WatForFun - Water level regimes and tropical forest functioning in floodplains and headwater springs

How does vegetation in floodplains and spring zones depend on the water level regime? What is the impact of a changing climate and/or land-use on the water level regime, and thus forest functioning? These are two of the questions that the WatForFun project aims to answer. The project is an interdisciplinary cooperation with researchers at the Universidade Federal de Lavras and the Universidade Estadual do Mato Grosso do Sul, specialized in forest ecology. The hydrological research will involve fieldwork to acquire data on water levels, infiltration, tree water use and isotope analysis, as well as hydrological modelling with HBV model and remote sensing imagery analysis. The work will take place in floodplains and headwater spring sites in the São Francisco and Rio Grande river basins in Brazil and is funded by the Brazilian-Swiss Joint Research Programme. 

Supervisor: Dr. Ilja van Meerveld

Co-supervisor: Prof. Dr. Jan Seibert