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Research Vegetation Ecology Research Group

Research foci

Evidence-based nature conservation

Measures against the dramatic loss of biodiversity often are less efficient than they could be, also because scientific findings are insufficiently taken into account or are lacking. The research group therefore develops nature conservation measures at the level of individual species, plant communities and habitat types and establishes monitoring schemes. Examples of projects are the ecological upgrading of forest edges, the control of invasive plants and the conservation biology of the flora of erratic boulders.

Plant diversity and its change

The understanding of species-rich and species-poor habitats is crucial for biodiversity conservation. The research group addresses this topic with field observations, experiments and the use of existing databases. In addition, the influence of global change (climate change, land use change, eutrophication, etc.) and the driving factors for change are of interest. One possibility is the resurvey of localizable historical vegetation plots.

Ecoinformatics and vegetation databases

Large vegetation databases such as the European Vegetation Archive (EVA) offer significant opportunities for research in ecology and nature conservation. In this way, new classifications of vegetation types can be created or the conditions under which species become invasive can be explored. One of the aims of the research group is to establish a Swiss national vegetation database as an EVA partner and at the same time to develop a Europe-wide, optimised system of ecological indicator values.

Publications