Schlüter, M., Brelsford, C., Ferraro, P. J., Orach, K., Qiu, M., & Smith, M. D. (2023). Unraveling complex causal processes that affect sustainability requires more integration between empirical and modeling approaches. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2215676120 (This recent contribution demonstrates the need for a collaborative research approach that leverages both empirical evidence and modeling techniques to tackle sustainability challenges.)
Fuo O, Zengerling C, Sotto D. (2022). A Comparative Legal Analysis of Urban Climate Mitigation and Adaptation in the Building Sector in Brazil, Germany, and South Africa. Climate Law 12(1):32–97. DOI: 10.1163/18786561-12010002 (Recent comparative legal study in the emerging field of climate law.)
Kaleta T, Kern L, Hong SL, Holzer M, Kochs G, Beer J, Schnepf D, Schwemmle M, Bollen N, Kolb P, Huber M, Ulferts S, Weigang S, Dudas G, Wittig A, Jaki L, Padane A, Lagare A, Salou M, Ozer EA, Nnaemeka N, Odoom JK, Rutayisire R, Benkahla A, Akoua-Koffi C, Ouedraogo AS, Simon-Loriere E, Enouf V, Kroger S, Calvignac-Spencer S, Baele G, Panning M, Fuchs J. (2022). Antibody escape and global spread of SARS-CoV-2 lineage A.27. Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28766-y (This study uses state-of-the art methodology to describe virus evolution and characterization of SARS-CoV-2 A.27 lineage.)
Scherer-LorenzenM, Gessner MO, Beisner BE, Messier C, Paquette A, Petermann JS, Soininen J, Nock CA. (2022) Pathways for cross-boundary effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning. Trends in Ecology & Evolution. DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2021.12.009 (This new contribution presents a fundamental concept and outlines pathways of biodiversity effects across ecosystem boundaries on processes. It further proposes an agenda to assess such effects)
Werner C, Meredith LS, Ladd SN, Ingrisch J, Kübert A, van Haren J, Bahn M, Bailey K, Bamberger I, Beyer M, Blomdahl D, Byron J, Daber E, Deleeuw J, Dippold M, Fudyma J, Gil-Loaiza J, Honeker LK, Hu J, Huang J, Klüpfel T, Krechmer J, Kreuzwieser J, Kühnhammer K, Lehmann MM, Meeran K, Misztal PK, Ng W-R, Pfannerstill E, Pugliese G, Purser G, Roscioli J, Shi L, Tfaily M, Williams J. (2021). Ecosystem fluxes during drought and recovery in an experimental forest. Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.abj6789 (This study describes the mechanisms and plant functional group responses to severe drought and recovery in a tropical forest.)
Pauliuk S, Heeren N, Berrill P, Fishman T, Nistad A, Tu Q, Wolfram P, Hertwich EG. (2021). Global scenarios of resource and emission savings from material efficiency in residential buildings and cars. Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25300-4 (First estimation of climate, energy, and materials impact of material efficiency and wood use in residential buildings, with global scope.)
Dulamsuren Ch, Hauck M. (2021). Drought stress mitigation by nitrogen in boreal forests inferred from stable isotopes. Global Change Biology. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15813 (This was the first study answering the question if co-limitation of forest productivity by nitrogen remains effective if boreal forests switch from temperature limitation to drought limitation.)
Fünfgeld H and Schmid B (2020): Justice in climate change adaptation planning: conceptual perspectives on emergent praxis. Geographica Helvetica, 75 (4): 437-449. DOI: 10.5194/gh-75-437-2020 (This conceptual paper develops the notion of justice-sensitive adaptation planning, based on empirical work on municipal climate change adaptation processes)
Haug M. (2020). Framing the Future through the Lens of Hope:Environmental Change, Diverse Hopes and the Challenge of Engagement. Journal of Social and Cultural Anthropology. URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27124116 (Publication that arose from a plenary event of the German Anthropological Assocations’ conference on the future of the discipline.)
Krayenhoff ES, Jiang T, Christen A, Martilli A, Oke TR, Bailey BN, Nazarian N, Voogt JA, Giometto MG, Stastny A, Crawford BR. (2020): A multi-layer urban canopy meteorological model with trees (BEP-Tree): Street tree impacts on pedestrian-level climate. Urban Climate. DOI: 10.1016/j.uclim.2020.100590 (This highly cited paper describes the development of a model that can simulate interactions between trees and surrounding infrastructure to model the local climate mitigation potential of trees.)
Biedermann PHW,Müller J, Grégoire JC, Gruppe A, Hagge J, Hammerbacher A, Hofstetter RW, Kandasamy D, Kolarik M, Kostovcik M, Krokene P. (2019). Bark beetle population dynamics in the Anthropocene: challenges and solutions. Trends in Ecology & Evolution. DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2019.06.002 (Here we described the abiotic and biotic variables that drive bark beetle populations and highlight major gaps in our knowledge that need to be addressed for successful management of these forest insects.)
Messier C, Bauhus J, Doyon F, Maure F, Sousa-Silva R, Nolet P, Mina M, Aquilué N, Fortin M-J, Puettmann K. (2019). The functional complex network approach to foster forest resilience to global change. Forest Ecosystems. DOI: 10.1186/s40663-019-0199-6 (In this highly cited paper, we propose a novel approach to integrate the functionality of species-traits into a functional complex network approach as a flexible and multi-scale way to manage forests for the Anthropocene.)
Bachmair S, Tanguy M, Hannaford J, Stahl K. (2018). How well do meteorological indicators represent agricultural and forest drought across Europe? Environmental Research Letters. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aaafda (This highly cited paper set a benchmark for the estimation of drought indices to assess drought impacts in forests.)
Kleinschmit D, Pülzl H, Secco L, Sergent A, Wallin I. (2018). Orchestration in political processes: Involvement of experts, citizens, and participatory professionals in forest policy making. Forest Policy and Economics. DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2017.12.011 (This study clearly showed that governance by citizen participation is rather neglected in European forest policy.)
Heer K, Behringer D, Piermattei A, Bässler C, Brandl R, Fady B., Jehl H, Liepelt S, Lorch S, Piotti A, Vendramin GG, Weller M, Ziegenhagen B, Büntgen U, Opgenoorth L. (2018). Linking dendroecology and association genetics in natural populations: Stress responses archived in tree rings associate with SNP genotypes in silver fir (Abies alba Mill.). Molecular Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/mec.14538 (Paper demonstrates that analyses of phenotypic information from tree ring data and genetic data are a powerful resource to investigate the genetic basis of stress response in trees.)
Huang Y, Chen Y, Castro-Izaguirre N, Baruffol M, Brezzi M, Lang A, Li Y, Härdtle W, von Oheimb G, Yang X, Liu X, Pei K, Both S, Yang B, Eichenberg D, Assmann T, Bauhus J, Behrens T, Buscot F, Chen X-Y, Chesters D, Ding B-Y, Durka W, Erfmeier A, Fang J, Fischer M, Guo L-D, Guo D, Gutknecht JLM, He J-S, He C-L, Hector A, Hönig L, Hu R-Y, Klein AM, Kühn P, Lian Y, Li S, Michalski S, Scherer-Lorenzen M, Schmidt K, Scholten T, Schuldt A, Xhi X, Tan M-Z, Tang Z, Trogisch S, Wang Z, Welk E, Wirth C, Wubet T, Xiang W, Yu M, Yu X-D, Zhang J, Zhang S, Zhang N, Zhou H-Z, Zhu C-D, Zhu L, Bruelheide H, Ma K, Niklaus PA, Schmidt B. (2018). Impact of species richness on productivity in a large-scale subtropical forest experiment. Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.aat6405 (Highly cited and influential experimental field study that demonstrates the potential of tree species-rich afforestation for biodiversity restoration and climate change mitigation.)
Lang F, Krüger J, Amelung W, Willbold S, Frossard E, Bünemann EK, Bauhus J, Nitschke R, Kandeler E, Marhan S, Schulz S, Bergkemper F, Schloter M, Luster J, Guggisberg F, Kaiser K, Mikutta R, Guggenberger G, Polle A, Pena R, Prietzel J, Rodionov A, Talkner U, Meesenburg H, von Wilpert K, Hölscher A, Dietrich HP, Chmara I. (2017). Soil phosphorus supply controls P nutrition strategies of beech forest ecosystems in Central Europe. Biogeochemistry. DOI: 10.1007/s10533-017-0375-0 (First publication to explicitly describe forest ecosystem adaptation to low P levels in soils based on an interdisciplinary approach covering soil science, microbiology, and plant physiology.)
Sprenger M, Leistert H, Gimbel K, Weiler M. (2016). Illuminating hydrological processes at the soil‐vegetation‐atmosphere interface with water stable isotopes. Reviews of Geophysics. DOI: 10.1002/2015RG000515 (Highly cited paper that provides an overview of the hydrological processes that alter the soil water stable isotopic composition.)
Pregernig M.(2014). Framings of science-policy interactions and their discursive and institutional effects: examples from conservation and environmental policy. Biodiversity and Conservation. DOI: 10.1007/s10531-014-0806-3 (An early and well received paper that applies different theories of science-policy interactions on topics of biodiversity and conservation.)
Abson DJ, von Wehrden H, Baumgärtner S, Fischer J, Hanspach J, Härdtle W, Heinrichs H, Klein AM, Lang DJ, Martens P, Walmsley D. (2014). Ecosystem services as a boundary object for sustainability. Ecological Economics. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2014.04.012 (Highly cited paper that highlights the need for greater integration and engagement with the normative foundations of the ecosystem services concept for sustainable development.)
Braunisch V, Coppes J, Arlettaz R, Suchant R, Schmid H, Bollmann K. (2013). Selecting from correlated climate variables: a major source of uncertainty for predicting species distributions under climate change. Ecography. DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0587.2013.00138.x (Highly cited paper that investigated the uncertainty in predicting the future range shifts of species in central Europe under climate change, highlighting the importance of accounting for variable selection when making conservation decisions.)
Hanewinkel M, Cullmann DA, Schelhaas MJ, Nabuurs G-J, Zimmermann NE. (2013). Climate change may cause severe loss in the economic value of European forest land. Nature Climate Change. DOI: 10.1038/nclimate1687 (Highly cited paper that, for the first time, estimated the economic impacts of projected tree species changes under climate change on a European level.)
Knoke T, Seifert T. (2008). Integrating selected ecological effects of mixed European beech – Norway spruce stands in bioeconomic modelling. Ecological Modelling. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2007.08.011 (One of the first papers integrating economic and ecological perspectives of mixed forests into bioeconomic modelling of mixed forests.)
DormannCF, McPherson JM, Araújo MB, Bivand R, Bolliger J, Carl G, Davies RG, Hirzel A, Jetz W, Kissling WD, Kühn I, Ohlemüller R, Peres-Neto PR, Reineking B, Schröder B, Schurr FM, Wilson R. (2007). Methods to account for spatial autocorrelation in the analysis of species distributional data: a review. Ecography. DOI: 10.1111/j.2007.0906-7590.05171.x (Highly cited paper that provides a critical examination of the many available spatial statistical methods that take spatial autocorrelation into account in tests of species distribution data.)
KleinAM, Vaissière BE, Cane J, Steffan-Dewenter I, Cunningham SA, Kremen C, Tscharntke T. (2007). Importance of pollinators in changing landscapes for world crops. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2006.3721 (Highly cited paper that uses novel primary data from 200 countries to evaluate the extent of our reliance on animal pollination for global crop production and highlights the essential role of pollinators for sustaining crop diversity and production.)
Kleinschmit D, Wildburger C, Grima N, Fisher B (eds.) (2024) International Forest Governance: A Critical Review of Trends, Drawbacks, and New Approaches. IUFRO World Series Volume 43. Vienna. 164p. URL: https://www.iufro.org/fileadmin/material/publications/iufro-series/ws43.pdf (This report informs about forest-related, international and regional political processes, raises awareness about global challenges of international forest governance and the critiques voiced, and provides ideas for future governance designs. It highlights those political, civil society, and scientific voices that have gained increasing attention over the last decade in a demand for a stronger focus on the human dimensions of international forest governance)
Hanewinkel M, Yousefpour R, Augustynczik A (2022). Climate smart forestry case-study: Germany. In: Hetemäki L, Kangas J, Peltola H (eds.). Forest Bioeconomy and Climate Change. Managing Forest Ecosystems, vol 42. Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-99206-4_12 (In this study, we propose a generic framework for adaptation that considers the cost efficiency of measures to suggest the most efficient ways to increase the mitigation potential of forests in Germany.)
Muys B, Angelstam P, Bauhus J, Bouriaud L, Jactel H, Kraigher H, Müller J, Pettorelli N, Pötzelsberger E, Primmer E, Svoboda M, Thorsen BJ, Van Meerbeek K. (2022). Forest Biodiversity in Europe. From Science to Policy. DOI: 10.36333/fs13 (Report aimed at decision-makers at the EU, national and local levels, addressing the need to maintain and enhance forest biodiversity in Europe, identifying threats and making recommendations for forest management, policy and finance.)
Bauhus J,Seeling U, Dieter M, Farwig N, Hafner A, Kätzel R, Kleinschmit B, Lang F, Lindner M, Möhring B, Müller J, Niekisch M, Richter K, Schraml U. (2021). The adaptation of forestry and forests to climate change (Die Anpassung von Wäldern und Waldwirtschaft an den Klimawandel). Expertise of the Federal Scientific Advisory Board on Forest Policy. DOI: 10.12767/buel.vi233.386 (Report to the German Government proposing new approaches to support the adaptation of forests and forestry through rewarding forest owners for the provision of ecosystem services. It has since shaped German forest policy at federal and state levels, e. g. through new funding programmes.)
Blauhut V, Stephan R, Stahl K. (2022). The European Drought Impact report Inventory (EDII V2.0). Dataset. DOI: 10.6094/UNIFR/230922. (The dataset represents drought impacts across Europe, coded and archived in the EDII scheme format and including drought impacts on forest systems.)
Biggs, R., Vos, A. de, Preiser, R., Clements, H., Maciejewski, K., Schlüter, M., 2021. The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods for Social-Ecological Systems, 1st ed. Routledge, London. DOI: 10.4324/9781003021339
Pauliuk S (2021). Guidelines for Data Modeling and Data Integration for Material Flow Analysis and Socio-Metabolic Research. Compiled by Stefan Pauliuk and issued by the Board of the Topical Section for Research on Socio-Economic Metabolism (SEM) of the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE). Industrial Ecology Freiburg (IEF) Working Paper 2(2021), University of Freiburg, Germany. DOI: 10.6094/UNIFR/217970 (Community-wide research guidelines for data modelling and integration, which shall help SEM researchers and practitioners to understand, re-use and share their data effectively.)
Hertwich E, Lifset R, Ali S, Pauliuk S, Heeren N, Tu Q. (2020) Resource Efficiency and Climate Change: Material Efficiency Strategies for a Low-Carbon Future. A report of the International Resource Panel (IRP). United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, Kenya. URL: http://www.resourcepanel.org/reports/resource-efficiency-and-climate-change (Major report at the science-policy interface on the link between the circular economy and climate change mitigation)
Zengerling C. (2020). Stärkung von Klimaschutz und Entwicklung durch internationales Handelsrecht – Eine Untersuchung des Rechts der WTO, regionaler Freihandelsabkommen und Wirtschaftspartnerschaftsabkommen der EU unter besonderer Berücksichtigung nachhaltiger Landnutzung. URL: https://www.wbgu.de/fileadmin/user_upload/wbgu/publikationen/hauptgutachten/hg2020/pdf/Expertise_Zengerling.pdf (Expert report commissioned by the German Advisory Council on Global Change (Wissenschaftlicher Beirat der Bundesregierung Globale Umweltveränderung).
Dormann C. (2020). Environmental Data Analysis: An Introduction with Examples in R. Springer Nature. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-55020-2 (This textbook provides an introduction to statistical methods relevant for environmental science.)
Schulze ED, Beck E, Buchmann N, Clemens S, Müller-Hohenstein K, Scherer-Lorenzen M.(2019). Plant Ecology. Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-662-56233-8 (This textbook provides a unique and up-to-date treatment of all aspects of plant ecology, making it an ideal textbook and reference work for students, researchers and practitioners.)
Wolff F, Brohmann B, Fischer C, Grießhammer R, Gsell M, Heyen DA, Jacob K, Graaf L, Pregernig M, Espinosa C, Potthast T, Meisch S, Kerr M, Richerzhagen C, Bauer S, Brandi C. (2019). Perspektiven für Umweltpolitik: Ansätze zum Umgang mit neuartigen Herausforderungen Dessau-Roßlau: Umweltbundesamt. UBA-Texte 83/2019. URL: www.umweltbundesamt.de/publikationen/perspektiven-fuer-umweltpolitik-ansaetze-umgang
May, S. 2018. Wood: “Regarding Economies and Policies through the Eyes of a Cultural Anthropologist.” Journal of European Ethnology and Cultural Analyses 2 (2018): 193–214.
Oke TR, Mills G, Christen A, Voogt JA. (2017). Urban Climates. Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/9781139016476 (This book brings together the disparate parts of climate research on cities into a coherent framework. It is the first full synthesis of modern scientific and applied research on urban climates.)
Espinosa C, Pregernig M, Fischer C. (2017). Narrative und Diskurse in der Umweltpolitik: Möglichkeiten und Grenzen ihrer strategischen Nutzung: Zwischenbericht. Umweltbundesamt. URL: www.umweltbundesamt.de/publikationen/narrative-diskurse-in-der-umweltpolitik (Report on the role of discourse and narratives in environmental politics; it provides practical impulses for reflecting and developing strategies for a meaningful and successful communication of environmental problems in politics.)
Pretzsch H, Forrester DI, Bauhus J. (2017). Mixed-Species Forests – Ecology and Management. Springer. 640 p. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-662-54553-9 (This textbook presents a detailed overview of the current state of knowledge concerning the ecology and management of compositionally and structurally diverse forests and their potential for forest adaptation.)
Bollmann K, Braunisch V. (2016). Auswirkungen des Klimawandels auf Bergwaldvogelarten. In: Pluess AR, Augustin S, Brang P (eds.). Wald im Klimwandel. Grundlagen für Adaptationsstrategien. Bundesamt für Umwelt BAFU, Bern; Eidg. Forschungsanstalt WSL, Birmensdorf; Haupt, Bern, Stuttgart, Wien. URL: https://www.dora.lib4ri.ch/wsl/islandora/object/wsl:10622 (Book chapter outlining approaches to analyse climate change influences on bird populations.)
Bauhus J, Puettmann KJ, Kuehne C (2013) Close-to-nature forest management in Europe: does it support complexity and adaptability of forest ecosystems? In: Messier, C., Puettmann, K.J. and Coates, K.D. (eds.): Managing Forests as Complex Adaptive Systems: building resilience to the challenge of global change. Routledge, The Earthscan forest library, pp. 187-213. (In this book chapter we discuss to what extent the prevailing forest management paradigm in Central Europe is suited to adapt forests to global change)
Scherer-Lorenzen M. (2010 to present). Design and establishment of a large-scale European research infrastructure for functional biodiversity research in mature forests, with 209 study plots in six European countries (Spain, Italy, Romania, Poland, Finland, Germany). Initial funding through the EU-project FunDivEUROPE, with follow-up projects using the infrastructure since then (e.g., SoilForEUROPE, Dr.Forest), resulting in over 100 scientific publications.
Scherer-Lorenzen M. (2002 to present). Founder and coordinator (together with Kris Verheyen, Belgium) of the global network of tree diversity experiments (TreeDivNet, https://treedivnet.ugent.be/) to study the role of tree diversity for ecosystem functioning and ecosystem services, with currently 29 experiments worldwide, covering a total of 860ha with approx. 1.3 million trees planted. An additional approx. 68,000 trees were planted in six application trials on a total surface of 77 ha, which are managed at an operational scale for the forestry industry and provide added value for the knowledge transfer towards forest policy and management. More than 380 scientific publications.
Seifert T: Registered patent: “Verfahren zum Ermitteln eines digitalen Modells eines Bereichs eines Waldes” [transl: Method to create a digital model of a forest section], German Patent Reg. No. DE 10 2019 112 692.4, European Patent Reg. No. PCT/EP2020/063 404
Weiler M: Registered patent: “In-situ Gasentnahme zur Bestimmung der Isotopensignatur” [transl: In-situ gas sampling for the determination of the isotope signature], German Patent Reg. No. DE 10 2013 013 969 B3
Kleinschmit D, Pülzl H, Secco L, Sergent A, Wallin I. (2018). Editor of several Special Issues including, Orchestrating forest policy making: Involvement of scientists and stakeholders in political processes, in Forest Policy and Economics, Vol 89. URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/forest-policy-and-economics/vol/89/suppl/C