As project leader:
- GreenMount PN-IV-P2-2.1-TE-2023-0726. Greening of the high mountains: long-term vegetation change in response to climate warming and land-use transformations. Funded by Executive Agency for the Financing of High Education, Research, Development and Innovation (UEFISCDI).
GreenMount investigates the positive trend in the above treeline vegetation greenness over the past four decades. This has been observed particularly in the Arctic and Alpine regions. Our goal is to unravel the complexity of this phenomenon in the Carpathian Mountains, a region that has undergone drastic land-use changes since the fall of the communist regime. In addition to assessing the impacts of major shifts in pastoralism at high elevations, we aim to disentangle the role of climate change in driving greening. Emphasis is placed on shrub encroachment, which we hypothesise to be a key ecological process underlying the greening hotspots. The project combines advanced remote sensing techniques, high-resolution diachronic analysis of aerial imagery, and dendroecological studies on Pinus mugo and Juniperus communis var. saxatilis 🌐 Read More.
- MUGO AUF34073. Comprendre les causes et les conséquences de la dynamique du Pin mugo dans les Carpates. Funded by Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie, Babeș-Bolyai University Romania, CNRS France.
This project is a preliminary investigation of greening in the Carpathians, with a strong focus on mountain pine (Pinus mugo), a keystone species of the above-treeline ecosystems of this region. We found that, compared to other vegetation types, P. mugo communities are experiencing greening, though to a lesser extent. In certain areas, the marked increase in cover appears to be linked to colonization following anthropogenic disturbance.
- MEMOIRE PN-III-P1-1.1-PD2016-0925. Fine-scale Monitoring of climate change Effects on the high-MOuntaIn gRassland Ecosystem in the Romanian Carpathians. Funded by Executive Agency for the Financing of High Education, Research, Development and Innovation (UEFISCDI) 🌐 Read More.
MEMOIRE aims to develop the most extensive network of soil temperature monitoring sites in the Romanian Carpathians. This network includes sites previously installed during the ODYSSEE project (in Carex curvula alpine and Nardus stricta subalpine grasslands) across the major mountain ranges, as well as additional sites clustered in the Parâng, Rodna, and Apuseni Mountains. In total, the monitoring infrastructure comprises around 70 sites equipped with autonomous temperature recording sensors, along with data on species composition and ecosystem properties. Our goal is to understand the regional and local-scale factors that influence the role of thermal regimes in ecosystem functioning.
As member:
- ODYSSEE PN-II-ID-JRP-RO-FR-2012 [task leader: Outreach and dissemination]. Opening new avenues to model the dynamics of Species assemblages by integrating Ecology and Evolution a case study from the mountain ecosystems of the Alps and the Carpathians. Funded by Executive Agency for the Financing of High Education, Research, Development and Innovation (UEFISCDI) – Programme Blanc International France – Roumanie.
- BIODIVMOUNT PN-II-CT-ROFR-2014-2-0011 Patternuri biogeografice ale diversității în cadrul ecosistemelor munților înalți din Europa: o abordare multidisciplinară. Funded by Executive Agency for the Financing of High Education, Research, Development and Innovation (UEFISCDI).
- 36244/12.12.2018 Conserving the endemic flora of the Carpathian region. Funded by the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership, Kew Gardens.
Contributor to monitoring initiatives:
- GLORIA (2015; 2022 resurveys within the MICROCLIM ERC project) Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine.
- TeaComposition Global litter decomposition study
- The National Forest Inventory of Romania.