Within LIFE’s a Beech, there are opportunities to do university-level thesis work – both bachelor and master projects. Below you can find current suggestions, but you are also welcome to propose your own ideas if you feel inspired by our regular monitoring work. Please remember that your university must provide a main supervisor for your thesis. Completed theses will be used within the project and published on the project website
Ecosystem Services Using i-Tree
What?
Broadleaf forests provide many ecosystem services, but it is not easy to measure them. By comparing a project area with a commercially managed forest, we can get an initial idea of the values each area provides.
How?
By using modelling with i-Tree, an American model recently adapted for Swedish conditions. It has not yet been used for protected areas in Sweden.
When?
Fieldwork mainly includes measuring trees and dead wood. This can be done all year round, as can the modelling work.
Amount of Flowering Habitats
What?
Pollinators and access to nectar are important both for wood-living species in broadleaf forests and for other ecosystem services. By opening clearings and planting flowering forest edges, the project hopes to support pollinating and other insects by measuring habitat availability before and after the actions.
How?
Using GIS and/or fieldwork to identify flowering forest edges and other flower-rich habitats near broadleaf forests within LIFE’s a Beech.
When?
Many flowering shrubs can be identified outside the summer season, so timing depends on how the project is planned. “Before” surveys are very relevant right now, since the planting of forest edges has not yet started.
Experience of Restored Broadleaf Forests
What?
Many Swedish broadleaf forests need restoration, but some people worry about changes to “their” forest. Previous research in environmental psychology shows that some types of forests are more appreciated than others.
How?
Interviews where different groups – for example schoolchildren, professional guides, or mushroom pickers – look at photos of different forest types and rank which structures (e.g., tall open forests, flowering forest edges, multilayered forests) they like and why.
When?
Because the work includes interviews and photos, it can be done at any time of the year.