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Dynamic Macroecology

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The dynamic macroecology group studies different aspects of ecology on large spatial and temporal scales, from the Pleistocene to the Anthropocene, related to the question

“How do species and their traits change in space and time, particularly with global change?”

We explore

the current and past distributions of species or functional groups and their traits and niches

the effect of climate and other factors on biodiversity
the spatio-temporal dynamics of plant (particularly tree) species and their ranges interacting with the environment, ecophysiology, population dynamics, species migration and climate and land-use change

the evolution in time and geographical space of species niches and traits and biological communities and assemblages

Main methods we develop and work with

climate (change) data scaling and provision

dynamic ecological models
model scaling
statistical methods in ecology, e.g., species distribution models, phylogenetic comparative methods, trait analyses

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Projects

Adhoris

We will provide an overview where and how high resolution, kilometer scale, climate data can provide new insights from climate change impact models. To do so, we will use a set of climate impact models across several sectors, ranging from dynamic vegetation, to hydrology, or biodiversity models.

EMERGE - Extreme droughts in mountain regions

EMERGE will investigate the impacts of historic megadroughts on water fluxes and ecosystems in mountain regions, and use this knowledge to develop stress-test scenarios for a possible future megadrought in the Swiss Alps.

Blue-green conservation design

This project contributes to the Blue Green Biodiversity Research Initiative - an Eawag-WSL collaboration focusing on Biodiversity at the interface of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.

A range-wide transplant experiment using participatory science and genomic prediction

Mikroklimatische Veränderungen beeinflussen Artenvielfalt

Wie wirkt sich die Klimaerwärmung auf die Artenvielfalt in der Schweiz aus? Die Veränderungen des bodennahen Mikroklimas liefern neue Einsichten.

Feedbacks between Biodiversity and Climate

Despite being an essential element of the biodiversity and climate change crisis, the feedback between biodiversity and climate remains an understudied subject in biodiversity and climate science. The project FeedBaCks will focus on this important interaction between the two disciplines.

CHELSA

CHELSA (Climatologies at high resolution for the earth's land surface areas) is a very high resolution (30 arc sec, ~1km) global climate data set currently hosted by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL.

Global blue-green richness differences

This project contributes to the Blue Green Biodiversity Research Initiative - an Eawag-WSL collaboration focusing on Biodiversity at the interface of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.

COMECO

The proposed project will focus on floristic data from Switzerland as a pilot system to study the benefits of combining machine learning techniques with spatially explicit ecological and morphological meta information to identify species identities from pictures.

DeSeFoM

Oriental beech (Fagus orientalis) for assisted migration?

We assess the drought response of European and oriental across different life stages by taking advantage of existing Oriental beech plantations in France, Germany and Switzerland.

ClimEx

Climatic extremes such as droughts, heat waves, and late frost events, are predicted to increase with ongoing climate change and are therefore of primary concern for environmental research. We will develop such data on extreme climatic events on a global scale from 1950-2100.

FutureWeb

FutureWeb will integrate predictive biogeography, geography, biostatistics and trophic web ecology to derive an ensemble of scenarios of the impact of global change on multi-trophic vertebrate biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and the provision of ecosystem services in Europe.

Simulating dynamics and spread of vegetation and interacting species

The spatio-temporal DGVM LPJ-GM is extended with modules for dynamics and spread of interacting species and tested in case studies with different interactors

FORClimateS

The project aims to aggregate and synthesize existing information on different spatial and temporal scales to provide decision-makers with relevant and robust information on short- and long-term risks for forests and forest functions and on adaptation strategies under different climate futures

Ecology of Interactions

Hummingbird-plant interactions across elevation gradients in Central and South America

Joint models in biodiversity modeling

This project aims to evaluate advantages and potential pitfalls of JSDMs in biodiversity modeling

Automatisierte Erfassung invasiver Neophyten an Autobahnen

Highways are important corridors for the spread of invasive species. In this project, an automated detection and mapping of invasive alien plant species based on artificial intelligence (Deep Learning) and computer vision was developed and applied on highways of the Swiss Central Plateau.

Photoperiod and ciracian clocks - effects on adaptation and acclimation

Do evolutionary constraints on photoperiod and circadian clocks hinder adaptation and acclimation of plants to climate change? With this project, we will provide the mechanistic basis and a conceptual framework to understand how climatic and daylight/photoperiod cues jointly affects tree functioning.

Can all agriculture in Europe changed to organic production?

What happens when all agriculture in Europe is changed to organic production? This project investigates how the transition to organic production can be made and at a truly European scale combining 11 universities and 15- multi actors from 9 EU countries and 3 associated countries.

SpeedMind

The SpeedMind project will focuses on floristic data from Switzerland as a pilot system to set up and study the benefits of data-mining and machine learning techniques for facilitating biodiversity assessments.

DEForScen

Current plastic response of plants to climate change may be reflected by tree health. We investigate tree health data collected on ca. 6000 plots across Europe since the 1980s to figure out whether changes and trends in defoliation permit to identify species-specific response to climate change.

HYDRO-CH2018 "Forhycs-Ice"

In the project FORHYCS-ICE, ("Forest, Glacier and Hydrology Change in Switzerland"), we aim at providing the first holistic simulations of climate impacts (CH2018 scenarios) on water resources, glaciers and forests.

Tree species migration in DGVMs

Combining very efficient methods for simulation of seed dispersal and for local vegetation dynamics allows for large scale spatiotemporal vegetation dynamics simulations in DGVMs

Shiny Server

The R package "Shiny" offers a simple web application framework for R. Within this internal project we use a dedicated Shiny server to evaluate the capability of web-based Shiny applications for existing work processes and projects at WSL.

ClimSens - Climate Sensitivity of plants and animals in Switzerland

This project assesses the sensitivity of (mostly) plant and animal species to expected climatic changes.

STACCATO

STACCATO is a BiodivERsA project carried out in collaboration with 10 European Institutions and investigates direct effects of climate and land-use change on biodiversity, as well as indirect effects on ecosystem services.

FORHYCS

A hydrological model is coupled to a forest model to better assess the influence of changing drivers to forests and the hydrological cycle

Forest dynamics in Switzerland - pattern, driving forces and ecological implications

Aim of the project is the reconstruction of forest changes in Switzerland (since 1840) and Canton of Zurich (since 1667) to study forest dynamics and search for transition processes.

FORECOM Forest cover changes in mountainous regions

In the Polish-Swiss joint research project Forecom we will analyze historical forest cover changes and their drivers in the Carpatians and Alps. We will develop scenarios of potential future forest cover changes and assess the impact of past and future changes on key ecosystem services.

Biodiversität und Raumentwicklung

Das Projekt «Biodiversität und Raumentwicklung» untersucht Zusammenhänge zwischen Biodiversität und Raumentwicklung auf Landschaftsebene. Die Resultate sind kartographisch dargestellt und können zur Visualisierung von Szenarien der Landschaftsentwicklung eingesetzt werden.

Revision of the Red List of fern and vascular plants

The accessory study of the revision of the red list of fern and vascular plants aims to evaluate the practicability of using statistical methods as a tool for revisions and quality control of red lists.

The need for high resolution

The goal of this project is to provide current and scenario climate grids of resolutions adequate for ecological studies and applications.

Genetic Variation

Die Klimerwärmung dürfte den Wald auf vielen Standorten unter Stress setzen. Wir untersuchen, ob die genetische Variation der Waldbäume es ihnen erlaubt, sich an den Klimawandel anzupassen. Wir fokussieren dabei auf die drei häufigsten Baumarten in Schweizer Wäldern, die Fichte, die Tanne und die Buche.

Bark Beetle Modeling

The most important forest insect in Europe, i.e. the bark beetle Ips typographus, is likely to become even more important with climate change. In this project, we evaluate the driving factors of recent bark beetle infestations by means of statistical modeling and develop bark beetle population and tree susceptibility models for infestation risk analysis.

Waldausdehnung

Ziel des Projektes ist es, zu verbesserten Grundlagen für die politische Lenkung der Waldflächenzunahme im Schweizer Berggebiet beizutragen.

TreeMig

A spatio-temporal forest modelled has been developed to simulate forest dynamics and species migration under a changing climate.

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Publications

Lembrechts, J.J.; Van den Hoogen, J.; Aalto, J.; Ashcroft, M.B.; De Frenne, P.; Kemppinen, J.; Kopecký, M.; Luoto, M.; Maclean, I.M.D.; Crowther, T.W.; Descombes, P.; Frei, E.R.; Meusburger, K.; Pellissier, L.; Pitteloud, C.; Risch, A.C.; Rixen, C.; Wipf, S.; Zellweger, F.; Lenoir, J., 2022: Global maps of soil temperature. Global Change Biology, doi: 10.1111/gcb.16060

Scherrer, D.; Bürgi, M.; Gessler, A.; Kessler, M.; Nobis, M.P.; Wohlgemuth, T., 2022: Abundance changes of neophytes and native species indicate a thermophilisation and eutrophisation of the Swiss flora during the 20th century. Ecological Indicators, 135: 108558 (11 pp.). doi: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.108558

Villarroya-Villalba, L.; Casanelles-Abella, J.; Moretti, M.; Pinho, P.; Samson, R.; Van Mensel, A.; Chiron, F.; Zellweger, F.; Obrist, M.K., 2021: Response of bats and nocturnal insects to urban green areas in Europe. Basic and Applied Ecology, 51: 59-70. doi: 10.1016/j.baae.2021.01.006

Malle, J.; Rutter, N.; Webster, C.; Mazzotti, G.; Wake, L.; Jonas, T., 2021: Effect of forest canopy structure on wintertime Land Surface Albedo: evaluating CLM5 simulations with in‐situ measurements. Journal of Geophysical Research D: Atmospheres, 126, 9: e2020JD034118 (15 pp.). doi: 10.1029/2020JD034118

König, C.; Wüest, R.O.; Graham, C.H.; Karger, D.N.; Sattler, T.; Zimmermann, N.E.; Zurell, D., 2021: Scale dependency of joint species distribution models challenges interpretation of biotic interactions. Journal of Biogeography, 48: 1541-1551. doi: 10.1111/jbi.14106

Haesen, S.; Lembrechts, J.J.; De Frenne, P.; Lenoir, J.; Aalto, J.; Ashcroft, M.B.; Kopecký, M.; Luoto, M.; Maclean, I.; Nijs, I.; Zellweger, F.; Van Meerbeek, K., 2021: ForestTemp – sub‐canopy microclimate temperatures of European forests. Global Change Biology, 27, 23: 6307-6319. doi: 10.1111/gcb.15892

De Pauw, K.; Meeussen, C.; Govaert, S.; Sanczuk, P.; Vanneste, T.; Bernhardt‐Römermann, M.; Bollmann, K.; Brunet, J.; Calders, K.; Cousins, S.A.O.; Diekmann, M.; Hedwall, P.; Iacopetti, G.; Lenoir, J.; Lindmo, S.; Orczewska, A.; Ponette, Q.; Plue, J.; Selvi, F.; ... De Frenne, P., 2021: Taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity of understorey plants respond differently to environmental conditions in European forest edges. Journal of Ecology, 109, 7: 2629-2648. doi: 10.1111/1365-2745.13671

De Lombaerde, E.; Vangansbeke, P.; Lenoir, J.; Van Meerbeek, K.; Lembrechts, J.; Rodríguez-Sánchez, F.; Luoto, M.; Scheffers, B.; Haesen, S.; Aalto, J.; Christiansen, D.M.; De Pauw, K.; Depauw, L.; Govaert, S.; Greiser, C.; Hampe, A.; Hylander, K.; Klinges, D.; Koelemeijer, I.; ... De Frenne, P., 2021: Maintaining forest cover to enhance temperature buffering under future climate change. Science of the Total Environment, 151338 (9 pp.). doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151338

De Frenne, P.; Lenoir, J.; Luoto, M.; Scheffers, B.R.; Zellweger, F.; Aalto, J.; Ashcroft, M.B.; Christiansen, D.M.; Decocq, G.; De Pauw, K.; Govaert, S.; Greiser, C.; Gril, E.; Hampe, A.; Jucker, T.; Klinges, D.H.; Koelemeijer, I.A.; Lembrechts, J.J.; Marrec, R.; ... Hylander, K., 2021: Forest microclimates and climate change: importance, drivers and future research agenda. Global Change Biology, 27, 11: 2279-2297. doi: 10.1111/gcb.15569

Chalmandrier, L.; Hartig, F.; Laughlin, D.C.; Lischke, H.; Pichler, M.; Stouffer, D.B.; Pellissier, L., 2021: Linking functional traits and demography to model species-rich communities. Nature Communications, 12: 2724 (9 pp.). doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-22630-1

Casanelles-Abella, J.; Chauvier, Y.; Zellweger, F.; Villiger, P.; Frey, D.; Ginzler, C.; Moretti, M.; Pellissier, L., 2021: Applying predictive models to study the ecological properties of urban ecosystems: a case study in Zürich, Switzerland. Landscape and Urban Planning, 214: 104137 (13 pp.). doi: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2021.104137

Karger, D.N.; Wilson, A.M.; Mahony, C.; Zimmermann, N.E.; Jetz, W., 2021: Global daily 1 km land surface precipitation based on cloud cover-informed downscaling. Scientific Data, 8, 1: 307 (18 pp.). doi: 10.1038/s41597-021-01084-6

Caron, M.M.; Zellweger, F.; Verheyen, K.; Baeten, L.; Hédl, R.; Bernhardt-Römermann, M.; Berki, I.; Brunet, J.; Decocq, G.; Díaz, S.; Dirnböck, T.; Durak, T.; Heinken, T.; Jaroszewicz, B.; Kopecký, M.; Lenoir, J.; Macek, M.; Malicki, M.; Máliš, F.; ... De Frenne, P., 2021: Thermal differences between juveniles and adults increased over time in European forest trees. Journal of Ecology, 109, 11: 3944-3957. doi: 10.1111/1365-2745.13773

Meeussen, C.; Govaert, S.; Vanneste, T.; Bollmann, K.; Brunet, J.; Calders, K.; Cousins, S.A.O.; De Pauw, K.; Diekmann, M.; Gasperini, C.; Hedwall, P.; Hylander, K.; Iacopetti, G.; Lenoir, J.; Lindmo, S.; Orczewska, A.; Ponette, Q.; Plue, J.; Sanczuk, P.; ... De Frenne, P., 2021: Microclimatic edge-to-interior gradients of European deciduous forests. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 311: 108699 (12 pp.). doi: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2021.108699

Jinga, P.; Liao, Z.; Nobis, M.P., 2021: Species distribution modeling that overlooks intraspecific variation is inadequate for proper conservation of marula (Sclerocaryabirrea, Anacardiaceae). Global Ecology and Conservation, 32: e01908 (11 pp.). doi: 10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01908

Benedetti, F.; Vogt, M.; Hofmann Elizondo, U.; Righetti, D.; Zimmermann, N.E.; Gruber, N., 2021: Major restructuring of marine plankton assemblages under global warming. Nature Communications, 12, 1: 5226 (15 pp.). doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-25385-x

Moos, C.; Guisan, A.; Randin, C.F.; Lischke, H., 2021: Climate change impacts the protective effect of forests: a case study in Switzerland. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 4: 682923 (15 pp.). doi: 10.3389/ffgc.2021.682923

Wan, J.; Wang, C.; Zimmermann, N.E.; Li, M.; Pouteau, R.; Yu, F., 2021: Current and future plant invasions in protected areas: does clonality matter?. Diversity and Distributions, 27, 12: 2465-2478. doi: 10.1111/ddi.13425

De Lutio, R.; She, Y.; D'Aronco, S.; Russo, S.; Brun, P.; Wegner, J.D.; Schindler, K., 2021: Digital taxonomist: identifying plant species in community scientists’ photographs. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 182: 112-121. doi: 10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2021.10.002

Chauvier, Y.; Zimmermann, N.E.; Poggiato, G.; Bystrova, D.; Brun, P.; Thuiller, W., 2021: Novel methods to correct for observer and sampling bias in presence-only species distribution models. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 30, 11: 2312-2325. doi: 10.1111/geb.13383

20 from 496 publications

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