Plant ecology studies the interaction between plants and their environment. Ecosystem science considers life processes at the scale of whole communities of plants or even at the whole ecosystem level. Our group links plant level processes (ecophysiology) to ecosystem functioning with a special emphasis on the impact of species identity (biodiversity) on ecosystem level processes.

Carbon dioxide is the key resource for photosynthesis and dry matter production and the photosynthetic rate of C3 plants is not CO2 saturated at today’s concentration of ca. 385 ppm. As the CO2-concentration is rising rapidly and the pre-industrial concentration of ca. 280 ppm will be doubled in ca. 80 years, our group is heavily engaged in research on the consequences of CO2-enrichment for plants under as natural as possible growth conditions.

One of our main research projects is the ‘Swiss Canopy Crane Project’, which is the first trial worldwide of exposing a naturally grown mature forest to a future CO2 concentration. Results show that certain tree species reduce their water consumption under elevated CO2 and the quality of leaf and branch tissue changes, which in turn influences herbivores, including pests. Tree canopy responses are rather rapidly communicated to soil microorganisms.

At community and ecosystem level, biodiversity effects tend to overrun physiological ‘first principle‘ effects. The challenge ahead is the study and understanding of complex interactions of the various units that compose an ecosystem. Our group works in multispecies forests and grassland. Special target areas are alpine vegetation, the climatic high elevation treeline, temperate and tropical forests and grassland types from contrasting climates.

• Losing half the conductive area hardly impacts the water status of mature trees
  Dietrich, L; Hoch, G; Kahmen, A; Korner, C
  SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, 8 10.1038/s41598-018-33465-0 OCT 9 2018
• Climate and soils together regulate photosynthetic carbon isotope discrimination within C-3 plants worldwide
  Cornwell, WK; Wright, IJ; Turner, J; Maire, V; Barbour, MM; Cernusak, LA; Dawson, T; Ellsworth, D; Farquhar, GD; Griffiths, H; Keitel, C; Knohl, A; Reich, PB; Williams, DG; Bhaskar, R; Cornelissen, JHC; Richards, A; Schmidt, S; Valladares, F; Korner, C; Schulze, ED; Buchmann, N; Santiago, LS
  GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY, 27 (9):1056-1067; https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12764 SEP 2018
• Alnus shrub expansion increases evapotranspiration in the Swiss Alps
  van den Bergh, T; Korner, C; Hiltbrunner, E
  REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE, 18 (5):1375-1385; SI 10.1007/s10113-017-1246-x JUN 2018
• Low temperature limits for root growth in alpine species are set by cell differentiation 
  Nagelmueller, Sebastian; Hiltbrunner, Erika; Korner, Christian 
  AOB PLANTS, 9: 2017 Article (Details)
• Nitrogen fixation by Alnus species boosts soil nitrous oxide emissions 
  Buhlmann, T.; Caprez, R.; Hiltbrunner, E.; et al. 
  EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOIL SCIENCE, 68 (5): 740-748 SEP 2017 Article (Details)
• When meta-analysis fails: A case about stomata 
  Korner, Christian 
  GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, 23 (7): 2533-2534 JUL 2017 Letter (Details)
• A global inventory of mountains for bio-geographical applications 
  Korner, Christian; Jetz, Walter; Paulsen, Jens; et al. 
  ALPINE BOTANY, 127 (1): 1-15 APR 2017 Article (Details)
• A matter of tree longevity 
  Koerner, Christian 
  SCIENCE, 355 (6321): 130-131 JAN 13 2017 Editorial Material (Details)

• Plant Ecophysiology and Systems Ecology
• Population Ecology and Reproductive Biology
• Tropical Ecology
• Biodiversity research
• Forest ecology
• Alpine ecology

• Plant, animal, soil and climatological work
• Human dimensions of global change