Responses of plants and ecosystems to global environmental change
Physiological Plant Ecology
Plants are fundamental components of the earth system. Their ability to assimilate atmospheric CO2 and to transpire H2O drives the biogeochemical cycles in ecosystems and determines as such the provision of ecosystem goods and services that we as people depend on. In the Physiological Plant Ecology Group at ETH Zurich we investigate the physiological responses of plants to their environmental in order to understand how plants govern the function of ecosystems in a changing world. Our research operates at different scales that range from the leaf to the landscape level and links plant ecophysiology to plant population dynamics and ecosystem biogeochemistry.
Recent Publications
- Lack of hydraulic recovery as a cause of post-drought foliage reduction and canopy decline in European beech
Arend, Matthias; Link, Roman Mathias; Zahnd, Cedric; Hoch, Guenter; Schuldt, Bernhard; et al.
New Phytologist 10.1111/nph.18065 MAY 2022 - Mechanisms of woody-plant mortality under rising drought, CO2 and vapour pressure deficit
McDowell, Nate G.; Sapes, Gerard; Pivovaroff, Alexandria; Adams, Henry D.; Allen, Craig D.; et al.
Nature Reviews Earth & Environment 10.1038/s43017-022-00272-1 MAY 2022 - Number of growth days and not length of the growth period determines radial stem growth of temperate trees
Etzold, Sophia; Sterck, Frank; Bose, Arun K.; Braun, Sabine; Buchmann, Nina; Eugster, Werner; Gessler, Arthur; Kahmen, Ansgar; Peters, Richard L.; Vitasse, Yann; Walthert, Lorenz
Ecology Letters 10.1111/ele.13933 DEC 2021 - Effects of phenotypic variability on the oxygen and hydrogen isotope compositions of grains in different winter wheat varieties
Cueni, Florian; Nelson, Daniel B.; Kahmen, Ansgar
Isotopes In Environmental And Health Studies 10.1080/10256016.2021.2002855 NOV 2021 - TreeNet – The Biological Drought and Growth Indicator Network
Zweifel, R; Etzold, S; Basler, D; Bischoff, R; Braun, S; Buchmann, N; Conedera, M; Fonti, P; Gessler, A; Haeni, M; Hoch, G; Kahmen, A; Kochli, R; Maeder, M; Nievergelt, D; Peter, M; Peters, RL; Schaub, M; Trotsiuk, V; Walthert, L; Wilhelm, M; Eugster, W
Frontiers In Forests And Global Change 10.3389/ffgc.2021.776905 NOV 4 2021 - Climate Change Modulates Multitrophic Interactions Between Maize, A Root Herbivore, and Its Enemies
Guyer, Anouk; van Doan, Cong; Maurer, Corina; Machado, Ricardo A. R.; Mateo, Pierre; Steinauer, Katja; Kesner, Luci; Hoch, Guenter; Kahmen, Ansgar; Erb, Matthias; Robert, Christelle A. M.
Journal Of Chemical Ecology, 10.1007/s10886-021-01303-9, NOV 2021 - Metabolic exchange between pathways for isoprenoid synthesis and implications for biosynthetic hydrogen isotope fractionation
Ladd, S. Nemiah; Nelson, Daniel B.; Bamberger, Ines; Daber, L. Erik; Kreuzwieser, Juergen; et al.
New Phytologist 10.1111/nph.17510 SEP 2021 - Dynamic H-2 irrigation pulse labelling reveals rapid infiltration and mixing of precipitation in the soil and species-specific water uptake depths of trees in a temperate forest
Kahmen, Ansgar; Buser, Till; Hoch, Guenter; Grun, Georges; Dietrich, Lars
Ecohydrology 10.1002/eco.2322 SEP 2021 - Carbon isotope composition of plant photosynthetic tissues reflects a Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM) continuum in the majority of CAM lineages
Messerschmid, Thibaud F. E.; Wehling, Judith; Bobon, Nadine; Kahmen, Ansgar; Klak, Cornelia; Los, Jessica A.; Nelson, Daniel B.; dos Santos, Patricia; de Vos, Jurriaan M.; Kadereit, Gudrun
Perspectives In Plant Ecology Evolution And Systematics 10.1016/j.ppees.2021.125619 AUG 2021 - Using plant physiological stable oxygen isotope models to counter food fraud
Cueni, Florian; Nelson, Daniel B.; Boner, Markus; Kahmen, Ansgar
Scientific Reports 10.1038/s41598-021-96722-9 AUG 27 2021 - Precipitation isotope time series predictions from machine learning applied in Europe
Nelson, Daniel B.; Basler, David; Kahmen, Ansgar
Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America 10.1073/pnas.2024107118 JUN 29 2021 - Soil nutrient availability alters tree carbon allocation dynamics during drought
Schonbeck, Leonie; Li, Mai-He; Lehmann, Marco M.; Rigling, Andreas; Schaub, Marcus; Hoch, Gunter; Kahmen, Ansgar; Gessler, Arthur
Tree Physiology 10.1093/treephys/tpaa139 MAY 2021 - Rapid hydraulic collapse as cause of drought-induced mortality in conifers
Arend, Matthias; Link, Roman M.; Patthey, Rachel; Hoch, Gunter; Schuldt, Bernhard; Kahmen, Ansgar
Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America 10.1073/pnas.2025251118 APR 20 2021 - Past and future snowmelt trends in the Swiss Alps: the role of temperature and snowpack
Vorkauf, Maria; Marty, Christoph; Kahmen, Ansgar; Hiltbrunner, Erika
Climatic Change 10.1007/s10584-021-03027-x Published: APR 2021 - Flowering phenology in alpine grassland strongly responds to shifts in snowmelt but weakly to summer drought
Vorkauf, Maria; Kahmen, Ansgar; Korner, Christian; Hiltbrunner, Erika
Alpine Botany 10.1007/s00035-021-00252-z Published: APR 2021 - On the use of leaf water to determine plant water source: A proof of concept
Benettin, Paolo; Nehemy, Magali F.; Cernusak, Lucas A.; Kahmen, Ansgar; McDonnell, Jeffrey J.
Hydrological Processes 10.1002/hyp.14073 Published: MAR 2021 - Timing of drought in the growing season and strong legacy effects determine the annual productivity of temperate grasses in a changing climate
Hahn, Claudia; Luscher, Andreas; Ernst-Hasler, Sara; Suter, Matthias; Kahmen, Ansgar
Biogeosciences, 10.5194/bg-18-585-2021 JAN 27 2021 - …
Publications 2020
- A bottom-up quantification of foliar mercury uptake fluxes across Europe
Wohlgemuth, Lena; Osterwalder, Stefan; Joseph, Carl; Kahmen, Ansgar; Hoch, Gunter; et al.
Biogeosciences, 10.5194/bg-17-6441-2020 DEC 21 2020 - Drivers and dynamics of a massive adaptive radiation in cichlid fishes
Ronco, Fabrizia; Matschiner, Michael; Boehne, Astrid; Boila, Anna; Buescher, Heinz H.; El Taher, Athimed; Indermaur, Adrian; Malinsky, Milan; Ricci, Virginie; Kahmen, Ansgar; Jentoft, Sissel; Salzburger, Walter
Nature DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2930-4 NOV 2020 - Validation and calibration of soil delta H-2 and brGDGTs along (E-W) and strike (N-S) of the Himalayan climatic gradient
van der Veen, Iris; Peterse, Francien; Davenport, Jesse; Meese, Bernd; Bookhagen, Bodo; et al.
Geochimica Et Cosmochimica Acta DOI: 10.1016/j.gca.2020.09.014 DEC 1 2020 - Improving the extraction and purification of leaf and phloem sugars for oxygen isotope analyses
Lehmann, Marco M.; Egli, Melanie; Brinkmann, Nadine; Werner, Roland A.; Saurer, Matthias; et al.
Rapid Communications In Mass Spectrometry DOI: 10.1002/rcm.8854 OCT 15 2020 - Rhizosphere activity in an old-growth forest reacts rapidly to changes in soil moisture and shapes whole-tree carbon allocation
Joseph, Jobin; Gao, Decai; Backes, Bernhard; Bloch, Corinne; Brunner, Ivano; et al.
Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2014084117 OCT 2020 - Deep-rooted pigeon pea promotes the water relations and survival of shallow-rooted finger millet during drought-Despite strong competitive interactions at ambient water availability
Singh, Devesh; Mathimaran, Natarajan; Boller, Thomas; Kahmen, Ansgar
Plos One DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0228993 Published: FEB 13 2020 - Drivers and dynamics of a massive adaptive radiation in cichlid fishes
Fabrizia Ronco, Michael Matschiner, Astrid Böhne, Anna Boila, Heinz H. Büscher, Athimed El Taher, Adrian Indermaur, Milan Malinsky, Virginie Ricci, Ansgar Kahmen, Sissel Jentoft and Walter Salzburger
Nature (2020), doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2930-4 - A first assessment of the impact of the extreme 2018 summer drought on Central European forests
Schuldt B; Buras A; Arend M; Vitasse Y; Beierkuhnlein, C; Damm, A; Gharun, M; Grams, TEE; Hauck, M; Hajek, P; Hartmann, H; Hiltbrunner, E; Hoch, G; Holloway-Phillips, M; Koerner, C; Larysch, E; Lubbe, T; Nelson, DB; Rammig, A; Rigling, A; Rose, L; Ruehr, NK; Schumann, K; Weiser, F; Werner, C; Wohlgemuth, T; Zang, CS; Kahmen, A
Basic And Applied Ecology 2020, 10.1016/j.baae.2020.04.003 - Soil nutrients and lowered source:sink ratio mitigate effects of mild but not of extreme drought in trees
Schoenbeck, L; Gessler, A; Schaub, M Rigling, A; Hoch, G; Kahmen A, Li MH
Environmental And Experimental Botany, DOI: 10.1016/j.envexpbot.2019.103905 JAN 2020 - The O-18-signal transfer from water vapour to leaf water and assimilates varies among plant species and growth forms
Lehmann, MM.; Goldsmith, GR.; Mirande-Ney, C; Weigt, RB.; Schoenbeck, L; Kahmen, A; Gessler A; Siegwolf RTW; Saurer M
Plant Cell And Environment, DOI: 10.1111/pce.13682, FEB 2020 - Temperature and moisture variability in the eastern Mediterranean region during Marine Isotope Stages 11-10 based on biomarker analysis of the Tenaghi Philippon peat deposit
Ardenghi, N; Mulch, A; Koutsodendris, A; Pross, J; Kahmen, A; et al.
Quaternary Science Reviews, DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.105977, Published: DEC 1 2019 - …

Prof. Dr. Ansgar Kahmen
University of Basel
Dept of Environmental Sciences
4056 Basel
Tel: +41 (0)61 207 35 71
Links
Research topics
- The responses of plants and ecosystems to environmental change
- Biological archives as long-term indicators for the effects of environmental change on plants and ecosystems
- The effects of plant diversity for ecosystem functions
- Competition and complementary use of nutrients by plants and microbes
- Development of stable isotope tools for ecological research
Interdisciplinary
- The stable isotope composition of plant-derived biomarkers for paleohydrological research