ERC Grant for Biodi­ver­sity Rese­arch

Ecologist Rubén D. Manzanedo receives an ERC Starting Grant. For his research on the influence of biodiversity on long-term forest dynamics, Rubén D. Manzanedo has been awarded a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). Currently a researcher at ETH Zurich, Dr. Manzanedo applied for the grant, which is endowed with around 1.5 million euros, through the University of Innsbruck. In his ERC project OPENRING, Rubén D. Manzanedo aims to improve our understanding of how biodiversity supports the stability of ecosystems over the long term and across scales, particularly in forests. While we have a good grasp of this idea from small-scale and short-term studies, we lack crucial insights into long-term and broader processes that are crucial to forest dynamics. "My research combines paleoand neo-ecological methods, such as tree ring analyses, big open data, bias analyses, direct forest sampling across Europe, and remote sensing data; to examine the relationships between European forests' diversity and composition and their reaction to historical climates and extreme weather events", says Dr Manzanedo, explaining his project. Ultimately, this work will allow to identify patterns of stability and more resilience species combinations to our forests.