Research Interests
I am interested in how climate and land-use change affects diversity and ecosystem functions in grasslands. In particular, we perform field experiments in hay meadows across Switzerland to study whether, and how much, summer drought and land-use intensification (productivity) affects invasibility (SNSF-project Invasibility of Swiss grassland) mediated by biotic interactions (SNSF project Drought legacy effects on grassland invasibility). Further, we collaborate in the research project European gradients of resilience in the face of climate extremes (SIGNAL, funded by ERA-Net BiodivERsA), which investigates the combined effects of extreme drought, invasive species, and management across countries with different climates. Moreover, we participate in the International Drought Experiment (IDE, Drought-Net). IDE is a coordinated experimental network aimed at advancing understanding of how and why terrestrial ecosystems across the globe differ in their sensitivity to drought. An extreme 4-year drought is being imposed based on the historical climate record for each participating site.
