Dr. Mirjam Meischner

• Since November 2025
  Post Doc, Chair for Ecosystem Physiology, University Freiburg
  
• October 2021 – November 2025
  Doctoral candidate, Chair for Ecosystem Physiology, University Freiburg
  
• October 2023 – March 2024
  Guest researcher at the Institute of Environmental Simulation, Helmholtz Munich, Germany (Prof. Jörg-Peter Schnitzler)
  
• 2018-2021
  Master of Science in Environmental Sciences, University of Freiburg (1. Semester at the Justus-Liebig University Gießen, Germany) -“Impact of Shrub Encroachment on Soil Respiration and Soil Volatile Organic Carbon (VOC) Emission in a Mediterranean Cork Oak Ecosystem”
  
• 2017
  Internship at the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Frick, Switzerland
  
• 2015
  Exchange student at the Universidad Austral de Chile (UACh), Valdivia, Chile
  
• 2013 – 2017
  Bachelor of Science in Environmental Sciences, University of Freiburg – “Entleert die Buchenverjüngung den Vorrat an verfügbarem Phosphor im Boden?”
  

During my dissertation at the Chair of Ecosystem Physiology (2021-2025), I investigated the release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from roots and shoots of temperate forest trees as a defense mechanism to biotic and abiotic stressors. My research focuses on the effect of environmental stress on VOC emissions, gas exchange (photosynthesis, respiration, transpiration), and carbon allocation in trees, and the function of VOCs in mediating plant–plant interactions above- and belowground. For my studies, I employ proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry and stable isotope tracer experiments.

• Daber, L. E., Nolte, P., Kreuzwieser, J., Meischner, M., Williams, J., & Werner, C. (2025). “Position-Specific Isotope Labelling Gives New Insights into Chiral Monoterpene Synthesis of Norway Spruce (Picea Abies L.)”. Environmental and Experimental Botany 238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envexpbot.2025.106238
• Meischner, M., S. Haberstroh, J. Kreuzwieser, et al. (2025). “ Localized Response of De Novo Terpenoid Emissions Through the Jasmonate Signaling Cascade in Two Main European Tree Species.” Physiologia Plantarum 177, no. 4: e70432. https://doi.org/10.1111/ppl.70432
• Meischner M., Dumberger, S., Daber L.E., Haberstroh S., Kreuzwieser J., Schnitzler J.-P., Werner C. (2024) Jasmonic acid and heat stress induce high volatile organic compound emissions in Picea abies from needles, but not from roots. Tree Physiology. doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpae059
• Frey Y., Haberstroh S., Meischner M., Werner C., Wallrabe U. (2023): A miniaturized leaf cuvette for volatile organic compound measurement on broad leaves. Transducers, Kyoto, Japan.1555-1558.
• Meischner M., Haberstroh S., Daber L.E., Kreuzwieser J., Caldeira M.C., Schnitzler J.-P.,
  Werner C. (2022) Soil VOC emissions of a Mediterranean woodland are sensitive to shrub
  invasion. Plant Biology. doi.org/10.1111/plb.13445
• Kreuzwieser J., Meischner M., Grün M., Yáñez-Serrano A.M., Fasbender L., Werner
  C. (2021) Drought affects carbon partitioning into volatile organic compound (VOC)
  biosynthesis in Scots pine needles. New Phytologist. doi.org/10.1111/nph.17736

• Meischner M., Haberstroh S., Kreuzwieser J., Schnitzler J.-P. and Werner C. (2025). Role of volatiles in root-root interactions: VOC emissions and carbon/nitrogen allocation in stressed sender and unstressed receiver plants. 1st international symposium on volatile interactions in ecosystems, Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Stock C., Dumberger S., Meischner M., Wannenmacher M., Haberstroh S., Werner C. (2024) Effects of intra- and interspecific competition between two temperate tree species on carbon assimilation rates and carbon allocation under drought stress. GfÖ, Freising, Germany.
• Meischner M., Haberstroh S., Kreuzwieser J., Schnitzler J.-P. and Werner C. (2024). VOC release from roots and shoots provide insights into internal plant signaling of temperate forest trees. Gordon research conference on hydrocabons in the atmosphere, Barcelona, Spain.
• Meischner M., Dumberger, S., Daber L.E., Haberstroh S., Kreuzwieser J., Schnitzler J.-P., Werner C. (2024) Reverse pattern of root and shoot VOC emissions following aboveground jasmonic acid application. Gordon research conference on hydrocabons in the atmosphere, Barcelona, Spain.
• Werner, C., Frey, Y., Dumberger, S., Meischner, M., Haberstroh, S., Wallrabe, U. (2024). ECOSENSE: Quantifying spatio-temporal dynamics of ecosystem processes by smart autonomous sensor networks with automated leaf cuvettes tracing BVOC flux dynamics. Gordon research conference on hydrocabons in the atmosphere, Barcelona, Spain.
• Meischner M., Dumberger S., Daber L.E., Haberstroh S., Kreuzwieser J., Schnitzler J.-P. and Werner C. (2023). Response of belowground and aboveground plant volatile organic compound emissions to heat and simulated herbivory on leaves. Gas Phase in Plants, Hyytiala, Finland.
• Daber L. E., Nolte P., Anene C., Kreuzwieser J., Meischner M. and Werner C. (2023). Chiral monoterpene dynamics of shoots and roots of Norway spruce in response to drought. Gas Phase in Plants, Hyytiala, Finland.
• Meischner M., Haberstroh S., Daber L.E., Kreuzwieser J., Caldeira M.C., Schnitzler J.-P., Werner C. (2022) Shrub Encroachment alters Soil VOC Emission Pattern in a Mediterranean Cork Oak Ecosystem. DBG, Trier, Germany.
• Haberstroh S., Meischner M., Caldeira M.C., Lobo-do-Vale R., Daber L.E., Kreuzwieser J., Schnitzler J.-P., Werner C. (2022). Shrub encroachment alter above- and belowground processes in a Mediterranean cork oak ecosystem. Aboveground-Belowground Interactions, Marseille, France.
• Daber L.E., Nolte P., Meischner M., Kreuzwieser J., Werner C. (2021). Unravelling shoot:root drought responses in VOC emissions through 13C-pyruvate labelling. ASI, Darmstadt, Germany.
• Meischner M., Kayser G., Lang F. (2019): Verbesserungspotenzial von Buche und Tanne in Fichtenbeständen – Ein Blick auf den Phosphorgehalt im Boden. DBG, Bern, Switzerland.

• 2021 – 2025
  Doctoral scholarship der Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes
  
• 2024
  Travel grant of the International Graduate Academy (IGA) Freiburg for the Gordon Research Conference Hydrocarbons and the atmosphere, Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain
  
• 2023
  Scholarship of the Wissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft Freiburg for a stay as guest researcher at the Institute of Environmental Simulation, Helmholtz Munich, Germany
  
• 2021
  Prize for excellent academic accomplishments, Alumni Freiburg e.V., Faculty for Environment and Natural Resources, University Freiburg
  
• 2013-2017
  Scholarship of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes