Claudia Colesie

My research focuses on stress eco-physiology, and various aspects of primary producers’ responses to the environment, aiming to reveal traits that permit cryptogams (mainly lichens and mosses) to exist and persist in extreme terrestrial habitats. In my research, I investigate fundamental questions in the biology of lichens, such as their acclimation potential to changing environmental conditions. I am working on research projects in both poles (Arctic and Antarctic) in collaboration with Antarctica New Zealand, the Spanish Antarctic Programme and the British Antarctic Survey and the British Ecological Society. In particular, my research aims to assess long-term changes in vegetation cover in response to a changing climate and temperature thresholds for locally adapted vegetation and their acclimation potential.

Current research projects / interests:

• The past, present and future of snow algae in Antarctica: a threatened terrestrial ecosystem (NERC)
• High resolution species classification mapping of Antarctic vegetation using UAV hyperspectral imagery (NERC)

Keywords: Vegetation, Stress physiology, lichen, moss, climate change