Tartu Ülikool - The Centre of Excellence for Basic and Applied Ecology

General description of the Centre

The centre has been established as the Centre of Ecology at the Faculty of Biology and Geography, University of Tartu. The Vegetation Remote Sensing and Boundary-Layer Energetics group from Tartu Observatory and the Sustainable Forestry group from the Estonian Agricultural University associate with the centre externally from the University of Tartu. The key research within the centre is to concentrate on two major themes — material cycling and species diversity. These two themes are tightly linked with mutual ties to bio-productivity, and because both utilise spatially organised data sets and analytical tools, their applications usually encompass important spatial dimensions.

The mission of the centre is to develop applications that support sustainable development and nature conservation in Estonia.

Short-term research goals, based on current research within individual groups, include: investigation of the scale-dependence on the formation of animal and plant diversity, inves-tigation of the carbon budget of natural and semi-natural plant communities, improvement of remote sensing methods to characterise plant communities, and the development of sustainable forestry technology in Estonia.

Applied research in the centre is based on ongoing research within the groups of the consortium. The most promising directions of the current applied research are:

Investigation of key processes and most relevant factors determining the nutrient removal efficiency of constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment and riparian buffer zones. Creation of a GIS-supported model for placing and delineating the constructed wetlands in different landscape conditions.
Providing technology for sustainable management of Estonian forests.
Conservation of endangered plant and animal species and restoration of extinct populations.
Elaboration of the optimal management regime for diverse semi-natural grasslands and methods of restoration of overgrown grassland communities.
Development systems supporting spatial decisions for analysis of regional development and regional planning in Estonia for sustainable development.
Elaboration of quantitative remote sensing methods to estimate vegetation parameters of ecological importance.