Research interests

I am interested in the intra- and inter-annual growth of trees, shrubs and non-woody plants, and the intrinsic and extrinsic processes and factors influencing it. Form fits function – with this basic concept in mind, I investigate anatomical properties of cells in the xylem and other tissues and combine them with physiological measurements to learn about how tree and plant function, particularly regarding water and carbon relations. Using dated tree rings, I gain detailed insight into how trees have grown over centuries and how this has been influenced by the environment (dendroecology), and conversely, I infer past climate from past tree growth (dendroclimatology). Furthermore, I am interested in linking tree and plant responses to climate and other environmental changes to better understand forest ecosystems and plant communities in the past, present and future.

Teaching

  • Tree rings and climate (KSL 483380), Graduate School of Climate Sciences, University of Bern (OCCR) (1.5 ECTS)
  • Wood Structure & Function (101-0637-10L), Civil Engineering Master & Environmental Sciences Master, ETH Zurich (3 ECTS)
  • Dendroecology (701-1682-00L), Environmental Sciences Master, ETH Zurich (3 ECTS)
  • International training school "Quantitative Wood Anatomy using ROXAS – from samples to data" (further information) (KSL 482468), Graduate School of Climate Sciences, University of Bern (OCCR) (2 ECTS)

Software

ROXAS is a tool for the quantitative analysis of cell anatomical features such as lumen area, cell wall thickness and cell topology in trees (angiosperms and conifers), shrubs and herbaceous plants. Many options for optimizing and customizing the analysis help to produce high-quality anatomical data with comparably little effort. Data output is for each cell, as well as in summarized form for each annual ring. Read more...

Biosketch

Professional experiences

Since 2017 Head of Dendrosciencies Research Group, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL (Birmensdorf, Switzerland)
2013 - 2017 Scientific staff member at Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL (Birmensdorf, Switzerland)
2010 - 2013 Postdoc at Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL (Birmensdorf, Switzerland)
2009 - 2010 Project management at Swiss Academy of Technical Sciences SATW (Zurich, Switzerland)
2007 - 2008 Postdoc at Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research / School of Natural Ressources, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ, USA)
2006 - 2007 Image analysis project «ROXAS», funded by the Velux Stiftung (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)
2005 - 2006 High school teaching in Biology and Chemistry at Paedagogische Maturitaetsschule (Kreuzlingen, Switzerland)

Education

2021 Habiliation (PD), University of Bern
2007         Degree as a high school teacher in biology, ETH Zurich
2005 PhD thesis, Geobotanical Institute, ETH Zurich
2001 Master thesis, Geobotanical Institute, ETH Zurich

Projekte

The aim of this project is the complete revision of ROXAS, the successful image analysis tool for quantifying xylem cell anatomical features is ROXAS.

We will conduct a continental-scale climate sensitivity analysis of European beech and will investigate how different beech provenances differ in their climate growth response.

Effects of large volcanic eruptions on climate and societies: understand the impacts of past events and related subsidence crises to evaluate potential risks in the future

We plan to measure anatomical properties of trees that grow in highly temperature-restricted environments and compare and assimilate them with ensembles of climate models (PMIP4/CMIP6).

The aim of the project is to determine the biomass of individual trees more precisely using non-destructive measurement methods. Such estimates are central for the greenhouse gas inventory, Kyoto reporting and for the estimation of wood resources and bioenergy potentials.

Tree-ring d13C variations are a valuable archive of climatic information. A novel laser-ablation isotope-ratio mass-spectrometer enables to study variations within a single tree ring. We therefore plan to determine the occurrence of dry and wet periods of the past with unprecedented resolution.

TreeWater aims to improve our understanding of whether and how information on water uptake dynamics can be retrieved from the oxygen and hydrogen (i.e. water) isotopes in tree rings.

In this project, we investigate causes for the impacts of the extreme summer drought 2018 on the vitality of beech trees in different regions of the Swiss Plateau and Jura.

GenTree aims at providing the European forestry sector with better knowledge, methods and tools for optimizing the management and sustainable use of forest genetic resources in Europe in the context of climate change and continuously evolving demands for forest products and services.

Microclimate is a key factor influencing regeneration in forests. Particularly available light, water supply and temperature determine the success or failure of certain tree species. How will future climate change influence below-canopy microclimate and tree regeneration?

The aim of this project is to compare northern and southern hemispheres temperature histories over the past millennium using tree-ring anatomy data.

Quantitative Wood Anatomy is a novel proxy for understanding environmental conditions, but data-sharing is hindered by inadequate repositories. This project will create a flexible repository for wood cell data using open-source technologies to establish an interactive, user-friendly platform.

Publikationen

Edwards J., Tintor W.L., Nolin A.F., Woodhouse C.A., von Arx G., Anchukaitis K.J. (2025) Multiple elevation-dependent climate signals from quantitative wood anatomical measurements of Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine. J. Geophys. Res. G. 130(1), e2024JG008307 (17 pp.). doi:10.1029/2024JG008307 Institutional Repository DORA

Ferretti M., Fischer C., Gessler A., Graham C., Meusburger K., Abegg M., … Shackleton R.T. (2024) Advancing forest inventorying and monitoring. Ann. For. Sci. 81(1), 6 (25 pp.). doi:10.1186/s13595-023-01220-9 Institutional Repository DORA

Gugerli F., Brodbeck S., Bebi P., Bollmann K., Dauphin B., Gossner M., … Zweifel R. (2024) Il dschember – purtret d’ün bös-ch da god da muntogna. Merkblatt für die Praxis: Vol. 72 Rumantsch vallader. Birmensdorf: Eidg. Forschungsanstalt für Wald, Schnee und Landschaft WSL. 16 p. doi:10.55419/wsl:37222 Institutional Repository DORA

Klesse S., Peters R.L., Alfaro-Sánchez R., Badeau V., Baittinger C., Battipaglia G., … Buras A. (2024) No future growth enhancement expected at the northern edge for European beech due to continued water limitation. Glob. Chang. Biol. 30(10), e17546 (16 pp.). doi:10.1111/gcb.17546 Institutional Repository DORA

Portier J., Shackleton R.T., Klesse S., Ferretti M., Flury R., Hobi M.L., … Thürig E. (2024) No evidence that coring affects tree growth or mortality in three common European temperate forest tree species. Eur. J. For. Res. 143, 129-139. doi:10.1007/s10342-023-01612-6 Institutional Repository DORA

Power C.C., Normand S., von Arx G., Elberling B., Corcoran D., Krog A.B., … Prendin A.L. (2024) No effect of snow on shrub xylem traits: insights from a snow-manipulation experiment on Disko Island, Greenland. Sci. Total Environ. 916, 169896 (15 pp.). doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.169896 Institutional Repository DORA

Rydval M., Björklund J., von Arx G., Begović K., Lexa M., Nogueira J., … Jiang Y. (2024) Ultra-high-resolution reflected-light imaging for dendrochronology. Dendrochronologia. 83, 126160 (16 pp.). doi:10.1016/j.dendro.2023.126160 Institutional Repository DORA

Silvestro R., Mencuccini M., García-Valdés R., Antonucci S., Arzac A., Biondi F., … Rossi S. (2024) Partial asynchrony of coniferous forest carbon sources and sinks at the intra-annual time scale. Nat. Commun. 15, 6169 (12 pp.). doi:10.1038/s41467-024-49494-5 Institutional Repository DORA

Sun Q., Gilgen A.K., Wittwer R., von Arx G., van der Heijden M.G.A., Klaus V.H., Buchmann N. (2024) Drought effects on trait space of winter wheat are independent of land management. New Phytol. 243(2), 591-606. doi:10.1111/nph.19851 Institutional Repository DORA

Wei J., von Arx G., Fan Z., Ibrom A., Mund M., Knohl A., … Babst F. (2024) Drought alters aboveground biomass production efficiency: insights from two European beech forests. Sci. Total Environ. 919, 170726 (11 pp.). doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170726 Institutional Repository DORA

Björklund J., Seftigen K., Stoffel M., Fonti M.V., Kottlow S., Frank D.C., … von Arx G. (2023) Fennoscandian tree-ring anatomy shows a warmer modern than medieval climate. Nature. 620(7972), 97-103. doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06176-4 Institutional Repository DORA

Björklund J., von Arx G. (2023) Wood-anatomy data refine the record of climate in Northern Europe. Nature. 620, 97-103. doi:10.1038/d41586-023-02010-z Institutional Repository DORA

Brodbeck S., Bott G., Stucki J., von Arx G., Gugerli F. (2023) Die Methusalem-Arven von Celerina unter der wissenschaftlichen Lupe. Bündnerwald. 76(3), 50-54. Institutional Repository DORA

Buras A., Rehschuh R., Fonti M., Lange J., Fonti P., Menzel A., … von Arx G. (2023) Quantitative wood anatomy and stable carbon isotopes indicate pronounced drought exposure of Scots pine when growing at the forest edge. Front. For. Glob. Change. 6, 1233052 (13 pp.). doi:10.3389/ffgc.2023.1233052 Institutional Repository DORA

Giberti G.S., von Arx G., Giovannelli A., du Toit B., Unterholzner L., Bielak K., … Wellstein C. (2023) The admixture of Quercus sp. in Pinus sylvestris stands influences wood anatomical trait responses to climatic variability and drought events. Front. Plant Sci. 14, 1213814 (19 pp.). doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1213814 Institutional Repository DORA

James J., Kastally C., Budde K.B., González-Martínez S.C., Milesi P., Pyhäjärvi T., … Westin J. (2023) Between but not within-species Variation in the distribution of fitness effects. Mol. Biol. Evol. 40(11), msad228 (16 pp.). doi:10.1093/molbev/msad228 Institutional Repository DORA

Katzenmaier M., Sainte Fare Garnot V., Björklund J., Schneider L., Wegner J.D., von Arx G. (2023) Towards ROXAS AI: deep learning for faster and more accurate conifer cell analysis. Dendrochronologia. 81, 126126 (11 pp.). doi:10.1016/j.dendro.2023.126126 Institutional Repository DORA

Lopez-Saez J., Corona C., von Arx G., Fonti P., Slamova L., Stoffel M. (2023) Tree-ring anatomy of Pinus cembra trees opens new avenues for climate reconstructions in the European Alps. Sci. Total Environ. 855, 158605 (12 pp.). doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158605 Institutional Repository DORA

Peters R.L., Steppe K., Pappas C., Zweifel R., Babst F., Dietrich L., … Kahmen A. (2023) Daytime stomatal regulation in mature temperate trees prioritizes stem rehydration at night. New Phytol. 239(2), 533-546. doi:10.1111/nph.18964 Institutional Repository DORA

Puchi P.F., Khomik M., Frigo D., Arain M.A., Fonti P., von Arx G., Castagneri D. (2023) Revealing how intra- and inter-annual variability of carbon uptake (GPP) affects wood cell biomass in an eastern white pine forest. Environ. Res. Lett. 18(2), 024027 (11 pp.). doi:10.1088/1748-9326/acb2df Institutional Repository DORA

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