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Functional Plant Ecology

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Our research group aims to better understand the physiological and ecological responses of terrestrial ecosystems to global change, with a focus on anticipating and counteracting its effects.

Our key research themes are the impact of biodiversity loss on ecosystem functions and services, as well as the physiological processes of plant responses to climatic constraints such as drought and increasing temperatures and VPD.

We use novel techniques and approaches at scales going from the cell to the whole ecosystem in diverse environmental conditions in temperate, Mediterranean and tropical systems. We conduct research in controlled conditions (e.g., greenhouses and growth chambers), in manipulative experiments in natural ecosystems (e.g., drought and temperature manipulation) and use long-term national and international inventory platforms.

This integrative approach has both theoretical and applied aims to address the parameterization of climate-vegetation models and guide new climate-smart management practices.

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Projects

Abisko Long-Term Ecological Research ALTER

Setting up the ALTER experiment in Abisko, Sweden for non-destructive in situ monitoring of belowground vegetation and microbial dynamics.

Invasiveness of T. fortunei in the forests of southern Switzerland

The invasion of ecosystems by non-native species is one of the largest threats for biodiversity and ecosystem functioning worldwide. To control the spread of non-native plants, it is crucial to understand by which mechanisms they outperform native vegetation. Yet, despite the considerable applied re

Acclimation and environmental memory

Which are the main mechanisms conveying adaptation on the organ and whole tree level, how fast does acclimation occur and how long is an acclimation potential sustained?

PFF2020

Our main objective is the installation of a long-term Plant Physiological Facility for online determination of gas exchange and isotope fractionations at WSL in the 2020s.

Reconnaître les dendro-microhabitats: visite virtuelle immersive d'une forêt

Les dendro-microhabitats sont importants pour la biodiversité en forêt. Ce projet élabore un nouvel outil destiné aux gestionnaires forestiers, afin de les aider à identifier les dendro-microhabitats et connaître leurs rôles écologiques.

Root endophytic fungi and their contribution to arctic and alpine climate change feedback

Arctic and Alpine vegetation dynamics under climate change can exert a lasting impact on belowground processes and ultimately on world's largest carbon stocks. This long-term field manipulation investigates the functional significance of plant interactions with species-specific endophytic fungi.

The role of mycorrhizae in soil carbon storage of mountain ecosystems

This research project focuses on the role of mycorrhizae in the turnover of soil organic carbon in mountain ecosystems. It estimates the potential release of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere resulting from changes in above and belowground communities.

Forests under stress

In this project we will assess the physiological processes by which trees adjust and interact among each other under a changing climate, determine the consequences of these processes on forest responses to climatic stresses and improve our understanding of these effects on forests functioning at a large comprehensive scale.

MOUNTROOT

The project MOUNTROOT aims at comparing structure-function relationship in roots of two dominant herb species of pasture-woodlands in response to simulated climate change, and to integrate these below-ground insights with above-ground responses to a whole-plant framework.

Dynamics of dead wood and saproxylic insects

Dead wood is a vital prerequisite for a quarter of all organisms living in a forest. The future intensification of forest management will pose a threat to many wood inhabiting (saproxylic) insect species. In forest reserves the formation and decay process of dead wood is quantified and the importance of micro-habitats for saproxylic beetles is investigated.

Mountland

The goal of ‹Mountland› is to investigate the sensitivity of the provision of mountain ecosystem services to both climatic and land-use changes and to suggest policies and governance structures for mitigating the impact of such changes and enhancing sustainable management practices.

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Publications

Pivovaroff, A.L.; Wolfe, B.T.; McDowell, N.; Christoffersen, B.; Davies, S.; Dickman, L.T.; Grossiord, C.; Leff, R.T.; Rogers, A.; Serbin, S.P.; Wright, S.J.; Wu, J.; Xu, C.; Chambers, J.Q., 2021: Hydraulic architecture explains species moisture dependency but not mortality rates across a tropical rainfall gradient. Biotropica, 53, 4: 1213-1225. doi: 10.1111/btp.12964

Conedera, M.; Risch, A.; Grossiord, C.; Bebi, P., 2021: Research Unit Community Ecology. In: Ferretti, M.; Fischer, C.; Gessler, A. (eds), 2021: Towards an advanced inventorying and monitoring system for the Swiss forest. Towards an advanced inventorying and monitoring system for the Swiss forest, Birmensdorf. 43-44.

Trotsiuk, V.; Babst, F.; Grossiord, C.; Gessler, A.; Forrester, D.I.; Buchmann, N.; Schaub, M.; Eugster, W., 2021: Tree growth in Switzerland is increasingly constrained by rising evaporative demand. Journal of Ecology, doi: 10.1111/1365-2745.13712

Bütler, R.; Rosset, C.; Larrieu, L., 2021: Reconnaître les arbres-habitats grâce à l'application habitat.sylvotheque.ch. Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Forstwesen, 172, 4: 242-245. doi: 10.3188/szf.2021.0242

Fang, Y.; Leung, L.R.; Wolfe, B.T.; Detto, M.; Knox, R.G.; McDowell, N.G.; Grossiord, C.; Xu, C.; Christoffersen, B.O.; Gentine, P.; Koven, C.D.; Chambers, J.Q., 2021: Disentangling the effects of vapor pressure deficit and soil water availability on canopy conductance in a seasonal tropical forest during the 2015 El Niño drought. Journal of Geophysical Research D: Atmospheres, 126, 10: e2021JD035004 (20 pp.). doi: 10.1029/2021JD035004

Wang, W.; English, N.B.; Grossiord, C.; Gessler, A.; Das, A.J.; Stephenson, N.L.; Baisan, C.H.; Allen, C.D.; McDowell, N.G., 2021: Mortality predispositions of conifers across western USA. New Phytologist, 229, 2: 831-844. doi: 10.1111/nph.16864

Bütler, R.; Rosset, C.; Larrieu, L., 2021: Baummikrohabitate entdecken. Wald und Holz, 102, 5: 15-16.

Bütler, R.; Rosset, C.; Larrieu, L., 2021: Découverte ludique et utile des dendromicrohabitats. Forêt, 74, 5: 10-11.

Vust, M.; Mola Djebarri, M.; Clerc, P.; Bütler, R., 2021: Diversité des lichens et enjeux de gestion dans les forêts de Montricher. Mémoires de la Société Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles, 29: 95-122.

Silva, M.; Drollinger, F.; Morard, E.; Bütler, R., 2021: Évolution du bois mort dans les forêts de Montricher. Mémoires de la Société Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles, 29: 47-61.

Diefendorf, A.F.; Bickford, C.P.; Schlanser, K.M.; Freimuth, E.J.; Hannon, J.S.; Grossiord, C.; McDowell, N.G., 2021: Plant wax and carbon isotope response to heat and drought in the conifer Juniperus monosperma. Organic Geochemistry, 153: 104197 (12 pp.). doi: 10.1016/j.orggeochem.2021.104197

Know, protect and promote habitat trees

Habitat trees are a key component of forest biodiversity. Experts from Europe have developed a typology of tree-related microhabitats, small life-sites borne by some trees, which are indispensable for thousands of specialised organisms.

WSL fact sheet 64

2021

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Sevanto, S.; Grossiord, C.; Klein, T.; Reed, S., 2020: Editorial: Plant-soil interactions under changing climate. Frontiers in Plant Science, 11: 621235 (2 pp.). doi: 10.3389/fpls.2020.621235

Habitatbäume kennen, schützen und fördern

Habitatbäume sind eine Schlüsselkomponente der Waldbiodiversität. Fachleute aus Europa erarbeiteten eine Typologie der Lebensräume (sogenannte Baummikrohabitate), die auf Bäumen vorkommen und für Tausende von spezialisierten Lebewesen unentbehrlich sind.

Merkblatt für die Praxis 64

2020

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Connaître, conserver et promouvoir les arbres-habitats

Les arbres-habitats sont des éléments clés pour les espèces vivant en forêt. Des spécialistes européens ont élaboré une typologie détaillée des dendromicrohabitats, petits milieux de vie portés par les arbres et qui sont indispensables à des milliers d’organismes spécialisés.

Notice pour le praticien 64

2020

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Bütler, R.; Rosset, J.; Perusset, A., 2020: Nyon-St-Cergue - a case from western Switzerland. In: Krumm, F.; Schuck, A.; Rigling, A. (eds), 2020: How to balance forestry and biodiversity conservation. A view across Europe. Birmensdorf, European Forest Institute (EFI); Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL). 285-293.

Wang, W.; McDowell, N.G.; Pennington, S.; Grossiord, C.; Leff, R.T.; Sengupta, A.; Ward, N.D.; Sezen, U.U.; Rich, R.; Megonigal, J.P.; Stegen, J.C.; Bond-Lamberty, B.; Bailey, V., 2020: Tree growth, transpiration, and water-use efficiency between shoreline and upland red maple (Acer rubrum) trees in a coastal forest. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 295: 108163 (12 pp.). doi: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2020.108163

Von Freyberg, J.; Allen, Scott.T.; Grossiord, C.; Dawson, T.E., 2020: Plant and root-zone water isotopes are difficult to measure, explain, and predict: some practical recommendations for determining plant water sources. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 11, 11: 1352-1367. doi: 10.1111/2041-210X.13461

McDowell, N.G.; Allen, C.D.; Anderson-Teixeira, K.; Aukema, B.H.; Bond-Lamberty, B.; Chini, L.; Clark, J.S.; Dietze, M.; Grossiord, C.; Hanbury-Brown, A.; Hurtt, G.C.; Jackson, R.B.; Johnson, D.J.; Kueppers, L.; Lichstein, J.W.; Ogle, K.; Poulter, B.; Pugh, T.A.M.; Seidl, R.; ... Xu, C., 2020: Pervasive shifts in forest dynamics in a changing world. Science, 368, 6494: eaaz9463 (10 pp.). doi: 10.1126/science.aaz9463

Grossiord, C.; Ulrich, D.E.M.; Vilagrosa, A., 2020: Controls of the hydraulic safety-efficiency trade-off. Tree Physiology, 40, 5: 573-576. doi: 10.1093/treephys/tpaa013

20 from 76 publications

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Staff