Forest and Soil Ecology

The Forest and Soil Ecology Research Unit is a leading center of excellence for research on and monitoring of forest and soil functioning. We also study environmental impacts on tree growth and the reconstruction of past environmental changes. We strive for an integrative understanding of ecosystems, encompassing both above- and below-ground compartments, their functions, and interactions. 

We advance fundamental and applied understanding of how trees and ecosystems respond to global change, from natural forests to managed landscapes and urban environments. Our work supports the sustainable management and protection of ecosystems. In collaboration with our stakeholders, we develop science-based solutions to enhance ecosystem resilience and secure the diverse ecosystem services they provide to society.

Mission

We explore ecosystems from the soil to the canopy, from molecules to the globe, from seconds to millennia to build the scientific foundation for climate adaptation, nature conservation, and the provisioning of sustainable ecosystem services.

 

Examples of research infrastructures

Projects

Research Groups and Staff

Forest and Soil Ecology

Arthur Gessler

Head of Research Unit

Julia Born

Research Unit assistant

Martin Ley

Administrative specialist

Jörg Luster

Senior Scientist

Regine Maier

Administrative specialist

Elisabet Martinez Sancho

Visiting scientist

Ugo Molteni

Visiting scientist

Andreas Rigling

Visiting scientist

Ulrich Wasem

Temporary employee

Thomas Wohlgemuth

Member of Directors Board; Senior Scientist

Critical Zone Dynamics

Soil Biogeochemistry

Frank Hagedorn

Group leader

Luca Bianchi

PhD student guest

Philipp de Jong

PhD student

Ika Djukic

Visiting scientist

Jasmin Fetzer

Visiting scientist

Michael Leonardo Galli

Temporary employee

Konstantin Gavazov

Visiting scientist

Claudia Guidi

Scientific staff member

Tatiana Hirsiger

Technical staff member

Marco Lehmann

Scientific staff member

Mathias Mayer

Visiting scientist

Margaux Moreno Duborgel

Visiting scientist

Neung-Hwan Oh

Visiting scientist

Patrizia Palermo

Technical staff member

Behzad Rahimi

Technical specialist

Timo Maria Yuto Rhyner

Visiting scientist

Kathrin Salinger

Technical staff member

Patrick Schleppi

Scientific staff member

Jürg Schmid

Temporary employee

Simone Schmid

Temporary employee

Hanna Lena Sigrist

Temporary employee

Rienk Smittenberg

Scientific staff member

Tanja Stutz

Technical staff member

Anne Thimonier Rickenmann

Scientific staff member

Anne Thimonier Rickenmann

Scientific staff member

Annegret Udke

PhD student

Peter Waldner

Scientific staff member

Joachim Zhu

Technical specialist

Soil functions and dynamic

Katrin Di Bella Meusburger

Group leader

Arun Bose

Scientific staff member

Daniel Christen

Technical staff member

Andreas Dietzel

Postdoc

Louis John Graup

Postdoc

Prachi Joshi

Scientific staff member

Roger Köchli

Technical staff member

Peter Lüscher

Visiting scientist

Sonia Meller

Visiting scientist

Christoph Mullis

Technical specialist

Dennis Günther Ried

PhD student

Marco Walser

Technical staff member

Lorenz Walthert

Scientific staff member

Stephan Zimmermann

Visiting scientist

Dendrosciences

Georg von Arx

Group leader

Marçal Argelich Ninot

Scientific assistant

Mattias Barigazzi

Technical staff member

Jesper Björklund

Visiting scientist

Antoine Cabon

Visiting scientist

Paolo Cherubini

Senior Scientist

Patrick Fonti

Senior Scientist

Kai Frey

Master student

Holger Gärtner

Scientific staff member

Severin Goddon

Scientific assistant

Giulia Guidobaldi

Technical staff member

Karolina Janecka

Postdoc

Lisa Marie Yvette Jourdain

PhD student

Maurin Karzig

Master student

Marc Katzenmaier

PhD student guest

Stefan Klesse

Scientific staff member

Camille Marande

PhD student guest

Elisabet Martinez Sancho

Visiting scientist

Irene Menegaldo

PhD student guest

Rahel Maria Müller

Bachelor student

Mara Nägelin

Scientific staff member

Daniel Nievergelt

Technical staff member

Shelby Rene Peyton

Master student

Nicola Antonio Santacroce

Temporary employee

Loïc Schneider

Technical staff member

Lenka Slámová-Matéju

Visiting scientist

Simona Staub

PhD student

Nadja-Tamara Studer

Technical staff member

Kerstin Treydte

Senior Scientist

Anne Verstege

Technical staff member

Wenjin Wang

Postdoc

Functional Plant Ecology

Charlotte Grossiord

Group leader / Joint Professorship

Christoph Bachofen

Scientific staff member

Maxwell Bergström

PhD student guest

Giovanni Bortolami

Visiting scientist

Rita Bütler Sauvain

Knowledge transfer

Alexandre Buttler

Visiting scientist

Janisse Deluigi

PhD student guest

Cross Jacob Heintzelman

PhD student guest

Alyssa Kullberg

Postdoc

Sandra Levin Zürcher

Administrative staff member

Arianna Milano

Visiting scientist

Remy Xavier Perret

Master student

Philipp Schuler

Visiting scientist

Helena Vallicrosa Pou

Postdoc

LWF I

Christoph Mullis

Technical specialist

LWF II

Maria Schmitt Oehler

Visiting scientist

Ecophysiology

Marcus Schaub

Head Research Program LWF, Senior Scientist, Groupleader

William Aeberhard

Visiting scientist

Isabelle Arnold

Visiting scientist

Shiyu Deng

PhD student guest

Carlo di Bello

PhD student

Sophia Etzold

Scientific staff member

Jonas Gisler

Technical staff member

Madeleine S. Goerg-Günthardt

Visiting scientist

Rudolf Häsler

Visiting scientist

Dominik Andrin Hummel

Technical specialist

Maihe Li

Senior Scientist

Jiayu Lu

Visiting scientist

Marcus Maeder

Visiting scientist

Capucine Agathe Marion

PhD student guest

Richard Peters

Visiting scientist

Zexi Ren

PhD student guest

Jan Svoboda

Visiting scientist

Volodymyr Trotsiuk

Data Scientist

Pierre Vollenweider

Scientific staff member

Yanli Zhang

PhD student

Roman Zweifel

Scientific staff member

Ecosystem Ecology

Frank Krumm

Co-Head of Research Group a.i.

Yann Vitasse

Co-Head of Research Group a.i.

Mark Anthony

Visiting scientist

Tito Arosio

Postdoc

Mirela Beloiu Schwenke

Visiting scientist

Arun Bose

Scientific staff member

Justine Charlet de Sauvage

Visiting scientist

Liangzhi Chen

Scientific staff member

Olga Churakova

Visiting scientist

Valentin Comte

Visiting scientist

Maaike De Boer

Visiting scientist

Haoyu Diao

Scientific staff member

Luca Ferrari

Visiting scientist

Elham Freund

Scientific staff member

Matthias Haeni

IT specialist

Cecilia Franka Hofmann

PhD student

Christian Hug

Technical staff member

Stefan Hunziker

Scientific staff member

Karolina Janecka

Postdoc

Marco Lehmann

Scientific staff member

Jelle Lever

Scientific staff member

Mirko Lukovic

Scientific staff member

Vincent Masserey

PhD student guest

Achille Mauri

Scientific staff member

Yaqiong Mu

PhD student guest

Tatiana Nazarova

Temporary employee

Eugénie Paul-Limoges

Scientific staff member

Alfred Potzinger

Fieldworker / Deputy Project Manager

Nicole Quartini

Temporary employee

Martine Rebetez

Senior Scientist

Dominic James Bennett Rebindaine

PhD student

Matthias Saurer

Scientific staff member

Léonard Schneider

Visiting scientist

Pascal Schneider

PhD student

Rolf Siegwolf

Visiting scientist

Tanja Stutz

Technical staff member

Flurin Sutter

GIS specialist

Jan Svoboda

Visiting scientist

Volodymyr Trotsiuk

Data Scientist

Valentina Vitali

Visiting scientist

Manuel Walde

Visiting scientist

Micah Wilhelm

Scientific assistant

Zhaofei Wu

Postdoc

Zhongyu Xia

PhD student guest

Yongzhi Yu

PhD student

Artin Zarsav

PhD student

Jan Ziegler

Technical specialist

Prog. SwissForestLab

Yann Vitasse

Co-Head of Research Group a.i.