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Research

The research group Ecological Plant Geography studies the ecology of plants from the level of the individual (Ecophysiology, funtional Ecology) to the ecosystem (community ecology, spatial ecology). We are particularly interested in studying how spatial distribution patterns of functional plant groups, e.g. epiphytes, trees, or poikilohydric plants like bryophytes, can be explained and predicted based on their physiological, physoignomical, and ecological characteristics and on biotic interactions.

Central questions include:

• Where and why do plant groups reach their distributional limits?
• How is biodiversity distributed across spatial scales?
• How do such spatial patterns change when conditions, e.g. the climate, changes?
• What role do plant-plant interactions play in determining diversity patterns and the dynamics of plant distributional boundaries? 

Our favorite study systems are located in mountains and in the tropics and include the alpine treeline, epiphytic plants and bryophytes (mosses and liverworts).

Themes and projects

Ongoing projects:

• Oak leaf traits and their interaction with the leaf microbiome, part of the Tree-M project (Postdoc: Dr. Xiangbo Yin)
• Nature-Based Solutions in the cloud-forest and paramo zones of Colombia, part of the NISANSA project (PhD student: Diana Jimenez)
• Ecology and ecophysiology of alpine treelines (several current and finished projects, PhD students/postdocs: Dr. Hannah Loranger, Nishtha Prakash, Dr. Lirey Ramirez, Lukas Flinspach)

Past projects (and researchers with status during the project):

• Large-scale vascular epiphyte diversity patterns (Postdoc: Dr. Glenda Mendieta-Leiva, PhD student: Dr. João Costa) 
• Climate-change effects on tropical bryophytes (PhD students: Elodie Moureau, Dr. Nada Nikolic)
• Bryophytes and other epiphytes in tropical lowland cloud forests (Postdoc: Dr. Monica Berdugo)
• Elevational gradients in bryophyte diversity and functional composition (PhD student: Dr. Eyvar Rodríguez)
• Climate and plant-trait effects on plant productivity and litter decomposition (PhD student: Dr. Rafaella Canessa)
• Life on a leaf: community dynamics of epiphylls (Postdoc: Dr. Anna Mezaka)
• Islands in the sky: island biogeography of epiphytes as spider habitats (Postdoc: Dr. Francisco Mendez)
• Bryophyte functional-trait relationships (Postdoc: Dr. Wang Zhe)
• Ecological roles of epiphytes in cloud-forest ecosystems (PhD student: Dr. Diana Gómez)
• Interactions among alpine plants (PhD student: Dr. Carolina García)