Junior-Professorship Plant Ecology

Our research encompasses questions related to basic and applied plant ecology. In particular, our scientific interest is directed towards the areas

• Dispersal Biology
• Biogeography
• Population Biology
• Functional Ecology
• Biodiversity and Conservation

An important issue is the compilation of a Dispersal and Diaspore Database (www.d3-db.de). Within these areas, we are concentrating on European flora and vegetation especially that that of the Alps and started recently to work on African plants. Experimental work on functional ecology is focussing on grasses (Poaceae). Depending on the questions to be answered, investigations take place at variable spatial and temporal scales. Methodical focal points are experimental applications such as laboratory experiments, green house- and ‘common garden' trials, as well as methods of ecological modelling, the latter building a central component of my research. Here I utilize process-based models, as well as statistical models. In addition, empirical field research is combined with GIS-analyses and macro-ecological evaluations of ecological, floral- and vegetation-oriented databases, often in order to address bio-geographical issues.