Robin Pelchen (Universität Hamburg)
Robin Pelchen's Master thesis was awarded with the Prize for the Best Plant Science Master Thesis, which was carried out at Hamburg University in the year 2024 with the title:
The optimal vertical root profile under a changing climate – a model approach
The model describes how the roots can adapt in growth and profile under changing climatic conditions. To achieve this, a new computer model was developed, whose simulation makes qualitatively realistic predictions. This allows for a better selection of specific tree species as an adaptation to climate changes.
The study investigates the effect of the vertical distribution of root biomass in trees, known as the root profile, on their productivity under various environmental conditions. Using a newly developed mechanistic computer model of water transport and CO2 fixation in trees, many different root profiles were simulated, and those that optimize productivity and thus growth under given environmental conditions were identified. This allowed for testing the hypothesis that trees tend to develop an optimal root profile adapted to the environment through natural selection.
The model was able to predict qualitatively realistic root profiles. It confirmed the assumption that trees align their optimal root profile with the relative maximum of soil moisture (influenced by soil properties and rainfall patterns). However, a strong effect of temperature on the optimal root profile was not found.
In recent years, the negative impacts of drought related to climate change on forests, including in Germany, have become evident. However, it remains largely unclear which types of trees will be viable in the long term in the future. The modeling can provide valuable insights into which root profiles, and thus tree types, will be optimally adapted to future climate conditions and have better chances of survival.
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Robin Pelchen conducted this work at the IPM institute, Ecological modeling in the working group of Prof. Dr. Philipp Porada.
To master thesis: https://www.biologie.uni-hamburg.de/forschung/oekologie-biologische-ressourcen/oekmodel/abschlussarbeiten/master-thesis-by-robin-pelchen.pdf
