group photo of employees of the department

Department Biogeochemical Integration

Prof. Dr. Markus Reichstein

How do ecosystems respond to changing weather patterns, rising temperatures and increasing carbon dioxide concentrations? Is the effect of precipitation more important than that of temperature? Or are ecosystem dynamics more strongly affected by nutrient availability? What is the role of extreme events in shaping biogeochemical cycles? To find out the answers we need to understand the interactions among three complex systems: climate, vegetation, and soil. Thus, we combine experiments and in-situ long-term observation with Earth Observations gathered by aircraft and satellites across a range of spatial scales, and embrace data-driven machine learning and theory-driven mechanistic modelling. With our research, we try to understand how the terrestrial biosphere reacts to and exerts feedbacks on ongoing environmental change and variation in atmospheric conditions.

Latest publications

1.
Wang, C.; Chen, J.; Lee, S.-C.; Xiong, L.; Su, T.; Lin, Q.; Xu, C.-Y.: Response and recovery times of vegetation productivity under drought stress: Dominant factors and relationships. Journal of Hydrology 655, 132945 (2025)
2.
Kösters, L.; Karbstein, K.; Hofmann, M.; Hodac, L.; Mäder, P.; Wäldchen, J.: Data fusion for integrative species identification using deep learning. Systematic Biology (2025)
3.
Uckan, Y.; Ruiz-Vásquez, M.; De Polt, K.; Orth, R.: Global relevance of atmospheric and land surface drivers for hot temperature extremes. Earth System Dynamics 16 (3), pp. 869 - 889 (2025)
4.
Lu, T.-Y.; Lee, S.-C.; Nesic, Z.; Ketler, R.; Knox, S. H.: From sink to source: Salinity and water level fluctuations between years drive large differences in CO2 exchange in a temperate salt marsh. ESS Open Archive (2025)
5.
Teber, K.; Weynants, M.; Gans, F.; Mahecha, M. D.: Geo-Disasters: geocoding climate-related events in the international disaster database EM-DAT. arXiv (2025)
6.
Zhang, H.; Skeeter, J.; Black, T. A.; Nesic, Z.; Lee, S.-C.; Strack, M.; Merkens, M.; Knox, S. H.: Evaluating the effects of seedling removal on post-fire carbon flux dynamics in a serotiny-encroached temperate peatland. SSRN Conference Paper Series (2025)
7.
Bohn, F. J.; Bastos, A.; Martin, R.; Rammig, A.; Koh, N. S.; Sioen, G. B.; Buscher, B.; Carver, L.; DeClerck, F.; Drupp, M. et al.; Fletcher, R.; Forrest, M.; Gasparatos, A.; Godoy-Faúndez, A.; Hagedorn, G.; Hänsel, M.; Hetzer, J.; Hickler, T.; Krug, C. B.; Koot, S.; Li, X.; Luers, A.; Matevich, S.; Matthews, H. D.; Meier, I. C.; Mohamed, A.; O, S.; Obura, D.; Orlove, B.; Orth, R.; Pereira, L.; Reichstein, M.; Thakholi, L.; Verburg, P.; Yoshida, Y.: Reviews and syntheses: Current perspectives on biosphere research 2024–2025 – eight findings from ecology, sociology, and economics. Biogeosciences 22 (10), pp. 2425 - 2460 (2025)
8.
Meng, N.; Wang, N.; Zhao, L.; Liu, X.; Liu, J.; Lee, S.-C.: Water use efficiency of grassland ecosystem in Badain Jaran desert and its relations to biometeorological variables. Ecosystems 28, 34 (2025)
Go to Editor View