PhD defence Lupe León Sánchez

We are happy to inform that the 14th of October our colleague Lupe León Sánchez successfully defended her PhD thesis at the University of Granada, entitled:

Effects of climate change on native plant communities in semiarid gypsum ecosystems.

Her thesis supervisor is: José Ignacio Querejeta Mercader.

20161014_111327_lrIn her thesis Lupe simulated the climate conditions projected for the second half of XXI century, by using open top chambers (1-2ºC temperature increase in the wintertime and 4-6ºC in the summertime; W treatment), rainout shelters (-30% rainfall exclusion; RR treatment) and their combination (W+RR treatment) to assess the effects of climate change conditions on the performance of three semiarid Mediterranean shrubland communities located in central (Aranjuez) and southeastern Spain (Sorbas and Sax) throughout 4 hydrological years (2011-2015).

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Congratulations Lupe!