Ross Wetherbee

Nationality: USA
Partner institute: Norwegian University of Life Science, NMBU
Start and end of PhD project: 01.02.2017 – 01.05.2020
Email: rowe@nmbu.no
Supervisors: Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson and Tone Birkemoe, NMBU (MINA)

Primary theme: Movement and Population Ecology
Secondary theme: Ecosystem Services

PhD title: Biodiversity in dead wood

Description of research project:
Veteran trees are keystone structures in forest and agricultural landscapes, but threated globally and in Scanidanvia. Hollows in veteran trees provide a stable, nutrient rich habitat that host many endemic invertebrates. The resulting biodiversity provides important ecosystem functions like pollination, decomposition and pest control for the surrounding landscapes. However, the contribution of the arthropod communities inhabiting veteran trees to ecosystem functions remains largely unmeasured. Therefore, the aim of my project is to better understand the drivers of arthropod communities inhabiting veteran trees and measure their contribution to ecosystem functions and services.