Egle Köster

The main focus of my current research is on the effects of drying trends on peatland vegetation: I study how plant traits and biomass allocation are changing due to climate induced water level drawdown.  I address these drying trends on species, functional group and site level and study how these changes vary between different peatland types. For this, I compare experimentally drained peatland sites with pristine ones, and combine field observations with lab analyses and statistical techniques.

My career as a scientist has started in University of Tartu (Estonia), where I received my PhD in field of botany and mycology in 2010. After graduation I worked in University of Helsinki as a post-doctoral researcher, where I was involved in the research related to the effects of disturbances on the vegetation and carbon dynamics of the boreal forests, and studies on the effects of biochar amendment to the growth and quality of tree seedlings.