The synchronization between supply and demand of resources in temperate forests is vital to ensure the optimal and sustainable functioning of these ecosystems. This project aims to understand how global warming is disrupting interactions between above- and below-ground organisms.
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?
Future climate change will have drastic effects on mountain forests. We will analyse ancient DNA preserved in natural archives to reconstruct the impact of past rapid climate change on the neutral and adaptive genetic diversity of trees.
In Europe, the Ash Dieback disease caused by Hymenoscyphus fraxineus has led to high mortality rates of common ash. We analyze how radial growth and wood anatomical parameters influence the disease progression in trees.
Extreme climate events are expected to become more frequent with climate warming. We test genetic differentiation in resistance to late frost and drought in silver fir populations planted in the 1980s in Swizterland and abroad.
Our aim is to estimate Swiss forest net ecosystem productivity (NEP) at monthly or seasonal resolution for each individual year in order to link biomass changes over time with global drivers.
To improve our assessment of ozone effects on forest ecosystems, we advocate the need (i) for further experimental and long-term monitoring studies and (ii) to develop physiological and demographic modelling tools.
