Congratulations!Lizeth Vásconez Navas successfully defended her doctoral thesis

12 July 2023

Photo: Joachim Eilers

We are proud to announce the successful disputation of our SICSS member Lizeth Karina Vásconez Navas

Her dissertation “Interactions between soil-water dynamics and hardwood floodplain forests in the lower middle Elbe river – Germany” was supervised by Prof. Dr. Annette Eschenbach (Institute of Soil Science, Universität Hamburg), Prof. Dr. Kai Jensen (Institute of Plant Science and Microbiology, Universität Hamburg), and Dr. Joscha Becker (Institute of Soil Science, Universität Hamburg).

Lizeth researched the impact of dikes on the distribution of soil physicochemical properties and soil formation processes of hardwood-floodplain-forest soils along the lower middle Elbe. She focused on soil nutrient distribution and targeted the question: Are soils in the former floodplain (behind the Dike) able to provide similar conditions as the soils in the active floodplain for restoration of the hardwood forest? Lizeth also studied the influence of soil drought and high vapor pressure deficit on the tree-water transport dynamics of the two dominant hardwood species Quercus robur (Oaks) and Ulmus laevis (Elms). In this study, she determined the effect of soil parameters as soil water potential on tree water transport, under two different soil conditions loam and sand dominated.

Lizeth is a member of the Institute of Soil Science at Universität Hamburg.

Lizeth’s future plans?

Lizeth will continue working in the MediAN project until the end of the year, and afterwards she considers the possibility of starting a cooperation between Ecuador and Germany, related to soil research in one of the wonderful ecosystems of her home country.