Ecosystems Biology

Anthropogenic Environmental Change – Monitoring – Ecophysiology – Nature conservation – Land use and landscape planning

Mankind has dramatically influenced the N fluxes between soil, vegetation, water and atmosphere – the global N cycle. Long-term ecological monitoring programs are fundamental to evidence-based environmental decision-making policy. An effective method for quantifying the exposure and the impact of atmospheric N-influence in ecosystems is the use of biological indicators.

Lichens, mosses and various higher plants are used as indicators. Fields of interest are forest ecosystems, heathlands and urban areas. Also different pollutant depositions of anthropogenic source are researched.  Preferably in combination with stable isotope research.

Additional methods and foci within my research interests:

• Plant sociological surveys
• Soil science surveys
• Habitat modeling and interpolations with GIS (Geostatistics)
• Answering questions related to nature conservation, restoration ecology, and sustainable land use and landscape planning.

These are four foci of my research:

Spread of Invasive alien plants
 I am particularly interested in the spread of invasive alien plant species in the context of climate change. The special focus here is currently on urban ecology and urban parks and meadows. Here we cooperate with the Umweltamt Bielefeld and with the AK Umwelt of the university.

Soil ecology
Soil ecology and especially the activity of microorganisms under changing environmental conditions (e.g. we are currently working in the devastated dead spruce forests of the Teutoburger Wald)

Plant communities on inland dunes
In cooperation with the biostations in the Bielefeld area also enables work in the field of mapping plant and animal species.

Science communication
In the last ten years, I have grown particularly fond of scientific communication and here there I cooperate with different institutions, museums and schools