Institute of Plant Sciences

Understanding of how plants function, grow and develop, and complete their life cycles, has been of fundamental scientific interest for centuries. Today, basic research covers many scales that integrate physiology and ecology, from molecules to cells through to whole plants and vegetation. Important applications are to be found in areas such as agriculture, conservation and climate change.
The Institute of Plant Sciences carries out research in Molecular Plant Physiology, Chemical Ecology, Plant Ecology, and Palaeoecology. It contributes to the teaching programs in BSc Biology and to several MSc courses
The IPS has strong links to the Institute of Ecology and Evolution, the Institute of Cell Biology and the Wyss Academy for Nature.

News and Events

Nature Communications

Wild and domesticated animal abundance is associated with greater late-Holocene alpine plant diversity

Understanding the drivers of plant diversity in montane regions is critical amid ongoing climate and land-use change. Using sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) from 14 lakes records across the European Alps, we tracked 603 plant taxa and 11 mammal species over the past 14,000 years. Our models show that wild ungulates and cattle have had a stronger influence on alpine plant diversity than temperature, particularly in the last 2,000 years. These findings underscore the long-term ecological impact of herbivores and provide insight into strategies for managing biodiversity under future land-use pressure.

Christoph Schwörer, Boris Vannière, Lieveke van Vugt, Willy Tinner

Nature Plants

Herbivory-induced green leaf volatiles increase plant performance through jasmonate-dependent plant–soil feedbacks

Plants influence each other chemically by releasing leaf volatiles and root exudates, but whether and how these two phenomena interact remains unknown. A new study demonstrates for the first time that volatiles trigger plant-soil feedbacks that improve agricultural yield. Detailed molecular analyses reveal that this process operates through broadly conserved defence signalling mechanisms and across different plant species. This discovery expands the repertoire of biologically relevant plant–plant interactions in space and time and holds promise for resource-efficient, sustainable agriculture.

Lingfei Hu, Jamie M. Waterman, Christelle A. M. Robert, Meng Ye, Matthias Erb

Nature Ecology & Evolution

Winner–loser plant trait replacements in human-modified tropical forests

Human-driven landscape changes in the Amazon and Atlantic Forests of Brazil lead to the dominance of tree species with low-density wood and small seeds while causing the loss of species with dense wood and large seeds. Analyzing 1,207 tree species across 271 forest plots, we found that forest loss had a stronger effect on species traits than landscape configuration, though local degradation also played a significant role. These findings suggest that deforestation and habitat degradation drive consistent functional shifts in tree communities, favoring certain traits across different regions.

Bruno X. Pinho

Dies Academicus 2024

Haller Medal

Since 1809, the Haller Medal has been awarded to personalities who have most distinguished themselves through performance, diligence and talent in the Bernese schools and academies and who have completed their studies here. This year, our alumna Dr. Sandra Camara-Brügger was awarded a Haller Medal for her outstanding scientific achievements in the field of palaeoecology and climate science. She received her gold medal from our Rector on 7 December at the Dies Academicus.

Dr. Sandra Camara-Brügger

SNSF Starting Grant

GENICA: Unlocking paleogenomic insights from ice caves

Maria Leunda Esnaola has been awarded a highly competitive SNSF Starting Grant for her GENICA project and will start at the IPS in 2025. This project will explore how past environmental disturbances have shaped European mountain vegetation by combining paleoecology and paleogenomics. By analyzing ancient DNA from plant remains preserved in ice cave deposits, this research will reveal genetic and demographic changes in key species over the past 5700 years. This innovative study aims to provide new insights into the resilience and vulnerability of mountain species in the context of ongoing climate change.

Maria Leunda Esnaola

Development

Dual role of MUTE in making grass stomata

Grasses form unique four-cell "breathing pores" or stomatal with two dumbbell-shaped guard cells (GCs) and two subsidiary cells (SCs). A new study in the model grass Brachypodium distachyon, demonstrates that the key protein MUTE not only controls the formation of subsidiary cells but also the orientation of guard cell divisions. These findings reveal MUTE's complex, dual role in forming the "speedy" stomata that grasses rely on for effective gas exchange.

Roxane Spiegelhalder, Lea Berg, Heike Lindner, Michael Raissig

SNSF Consolidator Grant

Christoph Schwörer receives SNSF Consolidator Grant

The five-year research project titled "Assessing Past and Future Forest Responses to Climate Change Impacts Using Ancient DNA (ARIaDNA)" addresses the urgent ecological challenges posed by climate change and the biodiversity crisis. The ARIaDNA project seeks to uncover how plants have historically adapted to rapid climate warming, with the aim of deepening our understanding of ecosystem responses to climate change and support the development of innovative management strategies.

Christoph Schwörer

Nature Communcations

The lactonase BxdA mediates metabolic specialisation of maize root bacteria to benzoxazinoids

Root exudates contain specialised metabolites that influence the root microbiome of the plant. This study systematically investigated how maize root bacteria metabolize benzoxazinoids, the main bioactive compounds of maize. The authors found that some maize root bacteria can metabolise the benzoxazinoid MBOA to the red degradation product AMPO, whereas root bacteria from other plant species cannot. These maize bacteria carry a unique gene, bxdA, a lactonase, which allows them to metabolise benzoxazinoids and thus specifically adapt to the roots of maize plants.

Lisa Thoenen, Pierre Mateo, Tobias Züst, Valentin Gfeller, Christelle A. M. Robert, Matthias Erb & Klaus Schlaeppi

Research and AI

Figthting hay fever with AI

Experts at the University of Bern who specialize in the vegetation of the past are contributing their knowledge to an innovation project that is developing devices for pollen monitoring. The development is based on AI and is intended to help people who suffer from allergies.

The online magazine of the University of Bern

Nature Communications

A slow-fast trait continuum at the whole community level in relation to land-use intensification

Organisms exhibit a spectrum of functional strategies based on their growth rates, influenced by factors like resource availability and disturbance. This study analyzes trait data from over 2800 taxa across 14 trophic guilds in German grasslands, revealing a community-level 'slow-fast' axis shaped by both direct and trophically mediated responses to environmental drivers. The research further demonstrates that communities with 'fast' traits are linked to accelerated rates of ecosystem functioning, introducing a novel perspective for ecosystem-level functional classification.

Caterina Penone, Ralph Bolliger, Markus Fischer, Noëlle V. Schenk

Contact

University of Bern
Institute of Plant Sciences

Altenbergrain 21
3013 Bern

Phone: +41 31 684 49 11