on experience with the Decagon porometers measuring stomatal conductance on a reference group of plants, drought-stressed plants and plants kept in the dark (simulating nighttime). Finally, results obtained by the pupils were discussed and related to the importance of stomatal conductance in regulating the water cycle and near-surface climate and the implications of changing environmental conditions.