| title: | Delayed interactions in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems |
|---|---|
| reg no: | ETF6008 |
| project type: | Estonian Science Foundation research grant |
| subject: |
1.2. Applied Mathematics 1.13. Botany 1.16. Marine Sciences and Limnology |
| status: | accepted |
| institution: | Institute of Zoology and Botany at Estonian University of Life Sciences |
| head of project: | Tõnu Möls |
| duration: | 01.01.2004 - 31.12.2007 |
| description: | Natural environmental factors (weather, radiation, water level etc.) as well as anthropogenic factors (pollution, fertilizing, managing etc.) usually influence the ecosystem during some longer time period. The final response of the ecosystem will then be formed as an integral result of various partial factorial effects. In addition to this, delay between the action of a factor, and the resulting response of the ecosystem, as well as the presence of various disturbing factors makes it difficult to analyse the causal interactions in an ecosystem. Due to this, many valuable datasets of long-term observations stay poorly analysed or not analysed at all. The present interdisciplinary project sets up two goals. (1) To work out, using the theory of general linear mixed statistical models, appropriate methods for analysing delayed interactions between environmental factors and ecosystems, and (2) to carry out analyses, using the tailored methods, of some important and interesting hydrochemical, hydrobiological and botanical ecosystems for which there are long data series still not analysed from this point of view. We plan to estimate the numerical value of interactions, and the delay in the response. We analyse (a) Lake Peipsi, where the interactions of hydrochemical and hydrobiological parameters with the temperature, water level, radiation, precipitation and nutrient loading will be studied, (b) interactions (disturbance by fertilizing and recovery thereafter) in the long-term experiment of Laelatu wooded meadow continuing since 1962, (c) ten years long fertilization experiment imitating man-made pollution in Norway alpine zone (data of J. Paal and E. Fremstad), (d) long-term changes in forest clearings (data of J. Paal). All these systems will be analysed using the same statistical approach based on special parametric functions and on the representation by special functions the longitudinal factorial effects. This will generalize the approach successfully applied in the biometrics group of IZB during many years. |
| project group | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| no | name | institution | position | |
| 1. | Külli Kangur | EPMÜ ZBI | vanemteadur | |
| 2. | Märt Möls | TÜ MSI | lektor | |
| 3. | Tõnu Möls | Institute of Zoology and Botany at Estonian University of Life Sciences | senior researcher | |
| 4. | Jaanus Paal | University of Tartu | erakorraline professor | |
| 5. | Marek Sammul | EPMÜ ZBI | teadur | |
| 6. | Marek Tuul | University of Tartu | doktorant | |