Overview

The Biogeochemical Signals department is a newly formed department succeeding the former Biogeochemical Systems department headed by Prof. Dr. Martin Heimann, and the former research group on Terrestrial Biosphere Modelling. The main aim of the new department is to study and interpret observed large-scale biogeochemical signals in the Earth system by linking these signals to process-understanding and process-oriented modelling of key processes in the terrestrial biosphere. To accomplish this goal, the group develops and employs numerical models of terrestrial biosphere processes, and develops new observational constraints obtained from biosphere monitoring or ecosystem manipulation to challenge model formulations. An improved representation of key (eco-physiological) processes, in particular those affecting nutrient availability and its role in ecosystem dynamics, is a key component of the group's research. The group investigates the consequences of the coupling of the terrestrial biogeochemical cycles for biogeochemical and biogeophysical interactions with the climate system.

Latest Key Result

Meyerholt, J, Sickel, K, Zaehle, S. Ensemble projections elucidate effects of uncertainty in terrestrial nitrogen limitation on future carbon uptake. Glob Change Biol. 2020; 00: 1– 19. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15114

Latest publications

	Caldararu, S., Thum, T., Yu, L., Kern, M., Nair, R. K. F., Zaehle, S. (2021). Long-term ecosystem nitrogen limitation from foliar delta15N data and a land surface model. bioRxiv. doi:10.1101/2021.07.16.452605.
	Janssen, T., van der Velde, Y., Hofhansl, F., Luyssaert, S., Naudts, K., Driessen, B., Fleischer, K., Dolman, H. (2021). Drought effects on leaf fall, leaf flushing and stem growth in the Amazon forest: reconciling remote sensing data and field observations. Biogeosciences, 18(14), 4445-4472. doi:10.5194/bg-18-4445-2021.
	Knox, S. H., Bansal, S., McNicol, G., Schafer, K., Sturtevant, C., Ueyama, M., Valach, A. C., Baldocchi, D., Delwiche, K., Desai, A. R., Euskirchen, E., Liu, J., Lohila, A., Malhotra, A., Melling, L., Riley, W., Runkle, B. R. K., Turner, J., Vargas, R., Zhu, Q., Alto, T., Fluet-Chouinard, E., Göckede, M., Melton, J. R., Sonnentag, O., Vesala, T., Ward, E., Zhang, Z., Feron, S., Ouyang, Z., Alekseychik, P., Aurela, M., Bohrer, G., Campbell, D. I., Chen, J., Chu, H., Dalmagro, H. J., Goodrich, J. P., Gottschalk, P., Hirano, T., Iwata, H., Jurasinski, G., Kang, M., Koebsch, F., Mammarella, I., Nilsson, M. B., Ono, K., Peichl, M., Peltola, O., Ryu, Y., Sachs, T., Sakabe, A., Sparks, J. P., Tuittila, E.-S., Vourlitis, G. L., Wong, G. X., Windham-Myers, L., Poulter, B., Jackson, R. B. (2021). Identifying dominant environmental predictors of freshwater wetland methane fluxes across diurnal to seasonal time scales. Global Change Biology, 27(15), 3582-3604. doi:10.1111/gcb.15661.
	Lacroix, F., Ilyina, T., Mathis, M., Laruelle, G. G., Regnier, P. (2021). Historical increases in land-derived nutrient inputs may alleviate effects of a changing physical climate on the oceanic carbon cycle. Global Change Biology. doi:10.1111/gcb.15822.
	Petrescu, A., McGrath, M. J., Andrew, R. M., Peylin, P., Peters, G. P., Ciais, P., Broquet, G., Tubiello, F. N., Gerbig, C., Pongratz, J., Janssens-Maenhout, G., Grassi, G., Nabuurs, G.-J., Regnier, P., Lauerwald, R., Kuhnert, M., Balkovic, J., Schelhaas, M.-J., van der Gon, H. A. C. D., Solazzo, E., Qiu, C., Pilli, R., Konovalov, I. B., Houghton, R. A., Günther, D., Perugini, L., Crippa, M., Ganzenmüller, R., Luijkx, I. T., Smith, P., Munassar, S., Thompson, R. L., Conchedda, G., Monteil, G., Scholze, M., Karstens, U., Brockmann, P., Dolman, A. J. (2021). The consolidated European synthesis of CO2 emissions and removals for the European Union and United Kingdom: 1990-2018. Earth System Science Data, 13(5), 2363-2406. doi:10.5194/essd-13-2363-2021.
	Sekula, P., Bokwa, A., Bartyzel, J., Bochenek, B., Chmura, L., Galkowski, M., Zimnoch, M. (2021). Measurement report: Effect of wind shear on PM10 concentration vertical structure in the urban boundary layer in a complex terrain. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 21(15), 12113-12139. doi:10.5194/acp-21-12113-2021.