I am involved in two undergraduate GIS courses (one online- and one classroom-course), where I assist students with their GIS projects and help grading their assignments. Furthermore, I developed and teach a short exercise about landscape ecology in a graduate course.

 

For my PhD project, I am exploring how extreme weather events and different management practices are shaping grassland plant communities. Central part of my project is a winter warming experiment in Upper Teesdale (UK) and a drought experiment in Tovetorp (Sweden). My goal is to understand better some of the most influential climatic and land use effects, and to recommend appropriate management regimes that can help maintain these species-rich habitats.

 

 

 

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• Comparing temperature data sources for use in species distribution models: From in-situ logging to remote sensing

  2019. Jonas J. Lembrechts (et al.). Global Ecology and Biogeography 28 (11), 1578-1596

  Article

  Aim Although species distribution models (SDMs) traditionally link species occurrences to free-air temperature data at coarse spatio-temporal resolution, the distribution of organisms might instead be driven by temperatures more proximal to their habitats. Several solutions are currently available, such as downscaled or interpolated coarse-grained free-air temperatures, satellite-measured land surface temperatures (LST) or in-situ-measured soil temperatures. A comprehensive comparison of temperature data sources and their performance in SDMs is, however, currently lacking. Location Northern Scandinavia. Time period 1970-2017. Major taxa studied Higher plants. Methods We evaluated different sources of temperature data (WorldClim, CHELSA, MODIS, E-OBS, topoclimate and soil temperature from miniature data loggers), differing in spatial resolution (from 1 '' to 0.1 degrees), measurement focus (free-air, ground-surface or soil temperature) and temporal extent (year-long versus long-term averages), and used them to fit SDMs for 50 plant species with different growth forms in a high-latitudinal mountain region. Results Differences between these temperature data sources originating from measurement focus and temporal extent overshadow the effects of temporal climatic differences and spatio-temporal resolution, with elevational lapse rates ranging from -0.6 degrees C per 100 m for long-term free-air temperature data to -0.2 degrees C per 100 m for in-situ soil temperatures. Most importantly, we found that the performance of the temperature data in SDMs depended on the growth forms of species. The use of in-situ soil temperatures improved the explanatory power of our SDMs (R-2 on average +16%), especially for forbs and graminoids (R-2 +24 and +21% on average, respectively) compared with the other data sources. Main conclusions We suggest that future studies using SDMs should use the temperature dataset that best reflects the ecology of the species, rather than automatically using coarse-grained data from WorldClim or CHELSA.

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• A call for consistency with the terms ‘wetter’ and ‘drier’ in climate change studies

  2021. Nina Roth (et al.). Environmental Evidence 10

  Article

  Ongoing and future hydroclimatic changes have large environmental and societal impacts. In terrestrial ecosystems, these changes are usually described with the terms ‘wetter’ and ‘drier’, which refer to the change in the quantity and/or presence of water, either as water fluxes or stocks. We conducted a literature review of almost 500 recent climate change studies to quantitatively investigate the consistency of the use of these terms across disciplines, regarding the hydroclimatic variables they are related to. We found that although precipitation is prevalently used to describe ‘wetter’ and ‘drier’ conditions, many other variables are also used to refer to changes in water availability between research fields, pointing to a varied perspective on the use of these terms. Some studies do not define the terms at all. In order to facilitate meta-analyses across disciplines, we therefore highlight the need to explicitly state which hydroclimatic variables authors are referring to. In this way, we hope that the terms ‘wetter’ and ‘drier’ used in scientific studies are easier to relate to hydroclimatic processes, which should facilitate the application by authorities and policy makers.

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• Floral resources in Swedish grasslands remain relatively stable under an experimental drought and are enhanced by soil amendments if regularly mown

  2023. Nina Roth (et al.). Ecological Solutions and Evidence 4 (2)

  Article

  1. One of the main reasons why insect pollinators are declining is a lack of floral resources. In agricultural landscapes, remaining seminatural grasslands play a key role for providing such resources. However, droughts pose an increasing threat to the abundance and continuity of flowers. Soil amendments are a novel management tool for Swedish grasslands aiming to increase carbon sequestration and soil water holding capacity. In this study, we examined how drought is affecting floral resources (i.e. floral units, nectar quantity and nectar continuity) in grasslands with different mowing regimes, and if soil amendments could mitigate potential negative drought effects.
  2. In summer 2019, we set up an experiment combining rain-out shelters (‘drought’), soil amendments (‘compost’) and different mowing regimes (‘mown’ vs. ‘abandoned’) in four extensively managed Swedish grasslands (48 plots, size 2 m²). Between May and August 2021, we counted the floral units nine times in each plot. We derived values for the nectar sugar production per floral unit from an existing database.
  3. We observed a decrease in floral units under drought in the mown, but not in the abandoned plots. Nectar quantity and continuity over the season were not significantly affected by drought across both mowing regimes—in the abandoned plots the nectar provision even extended slightly in duration (towards late summer). The compost treatment had positive effects on the floral units, nectar quantity and continuity (extending it towards early summer) in the mown, but not in the abandoned plots. The plant species in our study reacted differently to the treatments. Most of the nectar was provided by only few species (mainly Lathyrus pratensis, Vicia cracca and Anthriscus sylvestris).
  4. The results are species specific, thus other plant communities might respond differently. However, our experiment shows that nectar provision (based on database values) in grasslands with a native plant community and natural soil conditions remains relatively stable under drought. We also found that soil amendments increase floral resources in managed grasslands.

  Read more about Floral resources in Swedish grasslands remain relatively stable under an experimental drought and are enhanced by soil amendments if regularly mown

Show all publications by Nina Roth at Stockholm University