Research interests

I am a plant ecologist with a strong interest in how plant species and communities respond to changing environmental conditions, especially to climate change.

My Master thesis aimed at answering the question from which depth co-occurring plant species in semi-natural grasslands take their water from. A question that currently gains in importance due to climate change altering the hydrological conditions of soil. We tried to answer this question by using hydrogen and oxygen stable isotopes of plant and soil water. Under ambient conditions we found evidence of belowground niche partitioning regarding water as a resource. Additionally, we compared the water-uptake depths under ambient conditions to the uptake depths under extreme drought conditions and observed that, even though all species shifted to shallower soil layers, belowground niche partitioning was maintained.

Education

• Since April 2022: PhD student in the Ecology Group of Prof. Dr. Sabine Rumpf at University of Basel (CH)
• Oct 2019 – Aug 2021: Master of Science in Evolution and Ecology at Eberhard Karls University Tübingen (DE)
• 2020: Erasmus Studies at the University of Uppsala (SE)
• Oct 2016 – Oct 2019: Bachelor of Science in Biology at Eberhard Karls University Tübingen (DE)

Grants & Awards

2023 - Arctic Field Grant for the project "Re-surveying historical vegetation records in Svalbard" (RiS ID 12081; 100.000 NOK)