Miss Catherine Mercer

PhD Researcher

Biological and Environmental Sciences Stirling

Miss Catherine Mercer

Share a link

About me

About me

I'm an ecologist studying the impacts of climate change on forests and alpine plants.

The study area of my current project is the Central Mountain Range of Taiwan, where warming temperatures is facilitating the altitudinal advance of plant species upper-range limits and the upslope movement of the treeline. Increasing establishment of tree species above the treeline and greater competition with more generalist species, however, is placing many alpine plant species at risk of extinction. My project aims to determine the current distribution of alpine plant species and habitat within the Central Mountain Range of Taiwan, and to model the vulnerability of these distributions to future climate warming and treeline advance. I will work closely with the Endemic Species Research Institute (ESRI) in Taiwan, helping to inform conservation management planning. Guan-Sheng Ecosystem Ltd. is an industrial partner to this project. My project is part of the IAPETUS2 doctoral training programme, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

Outputs (2)

Outputs

Research programmes

Research centres/groups

Research themes