Department of Population Ecology

01. Biotic interactions

Biotic interactions We focus on various plant-plant, plant-soil and plant-animal interactions. Plant-plant interactions include studies dealing with intraspecific and interspecific competition. Plant-soil interactions include studies of plant associations with arbuscular mycorrhizal...

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02. Species adaptation to climate change

Species adaptation to climate change Climate change represents one of the greatest challenges for natural plant and animal populations. We study how the plants are able to face novel climatic...

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03. Ecological epigenetics

Ecological epigenetics The phenotype and behaviour of plants can be significantly influenced by the environmental conditions encountered by their antecedent generations. These influences, known as transgenerational effects, could potentially be...

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04. Conservation biology

Conservation biology Recent rapid extinction or decline of population size of many plant species is a major challenge of current ecology. Within our research we aim to tackle these threats...

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06. Plant species coexistence

Plant species coexistence Why some plant communities are locally more diverse than other communities of the same vegetation type or why local diversity changes in the face of global drivers...

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07. Ecology of polyploids

Ecology of polyploids Understanding the consequences of polyploidization is a major step in the attempt to understand species diversification. Within our research we are primarily interested in the consequences of...

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08. Landscape ecology

Landscape ecology Plant populations only rarely evolve and exist independently of their surroundings and landscape context. We study patterns of species diversity and distribution in relation to landscape characteristics such...

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09. Extant habitat types function as harbors of evolutionary heritage

Extant habitat types function as harbors of evolutionary heritage Habitats within regions are important for the maintenance of past diversification of plants, possibly no less important than different climatic zones. By...

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10. Scaling plant hydrodynamic function

Scaling plant hydrodynamic function Plants must acquire and move sufficient water resources to sustain carbon capture for photosynthesis. Small-scale plant hydraulic processes constrain plant evolution and mediate large-scale exchanges of...

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