Forest Soils and Biogeochemistry

We examine how external factors like pollutants, climate change and land management affect the functions and biogeochemical cycles in the soils of near-natural ecosystems.

Projects

DeepDrought examines how deep root water uptake helps plants mitigate drought, especially as deep soil droughts increase with climate change. Using SVAT models, the project analyzes deep soil water availability and aligns TWD and WUE as drought stress measures to assess plant responses.

How does soil carbon redistribute across diverse mountain landscapes? SOCscape combine field data, soil analysis, and modeling to uncover the dynamics of carbon fluxes in these complex, geochemically varied environments.

The SMURF project aims to improve soil moisture monitoring, which is crucial for understanding climate and ecosystem dynamics in Swiss forests.

Forest-RESIST explores how forests respond to changes in water availability and vapour pressure deficit (VPD). We map underground processes using 4D electrical resistivity imaging, capturing water flow and root uptake. Together with ETHZ, this research is conducted at the Pfynwald research platform.

The emergence of visible tree-stress symptoms caused by the emerald ash borer occurs only several years after its arrival and are hard to tell apart from those caused by soil drought. Here, we investigate the potential of reflectance spectroscopy as an early-warning screening tool.

show more

Publications

Coşgun S., Gauthier J., Beffa G., Bonanomi G., Carraro G., Cherubini P., … Tinner W. (2025) Exploring the connection between climatic conditions and genetic properties of Abies alba Mill., including warm and summer-dry Mediterranean environments. Sci. Total Environ. 964, 178559 (15 pp.). doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.178559 Institutional Repository DORA

Coşgun S., Gauthier J., Bonanomi G., Carraro G., Cherubini P., Conedera M., … Tinner W. (2025) Genetic differentiation of Abies alba outside its main range under warm meso‐ and sub‐mediterranean conditions in Italy and Switzerland. Ecol. Evol. 15(2), e70909 (17 pp.). doi:10.1002/ece3.70909 Institutional Repository DORA

Cuartero J., Briones M.J.I., Rast B.M., Stierli B., Maurer-Troxler C., Hug A.S., … Frey B. (2025) Earthworm and enchytraeid indicator taxa of different land-use types identified using soil DNA metabarcoding. Appl. Soil Ecol. 206, 105891 (16 pp.). doi:10.1016/j.apsoil.2025.105891 Institutional Repository DORA

Dahl M., Asplund M.E., Björk M., Bergman S., Braun S., Forsberg S.C., … Gullström M. (2025) Evaluating seagrass lipid biomarkers as indicator for organic carbon provenance and storage capacity in Zostera marina (L.) sediments. Sci. Total Environ. 959, 178324 (7 pp.). doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.178324 Institutional Repository DORA

Gupta S., Zweifel L., Birkholz A., Meusburger K., Leitinger G., Alewell C. (2025) Mapping snow gliding distances: Bridging modelled and field observations. Cold Reg. Sci. Technol. 231, 104402 (13 pp.). doi:10.1016/j.coldregions.2024.104402 Institutional Repository DORA

Show all

Research Groups and Staff

Forest Soils and Biogeochemistry

Jörg Luster

Head of Research Unit ad interim

Biogeochemistry

Frank Hagedorn

Group leader

Andrea Benech

Master student

Luca Bianchi

PhD student guest

Arun Bose

Scientific staff member

Jessica Carilli

Trainee

Philipp de Jong

PhD student

Katrin Di Bella Meusburger

Scientific staff member

Ika Djukic

Visiting scientist

Jasmin Fetzer

Visiting scientist

Michael Leonardo Galli

Temporary employee

Konstantin Gavazov

Visiting scientist

Tatiana Hirsiger

Technical staff member

Marco Lehmann

Scientific staff member

Mathias Mayer

Visiting scientist

Luisa Isabell Minich

PhD student

Margaux Moreno Duborgel

PhD student

Patrizia Palermo

Technical staff member

Patrick Schleppi

Scientific staff member

Rienk Smittenberg

Scientific staff member

Tanja Stutz

Technical staff member

Anne Thimonier Rickenmann

Scientific staff member

Annegret Udke

PhD student

Peter Waldner

Scientific staff member

Joachim Zhu

Technical specialist

Alois Zürcher

Technical staff member

Soil Functions and Soil Protection

Daniel Christen

Technical staff member

Roger Köchli

Technical staff member

Peter Lüscher

Visiting scientist

Sonia Meller

Visiting scientist

Iza Murzynowska

Technical staff member

Behzad Rahimi

Technical specialist

Marco Walser

Technical staff member

Lorenz Walthert

Scientific staff member

Stephan Zimmermann

Scientific staff member

LWF II

Jürg Schmid

Temporary employee

Simone Schmid

Temporary employee

Maria Schmitt Oehler

Visiting scientist

Rhizosphere Processes

Beat Frey

Group leader

Julia Bilat

Visiting scientist

Ivano Brunner

Visiting scientist

Basil Burri

Master student

Jessica Cuartero Monino

Postdoc

Jonathan Donhauser

Visiting scientist

Maomao Feng

PhD student guest

Aline Frossard

Scientific staff member

Benedikt Gruntz

Scientific assistant

Samuel Gunz

Visiting scientist

Simon Patrick Heiniger

Temporary employee

Maria Leunda

Visiting scientist

Annina Maier

PhD student guest

Seraina Nohl

Temporary employee

Ioana-Catalina Paica

Visiting scientist

Christoph Schwörer

Visiting scientist

Christoph Sperisen

Scientific staff member

Beat Stierli

Technical staff member

Gilda Varliero

Postdoc

Anja Werz

Assistante scientifique

×