Thesis subject
MSc thesis topic: Drought-induced structural changes in Chilean mediterranean evergreen forest
Mediterranean-type ecosystems of the world (MTE’s) represent approximately 20% of global plant diversity and are the most endangered ecosystems due to Climate Change. One of the 5 MTE’s in the world is located in South-Central Chile being unique in South America, with the presence of shrublands, sclerophyllous, and deciduous forest, characterized by their high endemism, high levels of intervention and vulnerability. This area have shown a decreasing trend in annual growth and productivity since the beginning of the Megadrought (2010 onwards), even affecting sclerophyllous forests despite their drought resistance affecting ecosystem stability, resilience and adaptive capacity. A recent example was the severe drought episode in 2019-20, that affected approximately 90% of vegetation in less than 100 days with an abrupt decrease in productivity over a latitudinal range of 500 km and 120 km from the coast to the Andes. This makes the area a natural laboratory to study the structural changes of Mediterranean forest.
Despite the relevance and progress in forest monitoring using EO, innovations and improvements are still needed. As ecosystem changes occur in both horizontal and vertical dimensions, descriptive information about vegetation structure is crucial and need further exploration. This thesis aims to evaluate the use of GEDI Lidar data to detect and quantify vertical structural changes in Mediterranean evergreen sclerophyllous forest in South-Central Chile.
Relevance to research/projects at GRS or other groups
With this research you will contribute to an ongoing PhD research project.
Objectives and Research questions
- Detect and quantify vertical structural changes in evergreen sclerophyllous forest
- Evaluate the relationship between structural changes and productivity.
Requirements
- Geo-scripting (R of Python)
- Advanced Earth Observation
Literature and information
- Cueto, D. A., Alaniz, A. J., Hidalgo-Corrotea, C., Vergara, P. M., Carvajal, M. A., & Barrios-Saravia, A. (2025). Chilean Mediterranean forest on the verge of collapse? Evidence from a comprehensive risk analysis. Science of the Total Environment, 964.
- Rundel, P. W., Arroyo, M. T. K., Cowling, R. M., Keeley, J. E., Lamont, B. B., & Vargas, P. (2016). Mediterranean Biomes: Evolution of Their Vegetation, Floras, and Climate. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 47, 383–407.
- Garreaud, R. D., Alvarez-Garreton, C., Barichivich, J., Boisier, J. P., Christie, D., Galleguillos, M., LeQuesne, C., McPhee, J., & Zambrano-Bigiarini, M. (2017). The 2010–2015 megadrought in central Chile: impacts on regional hydroclimate and vegetation. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 21(12), 6307–6327.
Expected reading list before starting the thesis research
- Dubayah, R., Armston, J., Healey, S. P., Bruening, J. M., Patterson, P. L., Kellner, J. R., Duncanson, L., Saarela, S., Ståhl, G., Yang, Z., Tang, H., Blair, J. B., Fatoyinbo, L., Goetz, S., Hancock, S., Hansen, M., Hofton, M., Hurtt, G., & Luthcke, S. (2022). GEDI launches a new era of biomass inference from space. Environmental Research Letters, 17(9), 95001.
- Miranda, A., Syphard, A. D., Berdugo, M., Carrasco, J., Gómez-González, S., Ovalle, J. F., Delpiano, C. A., Vargas, S., Squeo, F. A., Miranda, M. D., Dobbs, C., Mentler, R., Lara, A., & Garreaud, R. (2023). Widespread synchronous decline of Mediterranean-type forest driven by accelerated aridity. Nature Plants, 9(11), 1810–1817.
Theme(s): Sensing & measuring; Modelling & visualisation