News
Blogpost on the Herbaria Basel
Why do we keep 700’000 plants in the herbarium? Our curator and senior scientist Jurriaan de Vos published a blogpost on the history and relevance of herbaria, from a personal perspective. He explains how 400 years of plant collecting in…
2019 PPE Team Retreat - August 28-30
It has become a good tradition of our group to meet once a year for several days at the ALPFOR research station in the heart of the Swiss Alps. We used the 2019 retreat to look back at our achievements of the last year and outlined our…Article in "Le Temps" features PPE research on Swiss forest response to recent droughts
A recent article published in "Le Temps" features PPE research on the vulnerability of Swiss forests to drought events. The article highlights the important role for combinations of low rainfall and high temperature, as well as the impacts…
Livio Bätscher joins the PPE group as a new PhD student
We are pleased to welcome Livio Bätscher to the PPE group. Livio comes to our group after obtaining his MSc degree from the University of Bern. He will work with Dr Jurriaan de Vos on his recently funded SNF project PRO-Alp to explore how…Erika Hiltbrunner publishes a comment on the interpretation of foliar nitrogen isotope values in the context of a changing N cycle
PPE group research on forest sensitivity to drought featured on Telebasel
The combined effects of drought and elevated temperature during the warmest summer ever recorded in the Basel region had a large impact on the region’s forests, with widespread tree death and damage. Research in the PPE group continues to…
Snow manipulation at Furka Pass enters the 4th season
From June 12th to 15th this year's snow shoveling team (Erika, Maria, Florian, Fabian, Lawrence, and Patrick) were up on the Bidmer plateau to manipulate the snow cover. Digging 'holes' (~50 cm snow height) and piling up snow (~130 cm snow…New paper by Devesh Singh on hydraulic lift published in Plant and Soil
This work shows how a common mycorrhizal network can facilitate the transfer of hydraulically lifted water from a deep-rooted pigeon pea to shallow-rooted finger millet under drought conditions.
PPE hosts GfÖ Workshop to assess the impact of the 2018 drought on European forests
The 2018 heat wave and drought in central Europe was one of the most extreme climatic events in central Europe since instrumental climate records exist. Initiated by the Arbeitskreis Ökosystemforschung of the GfÖ…Corinne Bloch passes her master exam
Congratulations to Corinne for passing her master's exam in Plant Sciences on May 27!
2019 Botanical Field Trip to Tenerife
From May 11th to May 18th Juri, Günter and Ansgar took 12 students to the island of Tenerife to study the flora of this spectacular island. The students explored physiological adaptations of plants to an extremely high diversity of…
Marie-Louise Schärer passes her Master's exam
Congratulations to Marie-Louise Schärer for successfully passing her master’s exam on April 30th.
Jurriaan de Vos receives new SNF project funding
PRO-Alp - Plant reproduction of the alpine zone: disentangling ecological drivers of trait evolution