Plant ecology and biodiversity ¶

Mountain ecosystems are biodiversity hotspots, providing habitats for numerous specialised fauna and flora that occur nowhere else. We are investigating why and by how much plant diversity in the mountains is changing – not least as a result of climate change.

Alpine areas – which are naturally treeless – occupy roughly one quarter of Switzerland. Despite the inhospitable climate at these altitudes, around 20% of all Swiss flowering plant species grow there. This is tremendous diversity, bearing in mind that extensive areas above the tree line are permanently covered by ice and rock.

So how come we find such diversity there? Well, Alpine plants are specialists in survival under extreme environmental conditions, such as cold, intense sunshine or strong wind. Furthermore, different types of rocks and a complex topography create a mosaic of small habitats, where microclimates, snow cover, wind exposure and soil properties can all change within a very small area.

Auf einer felsdurchzogenen, teils noch schneebedeckten Hochebene wächst im Vordergrund eine Gruppe Soldanella pusilla. Die kleinen Alpenglöckchen haben lila Blütenkelche, die nach unten geöffnet sind. — The snowbell (Soldanella pusilla). Image: Veronika Stöckli

Alpine plant diversity reacts particularly sensitively when land use or the climate changes – not least because the climate in Alpine and Arctic regions is heating up faster than in many other ecosystems. We are investigating the links between changes in the environment, snow and vegetation, so that our findings can help us predict which species are particularly susceptible to climate change.

Projects ¶

Nowcast and predict forest condition from TreeNet data with the help of machine learning.

A major challenge is predicting how ecosystems will respond to climate change. A key knowledge gap limiting our predictive ability is how climate alters the interactions of plants with their enemies.

This ETH-Domain ORD Program Contribute Project aims at curating and uploading the existing data of the European Long-term treeline Ecosystem Research (eLTER) site Stillberg, Switzerland, was established in to national and international ORD platforms (EnviDat, DEIMS-SDR).

In this WSL Biodiversity Centre Postdoc project, we will investigate the relationships between woody encroachment, habitat diversity and plant species diversity. Modelled vegetation height based on historical aerial stereo images, covering 40 years of woody encroachment and forest expansion, will be combined with existing biodiversity data. This allows for a spatially explicit assessment of the relationship between woody encroachment and the dynamics of habitat and plant species diversity.

In einer Pilot-Studie untersuchen wir wie die Veränderung des Klimas entlang von Höhengradienten Insektengemeinschaften beeinflusst. Dabei testen wir moderne Insektenkameras und Software, mit automatischer Vermessung und Bilderkennung.