News
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…
Article about Livio Bätscher's PhD in local newspaper "Bürglen TELL ME"
In his PhD Livio is working with huge genetic datasets, this article (in German) nicely describes his project between the Swiss Alps and computer work.Open PhD position in Stable Isotope Physiology
The PPE group seeks a PhD candidate for this 3-year project to start in early spring.
Congratulations to Maria Vorkauf on her PhD defense!
Maria Vorkauf successfully defended her PhD on November, 26th. We congratulate her on her transdisciplinary thesis on the ecological and economic consequences of shifting snowmelt dates and summer drought in the Alps (funded by Mercator…
Dr. Nemiah Ladd awarded SNSF Eccellenza Professorial Fellowship
Dr. Ladd will join the Environmental Sciences Department, and work in partial collaboration with the PPE group. Her project will use stable isotopes in lipid biomarkers and other methods to examine changes in algal ecology and productivity…
Alessandro Gregori joins PPE group as a lab technician
Alessandro Gregori has recently joined the PPE group as a lab technician in the stable isotope lab. He comes to us after recently working at WSL, and will assist with lab operations for the next six months approximately.
A new paper that appeared in PNAS this month reveals strong effects of soil water availability on carbon transport in mature trees
Dry soils can significantly reduce the transport of carbon assimilates from the canopy to roots in trees. A new publication in PNAS describes the result of a large-scale 13C-labelling experiment with mature Scotts pine trees at the…