A5034119075- Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Remote Sensing in Agriculture
- Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
- Leaf Properties and Growth Measurement
- Plant and animal studies
- Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies
- Land Use and Ecosystem Services
- Fire effects on ecosystems
- Greenhouse Technology and Climate Control
- Rangeland and Wildlife Management
- Soil erosion and sediment transport
- Economic and Environmental Valuation
- Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior
- Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology
- Organic Food and Agriculture
- Climate variability and models
- Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology
Leipzig University
2019-2025
German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research
2019-2025
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research
2024
Friedrich Schiller University Jena
2024
Humans modify ecosystems and biodiversity worldwide, with negative consequences for ecosystem functioning. Promoting plant diversity is increasingly suggested as a mitigation strategy. However, our mechanistic understanding of how affects the heterotrophic consumer communities remains limited. Here, we disentangle relative importance key components drivers herbivore, predator, parasitoid species richness in experimental forests grasslands. We find that effects on are consistently positive...
Abstract Climate extremes are on the rise. Impacts of extreme climate and weather events ecosystem services ultimately human well‐being can be partially attenuated by organismic, structural, functional diversity affected land surface. However, ongoing transformation terrestrial ecosystems through intensified exploitation management may put this buffering capacity at risk. Here, we summarize evidence that reductions in biodiversity destabilize functioning facing extremes. We then explore if...
Long-term research in grassland biodiversity experiments has provided empirical evidence that ecological and evolutionary processes are intertwined determining both biodiversity–ecosystem functioning (BEF) biodiversity–stability relationships. Focusing on plant diversity, we hypothesize multifunctional stability is highest high-diversity communities relationships increase over time due to a variety of forms complementarity including the interaction with other biota above below ground. We...
Abstract Soil is central to the complex interplay among biodiversity, climate, and society. This paper examines interconnectedness of soil climate change, societal impacts, emphasizing urgent need for integrated solutions. Human‐induced biodiversity loss change intensify environmental degradation, threatening human well‐being. Soils, rich in vital ecosystem function regulation, are highly vulnerable these pressures, affecting nutrient cycling, fertility, resilience. also crucially regulates...
Abstract Canopy structure is an important driver of the energy budget grassland ecosystem and is, at same time, altered by plant diversity. Diverse communities typically have taller more densely packed canopies than less diverse communities. With this, they absorb radiation, a higher transpiring leaf surface are better coupled to atmosphere which leads cooler canopy surfaces. However, whether diversity generally translates into cooling potential remains unclear lacks empirical evidence....
Abstract The significance of biological diversity as a mechanism that optimizes niche breadth for resource acquisition and enhancing ecosystem functionality is well‐established. However, significant gap remains in exploring temporal breadth, particularly the context phenological aspects community dynamics. This study takes unique approach by examining plant phenology, which has traditionally been focused on above‐ground assessments, delving into relatively unexplored realm below‐ground...
Phenological changes are key indicators of climate change. While most studies focus on individual species, plant macrophenology examines large-scale patterns and processes in the timing life cycle events, such as flowering, across extensive spatial temporal scales. Traditional methods often struggle to capture complexity these patterns. To address this, we developed a pioneering methodological approach using nonlinear dimension reduction [1], which effectively extracts spatio-temporal from...
Microclimate ecology conveys fundamental information about how organisms react to and feedback influence climate change. Evidence shows that vegetation its spatial variation modify microclimate temperature relative humidity, mediating thermal regulation energy exchange with the atmosphere by affecting vapour pressure deficit (VPD) [2]. This process influences crucial eco-physiological processes such as carbon capture,  nutrient cycling, flower visitation, promoting ecosystem...
Increasing plant diversity commonly enhances standing biomass and other ecosystem functions (i.e., carbon fluxes, water use efficiency, herbivory). The is correlated with vegetation volume, which describes allocation within a complex canopy structure. As the structure of communities not static throughout time, it expected that its changes also control effects on functioning. Yet, most studies are based one or two measures function per year. Here, we examine temporal grassland structural...
Abstract Vertical leaf angles and their variation through time are directly related to several ecophysiological processes properties. However, there is no efficient method for tracking of plant canopies under field conditions. Here, we present AngleCam, a deep learning‐based approach predict angle distributions from horizontal photographs acquired with low‐cost timelapse cameras. AngleCam based on pattern recognition convolutional neural networks trained obtained visual interpretation more...
Climate extremes are on the rise. Impacts of extreme climate and weather events ecosystem services ultimately human well-being can be partially attenuated by organismic, structural, functional diversity affected land surface. However, ongoing transformation terrestrial ecosystems through intensified exploitation management may put this buffering capacity at risk. Here, we summarise evidence that reductions in biodiversity destabilise functioning facing extremes. We then explore if impaired...
Vertical leaf angles and their temporal variation are directly related to multiple ecophysiological environmental processes properties. However, there is no efficient method for tracking of plant canopies under field conditions.Here, we present AngleCam, a estimate angle distributions from horizontal photographs acquired with timelapse cameras deep learning. The AngleCam pattern recognition model based on convolutional neural networks was trained obtained visual interpretation more than 2500...