Plant Ecology
and Global
Change
In the Plant Ecology and Global Change group, we are interested
in how ecological communities respond to global change drivers.
We seek to understand how intra- and interspecific diversity
separately or interactively shape plant community stability and functioning in changing and deteriorating environments.
We use experiments and observational data to we assess how biodiversity relates to the future of plant populations under global change.
We are using an interdisciplinary approach in which we blend plant community ecology and forest ecology with ecological genomics and remote sensing tools.
The team
Dr. Sofia van Moorsel (Group Leader)
Sofia's current research combines common garden experiments, remote sensing and genomic analyses to investigate the impact of global change on forests. She is an ecologist interested in biodiversity both within and between species and how they drive community stability and functioning.
Ting is an ecologist fascinated by how forest biodiversity shapes ecosystems. She believes research shouldn’t end with a scientific paper. It should reach people, inform decisions, and help turn knowledge into action.
Madi is a PhD student whose research focuses on how European beech trees are responding to a changing climate, integrating remote sensing (LiDAR, leaf spectroscopy, optical satellite imagery), genomic, and chemical ecology. Her main interests lie in understanding how a changing climate is reshaping our landscapes and how we can better adapt to these changes.
Dom is using remote sensing to discover genetic variation in drought responses in European beech. She has a lot of experience in both genomics and metabolomics and is supporting several projects that rely on such expertise.
Alina Biegger
Alina is doing her BSc thesis on first year establishment of European beech from across Europe during a record-breaking heat and drought year. Alina is also supporting field campaigns as a research assistant.
Former team members:
Anna Lea Hürzeler (B.Sc. student and research assistant, 2025 – 2026)
Vanessa Schnellmann (M.Sc. student, 2024 – 2025)
Bryan Mäder (B.Sc. student, 2025)
Natalie Bilen (M.Sc. student, 2024 – 2025)
Haruka Sano (Visiting Ph.D. student, 2024/2025)
Lara Zeltner (B.Sc. student and research assistant, 2024)
Dave Kurath (M.Sc. student and research assistant, 2023 – 2024)
Jolanda Klaver (M.Sc. student, 2023)
Sofia Vámos (MSc student, 2021–2022)
Katia Pfister (research intern, 2022)
Lorena Lanthemann (research intern, 2021)
Interested in joining us?
We welcome students to join us for Bachelor's and Master's theses or research internships. We are happy to discuss any topic that align with your interests and our group’s vision.
Feel free to contact us at:
The Plant Ecology and Global Change group is part of the
Spatial Genetics of Ecosystems professorship led by Meredith C. Schuman.
