News
A new paper in eco-hydrology appeared this week
In the paper we report on a study where we used deuterium labeled water to assess the infiltration of a precipitation event into a temperate forest ecosystem. We found that the label water infiltrated the system rapidly. Also, the trees…
New paper on using machine learning to model oxygen and hydrogen isotopes in precipitation published in PNAS
Dan Nelson led the study with contributions from David Basler and Ansgar Kahmen, which used a new modelling approach based on machine learning to predict monthly oxygen and hydrogen isotope values in precipitation beginning in 1950. Stable…
The Swiss research magazine Horizons published an article on our research at the Swiss Canopy Crane II site in Hölstein
Check out the article and nice photography here.
New paper on plant lipid biosynthesis and hydrogen isotope fractionation published in New Phytologist
Nemiah Ladd led this study with contributions from Dan Nelson, Ansgar Kahmen, and others, which used artificial position specific 13C-labeled pyruvate to track metabolic exchange between cytosolic and plastidial biosynthetic pathways. The…
Image of alpine roots wins SNF prize!
The image shows an astonishing diversity of root structures with different colours, thicknesses, root hairs and branching patterns. This and thousands of other images were captured as part of the 'bel-alp' project that studies root…
New paper in Climatic Change about historic and future changes in snowmelt dates in the Alps
Maria Vorkauf, Christoph Marty, Ansgar Kahmen and Erika Hiltbrunner combined manually acquired long-term time series measurements of snow depth in the Alps with newer data from automatic measurement stations above 2000 m asl to understand…
New paper in Alpine Botany about the phenology of alpine plant species
In a unique field experiment conducted in a typical alpine grassland on siliceous bedrock at 2500 m asl, Maria Vorkauf, Christian Körner, Ansgar Kahmen and Erika Hiltbrunner studied the response of alpine plant species to shifting snowmelt…
New paper in PNAS about hydraulic collapse as the cause of drought-induced mortality in conifers
Matthias Arend, Rachel Patthey, Günter Hoch, Ansgar Kahmen, and their co-authors conducted an important study on the mechanisms of tree mortality during the unprecedented Central European summer drought in 2018. The study tracked dynamic…
New paper on hydrogen isotopes from sedimentary plant waxes published in JGR Biogeosciences
Nemiah Ladd led this study with contributions from Dan Nelson and other co-authors, which examined the relationships between the hydrogen isotopic compositions of sedimentary plant waxes with those of rainfall. The study focused on placing…
News article on Bidmer/Bel-Alp project
How does climate change affect alpine grasslands? Our project in the Swiss central Alps addresses this question and is now featured in the 'Sci Five' blog of the University. The ongoing work is led by Erika Hiltbrunner and started in 2016…
New paper on elevation-specific responses of phenology in evergreen oaks published in Alpine Botany
In this study, Song-Wei Wang, Christian Körner, and their co-authors investigated the shoot phenological development and dynamic growth of Quercus pannosa trees at their low drought limit at 2510 m, upper cold limit at 4270 m, and at an…
New paper on drought responses in grasslands published in Biogeosciences
Claudia Hahn publishes important new findings on the drought responses of temperate grasslands in the current issue of Biogeosciences. The study shows for the first time that grasslands respond differently to drought in different parts of…Open position: Collections Manager / Curator for the Herbaria Basel
The Herbaria Basel at the Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel seeks a competent, experienced, and motivated Collection Manager / Curator for the herbarium of the Basel Botanical Society (acronym BASBG).
Congratulations to Florian Cueni on his PhD defense!
Florian Cueni successfully defended his PhD on December 17th. Flo’s research was directed at improving efforts to counter food fraud in agricultural products using stable isotopes, and was done in collaboration with Agroisolab GmbH in…