Funding Agreement for the Römerwiese PhD Position

The hartwig!stiftung is funding Finn Wachtel’s PhD position for a period of three years, with a total funding amount of €120,000.

As part of the cumulative PhD programme, Finn Wachtel is preparing three scientific articles using open-access approaches on the topic of peatland monitoring. The research investigates two areas: firstly, vegetation development (succession) following fire events on drained peatland areas in southern Brandenburg, documented through the “Monitoring Brandmoore Lieberose” project (led by Corinna Schulz, a qualified landscape ecologist); and secondly, the success of rewetting a drained, restored peatland area in northern Brandenburg. Satellite data-based remote sensing methods (time-series analyses) are used to support the research.

The aim of the project is to ecologically evaluate vegetation development (succession) following fire events on peatland areas, as well as vegetation and soil development following rewetting.

This is achieved through the integration of time-series analyses using freely available satellite imagery and the synthesis of the two research areas described above.