Chair of Ecosystem Physiology

Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources

Chair of Ecosystem Physiology

Abkürzung der Fakultät für Umwelt und Natürliche Ressourcen "unr" in der Farbe sand auf grünem, kreisförmigen Hintergrund

At the Chair of Ecosystem Physiology, we study various physiological factors in plants like fluxes of water and CO₂, chlorophyll fluorescence or the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Our research methods comprise examinations in green houses, climate chambers, in the field and of course in the lab. All those data help us understand the condition of individual plants regarding health and stress under certain circumstances and allow conclusions on the status of whole ecosystems.

News

Conference

ECOSENSE Konferenz

June 2025
The CRC ECOSENSE cordially invites you to join the international ECOSENSE conference from September, 29^thto October, 1^st 2025 in Freiburg, the “green” city in Southern Germany. Further information can be found on the ECOSENSE website.

Award

Landesforschungspreis Baden-Württemberg

July 2024
Prof. Christiane Werner is awarded with the most highly endowed state research prize (Landesforschungspreis Baden-Württemberg) for her fundamental research on plant stress physiology. The prize will be officially conferred on the 22.10. in Stuttgart.

Award

Sattelmühle Foundation

September 2023
Stefanie Dumberger is awarded with the funding prize of the Sattelmühle Foundation for her Master’s thesis. The foundation honors qualitatively outstanding and exceptionally innovative achievements in the field of forestry sciences.

Research

Our research focus and current projects.

Teaching

Our course offerings and information about final theses.

Publications

Overview of our publications, conference presentations, media contributions and more.

ECOSENSE (SFB 1537)

Multi-scale quantification and modelling of spatio-temporal dynamics of ecosystem processes by smart autonomous sensor networks

Global climate change threatens ecosystem functioning worldwide. Forest ecosystems are particularly important for carbon sequestration. However, recurrent stresses increasingly endanger even central European forests, with potentially cascading effects on their carbon sink capacity, drought resilience, and sustainability. Our interdisciplinary research project ECOSENSE investigates critical changes in ecosystem function and develops an autonomous sensor network to monitor processes in remote forest areas.

Phytoakmeter

The role of priming for abiotic and biotic stress responses in oak

Using clonal oak phytometers, the DFG and SNF funded research unit Phytoakmeter aims to unravel acclimation and adaptation mechanisms of long-lived forest tree holobionts to ecological variations and climate change. The objective of subproject 3, which is situated in Freiburg, is to improve our mechanistic understanding of the ecophysiological responses of the oak holobiont to re-current drought stress. In addition, the effect of abiotic stress on subsequent biotic stress by above- and belowground herbivory will be elucidated.