Anna-Maria Madaj

Contact

Anna-Maria Madaj

Doctoral Researcher
Department of Community Ecology
Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
Theodor-Lieser-Straße 4
01620 Halle (Saale), Germany

Tel: +49 345 558 5222
Fax: +49 345 558 5329
anna-maria.madaj@ufz.de

Anna-Maria Madaj

Research interests

Anthropogenic induced environmental changes, e.g. climate change and land use change, are counted among the major threats to biodiversity. They alter global and local environmental conditions in unprecedented dimensions. Hence, the investigation of the ability of species and communities to cope with rapidly changing environmental conditions as well as the comprehensive understanding of possible adaptation processes is urgently needed for the protection of their diversity and the associated ecosystem processes.

To study the responses of species and communities to global change in a realistic scenario requires two things. First, it demands an experimental setup allowing the manipulation of environmental conditions. Second, it requires a community large enough to develop and maintain natural ecological and evolutionary processes. Here, the world-wide unique field experiment Global Change Experimental Facility (GCEF) builds an incomparable opportunity to investigate the impact of climate change and land use on terrestrial ecosystems. The focus of my research will be on the extensively managed grasslands of the GCEF, due to the fact that they are counted among the most heterogenic and biodiverse ecosystems in Europe and provide important ecosystem services.

Using methods of quantitative and molecular population genetics, the aim of my PhD-project is the quantification of fundamental predictors of evolutionary dynamics of multiple plant species in extensively managed grassland ecosystems under different climate and land management scenarios. Parameters like heritability, selection differentials and the response to selection will be assessed both in the GCEF and in a common garden experiment with two different environments (i.e. control & drought). In the common garden the plants will grow without competition as an aid to estimate the impact of complex ecological effects exerted by the GCEF extensive grassland community. This will help to understand the evolutionary potential and response of plant species in extensively managed grassland ecosystems to predicted climate change and to formulate future scenarios.

Bromus
Setting up the common garden experiment in the climatic chamber of the UFZ - Propagation by seeds of multiple plant species.
Bromus
Propagation by seeds of the first investigated species Bromus erectus

Jan 2018 - present

Doctoral Researcher at UFZ (Department Community Ecology) as a DBU scholarship holder

PhD project:  » Evolutionary dynamics of plant species in extensively managed grassland ecosystems in response to predicted climate change «

Supervision by Dr. S. Michalski (UFZ), Dr. W. Durka (UFZ) and Prof. Dr. I. Hensen (Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg).

2013 - 2017

MSc degree in Biology at Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany.

Master Thesis: » Intraspecific variation of source populations from selected extensive grassland species on the Global Change Experimental Facility (GCEF) «

Supervision by Dr. W. Durka (Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ) and Prof. Dr. I. Hensen (Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg).

2009 - 2013

BSc degree in Biology at Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany.