Background

Domestic and semi-domestic grazing has been taking place for thousands of years over northern Fennoscandia. Now these pastures are under pressure because of climate change. Grazing has an extensive effect on vegetation and can help to keep the landscape open. Yet, grazing activities are also getting increasingly disturbed by concurrent human activities at northern latitudes. In fact, ecosystem climate-driven changes appear to work in synergy with land-use changes.

Overall aim of the PhD project

For my PhD Project, I aim at studying the cumulative effects of multiple land-uses and climate change on the quality of the northern grasslands. To do so, I am planning to highlight the hotspots under multiple stressors by reviewing and mapping them over northern Fennoscandia. Once these hotspots are identified, I will study how grazing activities are disturbed by other land-uses by tagging reindeer with 3D detectors. The quality of the grasslands and encroachment will be then monitored  with the use of remote sensing, retrospective analysis and field inventories.

If you wish to read more about my PhD research project, you can have a look at this webpage on my university website: https://www.su.se/english/research/research-projects/the-interacting-effects-of-land-use-and-global-warming-on-the-grazing-lands-of-northern-fennoscandia