Our research interests focus on the role of vegetation, its composition and structure, on land surface processes and climate feedbacks. Radiation is one of the key factors linking land surface and atmospheric processes. At the same time, radiation is a limiting growth factor of vegetation, be it in the short wavelength range as photosynthetically active radiation or in the longwave domain as temperature. Our goal is to contribute to ecological and climatological questions through combined field and satellite radiation measurements, radiative modelling, and ecological experimental approaches, from the plant to the landscape scale.
The emphasis lies on continuous process-related ecosystem variables (e.g. albedo, plant traits), going beyond traditional land cover types with spatially discrete class boundaries. Our focus is on vegetation dynamics, biodiversity and related permafrost-vegetation-atmosphere processes in Northeastern Siberian tundra.

Head of Group: Prof. Dr. Gabriela Schaepman-Strub

Most Recent News

• 01/04/19 - Gabriela is starting her professorship in Earth System Sciences today!
• 19/03/19 - Congratulations, Elena Plekhanova, for your IASC travel award to the Arctic Science Summit Weekin Arkhangelsk, May 2019!
• 05/03/19 - Happy to announce my appointment as professor in Earth System Science at UZH, starting 1 April 2019! Looking forward to lots of continued and new interactions and collaborations with students and colleagues at UZH, in Switzerland, and internationally!
• 20/02/19 - Congratulations to Annabelle Constance for her best poster award at Biology'19!
• 04/02/19 - Welcome to Jacqueline Oehri, starting her postdoc today with us!
• 01/18/19 - Welcome to Cengiz Akandil, looking forward to supervise you on your MSc thesis on Arctic land surface changes!

For news in the past, visit the full news list!

Research Themes:

• Biodiversity and climate interactions in Arctic tundra ecosystems
• Arctic shrub encroachment and its feedbacks to permafrost and climate
• Land surface reflectance and albedo definitions and measurements
• Validation of satellite-inferred land products
• Spatial patterns of vegetation and animal movement

Projects and Collaborations:

• Arctic tundra surface energy budget (SNSF)
• Global change and biodiversity (URPP GCB)
• Swiss Polar Institute (SPI)
• Terrestrial Working Group, International Arctic Science Committee (IASC)
• Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF), Arctic Council
• Shrub Hub
• Drone Ecology Network
• Zurich-Aldabra research platform (ZARP)
• CEOS Land product validation (LPV)

Teaching:

• Ecosystems and Climate (UWW182)
• MSc Course on Spatial Ecology and Remote Sensing (UWW252)

• Integrated Knowledge in Biology, Ecology Specialisation of Masters in Biology (BIO520)