Dr. Kathrin Kühnhammer

• Since November 2022
  Technician in SFB 1537 ECOSENSE, Chair of Ecosystem Physiology, University Freiburg
  
• January 2019 – July 2024
  Doktorate (Dr. rer. nat.), Project Isodrones, Umweltgeochemie, Technische Universität Braunschweig: “Uncovering the dynamics of tree root water uptake with in situ isotope techniques“ (summa cum laude)
  
• May – December 2018
  Researcher, Chair of Ecosystem Physiology, University Freiburg
  
• September 2017 – February 2018
  Student assistant, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, IBG-3
  
• October 2015 – January 2019
  Master of Science in Hydrology, University Freiburg, Thesis: “Monitoring Root Water Uptake of Centaurea jacea using Water Stable Isotopes”
  
• June 2015 – January 2016
  Student assistant, Chair of Hydrology, University Freiburg
  
• October 2011 – June 2015
  Bachelor of Science in Environmental Sciences, University of Freiburg – „In-situ Messung von Wasserisotopen im Xylem von Bäumen“. (Minor subject: international forestry economics)
  

Climate change; Measuring techniques; Ecohydrology; Ecosystem research; Stable isotopes; Deep roots; Water transport and storage in trees; Water and carbon fluxes in forests; Root water uptake

• Sulzer, M.; Brzozon, J.; Christen, A.; Dedden, L.; Dormann, C.F.; Dumberger, S.; Frey, Y.; Gassilloud, M.; Göritz, A.; Grote, R.; Haberstroh, S.; Kattenborn, T.; Kremer, L.; Kreuzwieser, J.; Kühnhammer, K.; Lang, F.; Lee, H.; Müller, J.; Schack-Kirchner, H.; Seifert, T.; Stock, C.; Strack, J.; Tesch, J.; Wagner, D.; Wallrabe, U.; Weiler, M.; Werner, C. (2025) The ECOSENSE forest – enriching tower-based flux measurements of carbon and water exchange with novel distributed sensor networks. ARPHA Conference Abstracts 8: e149267, doi: 10.3897/aca.8.e149267
• Gerchow, M.; Kühnhammer, K.; Iraheta, A.; Marshall, J. D. & Beyer, M. (2025). “Enhanced flight planning and calibration for UAV based thermal imaging: Implications for canopy temperature and transpiration analysis”. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 8, 1457762, doi: 10.3389/ffgc.2025.1457762
• Beyer, M., Iraheta, A., Gerchow, M., Kuehnhammer, K., Callau‐Beyer, A. C., Koeniger, P., Dubbert, D., Dubbert, M., Sánchez-Murillo, R. & Birkel, C. (2025). “UAV‐based land surface temperatures and vegetation indices explain and predict spatial patterns of soil water isotopes in a tropical dry forest”. Water Resources Research, 61(2), e2024WR037294, doi: 10.1029/2024WR037294
• Scandellari, F.; Attou, T.; Barbeta, A.; Bernhard, F.; D’Amato, C.; Dimitrova-Petrova, K.; Donaldson, A.; Durodola, O.; Ferraris, S.; Floriancic, M.; Fontenla-Razzetto, G.; Gerchow, M.; Han, Q.; Khalil, I.; Kirchner, J.; Kühnhammer, K.; Lio, Q.; Llorens, P.; Magh, R.; Marshall, J. & Sprenger, M. (2024). “Using stable isotopes to inform water resource management in forested and agricultural ecosystems”. Journal of environmental management, 365, 121381, doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.121381
• Huang, J.; Ladd, S.N.; Ingrisch, J.; Kübert, A.; Meredith, L.K.; van Haren, J.; Bamberger, I.; Daber, E.; Kühnhammer, K.; Bailey, K.; Hu, J.; Fudyma, J.; Shi, L.; Dippold, M.; Meeran, K.; Miller, L.; O’Brien, M.; Yang, H.; Herrera-Ramírez, D.; Hartmann, H.; Trumbore, S.; Bahn, M. & Lehmann, M.M. (2024). “The mobilization and transport of newly fixed carbon are driven by plant water use in an experimental rainforest under drought”. Journal of Experimental Botany, erae030, doi: 10.1093/jxb/erae030
• Kühnhammer, K.; van Haren, J.; Kübert, A.; Bailey, K.; Dubbert, M.; Hu, J.; Ladd, S.N.; Meredith, L.K.; Werner, C. & Beyer, M. (2023): „Deep roots mitigate drought impacts on tropical trees despite limited quantitative contribution to transpiration“. Science of the Total Environment 893 (2023): 164763, doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164763
• Kübert, A.; Dubbert, M.; Bamberger, I.; Kühnhammer, K.; Beyer, M.; van Haren, J.; Hu, J.; Meredith, L.K.; Nemiah Ladd, S. and Werner, C. (2023): “Tracing plant source water dynamics during drought by continuous transpiration measurements: An in‐situ stable isotope approach”. Plant, Cell & Environment, 46(1), 133-149, doi: 10.1111/pce.14475
• Gerchow, M.; Marshall, J. D.; Kühnhammer, K.; Dubbert, M. & Beyer, M. (2022): “Thermal imaging of increment cores: a new method to estimate sapwood depth in trees”. Trees, 1-11, doi: 10.1007/s00468-022-02352-7
• Kühnhammer, K.; Dahlmann, A; Iraheta, A.; Gerchow, M.; Birkel, C.; Marshall, J.D.; Beyer, M. (2022): “Continuous in situ measurements of water stable isotopes in soils, tree trunk and root xylem: Field approval”. Rapid Commun. Mass Spectrom. 2022;36(5):e9232, doi: 10.1002/rcm.9232
• Werner, C.; Meredith, L.K.; Ladd, S.N.; Ingrisch, J.; Kübert, A.; van Haren, J.;  Bahn, M.; Bamberger, I.; Beyer, M.; Blomdahl, D.; Byron, J.; Daber, E.; Deleeuw, J.; Dippold, M.A.; Fudyma, J.; Gil-Loaiza, J.; Honeker, L.K.; Hu, J.; Huang, J.; Klüpfel, T.; Krechmer, J.; Kreuzwieser, J.; Kühnhammer, K.; Lehmann, M.; Meeran, K.; Misztal, P.; Ng, W.; 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, 374(6574), pp.1514-1518, doi: 10.1126/science.abj6789
• Beyer, M.; Kühnhammer, K.; Dubbert, M. (2020): “In situ measurements of soil and plant water isotopes: a review of approaches, practical considerations and a vision for the future”. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 4413–4440, doi: 10.5194/hess-24-4413-2020
• Marshall, J.D.; Cuntz, M.; Beyer, M.; Dubbert, M.; Kühnhammer, K. (2020): “Borehole Equilibration: Testing a new method to monitor the isotopic composition of tree xylem water in situ”. Front. Plant Sci. 11:358, doi: 10.3389/fpls.2020.00358
• De Deurwaerder, H.P.T.; Visser, M.D.; Detto, M.; Boeckx, P.; Meunier, F.; Kühnhammer, K.; Magh, R.; Marshall, J.D.; Wang, L.; Zhao, L.; Verbeeck, H. (2020): “Causes and consequences of pronounced variation in the isotope composition of plant xylem water”. Biogeosciences, 17, 4853–4870, doi: 10.5194/bg-17-4853-2020
• Kühnhammer, K.; Kübert, A.; Brüggemann, N.; Deseano Diaz, P.; van Dusschoten, D.; Javaux, M.; Merz, S.; Vereecken, H.; Dubbert, M.; Rothfuss, Y. (2019): „Investigating the root plasticity response of Centaurea jacea to soil water availability changes from isotopic analysis”. New Phytologist, doi: 10.1111/nph.16352
• Volkmann, T. H. M.; Kühnhammer, K.; Herbstritt, B.; Gessler, A.; Weiler, M (2016): “A method for in situ monitoring of the isotope composition of tree xylem water using laser spectroscopy”. Plant, Cell & Environment, doi:10.1111/pce.12725

• 2024
  Preis der Gerhard und Karin Matthäi Stiftung für eine herausragende Dissertation
  
• 2019
  „Christian-Leibundgut-Preis“, Auszeichnung für die beste Abschlussarbeit des Jahres am Institut für Hydrolopgie der Universität Freiburg
  
• March – June 2017
  DAAD PROMOS Stipendium für ein Praktikum am „Palestine Museum of Natural History“
  
• October 2016
  Stipendium des DAAD für eine Summer School in Tunis, Tunesien