Research Topics

  • Macroecology and Biodiversity
    Understanding and modelling of biodiversity in mountain ecosystems globally
  • Climate impacts
    Impacts of climate on biodiversity, hydrology, and vegetation
  • Climate downscaling
    Development of climate downscaling algorithms and high resolution climate data products

Research Interest

I am a senior researcher at the interface of macroecology, biodiversity research, and climatology. My research focuses on how climate and biodiversity are linked in time and space. A focus of my recent work has been the development of algorithms to downscale climate data to the biologically relevant scales needed for ecological studies. I am currently studying how extreme weather and extreme events, such as megadroughts, affect vegetation and biodiversity. I have also done extensive work on the geography and biodiversity of cloud forest ecosystems in the tropics and the biogeography of tropical islands.

CV

Scientific Positions

since 2021

Senior Researcher, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland

2017-2021

Scientific Staff Member, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland

2016-2018

Visiting researcher, Center for Biodiversity and Global Change, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

2015-2017

Postdoctoral researcher, Department of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

2013-2015

Postdoctoral researcher, Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

2009-2013

Ph.D. position, Department of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

Education

27.05.2013 Dr. sc. nat. (Ph.D.) , University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
09.09.2009 Diplom (Msc.), University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany
2005-2009 Studies in Biology , University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany

Projects

Despite being an essential element of the biodiversity and climate change crisis, the feedback between biodiversity and climate remains an understudied subject in biodiversity and climate science. The project FeedBaCks will focus on this important interaction between the two disciplines.

Currently, there is scientific consensus that higher spatial resolution also increases the accuracy of models that model the effects of climate change; however, to what extent is still largely unknown.

In collaboration with Info Flora, we develop a web platform and an identification module for the popular FlorApp to make available the capacity of an artificial intelligence to accurately identify Swiss plant species from images and coordinates.

FutureWeb will integrate predictive biogeography, geography, biostatistics and trophic web ecology to derive an ensemble of scenarios of the impact of global change on multi-trophic vertebrate biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and the provision of ecosystem services in Europe.

As the climate continues to change, Switzerland edges closer to a future in which extreme drought in the Alps is increasingly likely – and could push water and ecological systems to their limits. The EMERGE project studies past extreme droughts in mountain regions to help us better understand, and prepare for, potential impacts in the future.

ECHOES integrates climate impact models with audio-visual art, using speculative design to convey complexities and engage diverse audiences.

The project will provide both a novel scientific understanding of megadroughts and advanced tools to cope with megadroughts and water scarcity.

Publications

Chen L., Brun P., Buri P., Fatichi S., Gessler A., McCarthy M.J., … Karger D.N. (2025) Global increase in the occurrence and impact of multiyear droughts. Science. 387(6731), 278-284. doi:10.1126/science.ado4245 Institutional Repository DORA

Andrič M., Karger D.N. (2024) The Holocene vegetation and land-use history in the Northern Dinaric Karst. In B. Fuerst-Bjeliš, J. Mrgić, H. Petrić, M. Zorn, & Ž. Zwitter (Eds.), Environmental history: Vol. 17. Environmental histories of the Dinaric Karst. Cham: Springer Nature. 29-50. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-56089-7_2 Institutional Repository DORA

Antunes A.C., Berti E., Brose U., Hirt M.R., Karger D.N., O'Connor L.M.J., … Gauzens B. (2024) Linking biodiversity, ecosystem function, and Nature's contributions to people: a macroecological energy flux perspective. Trends Ecol. Evol. 39(5), 427-434. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2024.01.004 Institutional Repository DORA

Brun P., Karger D.N., Zurell D., Descombes P., de Witte L.C., de Lutio R., … Zimmermann N.E. (2024) Multispecies deep learning using citizen science data produces more informative plant community models. Nat. Commun. 15, 4421 (15 pp.). doi:10.1038/s41467-024-48559-9 Institutional Repository DORA

Brunner C., Lordan-Perret R., Cadelli E., Salzmann N., Karger D.N., Zimmermann N.E. (2024) Gekoppelte Herausforderungen für die Schweiz: Schnittstellen im Klimaschutz, Biodiversitätsschutz, Energiesicherheit und Landschaftsschutz. Whitepaper. ETH Zürich. 18 p. doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000673411 Institutional Repository DORA

Chauvier-Mendes Y., Pollock L.J., Verburg P.H., Karger D.N., Pellissier L., Lavergne S., … Thuiller W. (2024) Transnational conservation to anticipate future plant shifts in Europe. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 8, 454-466. doi:10.1038/s41559-023-02287-3 Institutional Repository DORA

Davoli M., Monsarrat S., Pedersen R.Ø., Scussolini P., Karger D.N., Normand S., Svenning J.C. (2024) Megafauna diversity and functional declines in Europe from the Last Interglacial to the present. Glob. Ecol. Biogeogr. 33(1), 34-47. doi:10.1111/geb.13778 Institutional Repository DORA

Frieler K., Volkholz J., Lange S., Schewe J., Mengel M., Del Rocío Rivas López M., … Bechtold M. (2024) Scenario setup and forcing data for impact model evaluation and impact attribution within the third round of the Inter-Sectoral Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP3a). Geosci. Model Dev. 17(1), 1-51. doi:10.5194/gmd-17-1-2024 Institutional Repository DORA

Kambach S., Attorre F., Axmanová I., Bergamini A., Biurrun I., Bonari G., … Bruelheide H. (2024) Climate regulation processes are linked to the functional composition of plant communities in European forests, shrublands, and grasslands. Glob. Chang. Biol. 30(2), e17189 (14 pp.). doi:10.1111/gcb.17189 Institutional Repository DORA

Malle J.T., Mazzotti G., Karger D.N., Jonas T. (2024) Regionally optimized high-resolution input datasets enhance the representation of snow cover in CLM5. Earth Syst. Dyn. 15(4), 1073-1115. doi:10.5194/esd-15-1073-2024 Institutional Repository DORA

Mayfield R.J., Rijal D.P., Heintzman P.D., Langdon P.G., Karger D.N., Brown A.G., Alsos I.G. (2024) Holocene summer temperature reconstruction from plant sedaDNA and chironomids from the northern boreal forest. Quat. Sci. Rev. 345, 109045 (20 pp.). doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109045 Institutional Repository DORA

Midolo G., Axmanová I., Divíšek J., Dřevojan P., Lososová Z., Večeřa M., … Chytrý M. (2024) Diversity and distribution of Raunkiær's life forms in European vegetation. J. Veg. Sci. 35(1), e13229 (15 pp.). doi:10.1111/jvs.13229 Institutional Repository DORA

O'Connor L. M.J., Renaud J., Dou Y., Karger D. N., Maiorano L., Verburg P. H., Thuiller W. (2024) Habitat suitability of European land systems for terrestrial vertebrates. Glob. Ecol. Biogeogr. 33, e13903 (5 pp.). doi:10.1111/geb.13903 Institutional Repository DORA

Siegfried T., Mujahid A.U.H., Marti B., Molnar P., Karger D.N., Yakovlev A. (2024) Unveiling the future water pulse of central asia: a comprehensive 21st century hydrological forecast from stochastic water balance modeling. Clim. Chang. 177(9), 141 (19 pp.). doi:10.1007/s10584-024-03799-y Institutional Repository DORA

Zellweger F., Sulmoni E., Malle J.T., Baltensweiler A., Jonas T., Zimmermann N.E., … Webster C. (2024) Microclimate mapping using novel radiative transfer modelling. Biogeosciences. 21(2), 605-623. doi:10.5194/bg-21-605-2024 Institutional Repository DORA

van Tiel N., Fopp F., Brun P., van den Hoogen J., Karger D.N., Casadei C.M., … Pellissier L. (2024) Regional uniqueness of tree species composition and response to forest loss and climate change. Nat. Commun. 15, 4375 (12 pp.). doi:10.1038/s41467-024-48276-3 Institutional Repository DORA

Cai L., Kreft H., Taylor A., Denelle P., Schrader J., Essl F., … Weigelt P. (2023) Global models and predictions of plant diversity based on advanced machine learning techniques. New Phytol. 237(4), 1432-1445. doi:10.1111/nph.18533 Institutional Repository DORA

Dauphin B., Rellstab C., Wüest R.O., Karger D.N., Holderegger R., Gugerli F., Manel S. (2023) Re-thinking the environment in landscape genomics. Trends Ecol. Evol. 38(3), 261-274. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2022.10.010 Institutional Repository DORA

Engel T., Bruelheide H., Hoss D., Sabatini F.M., Altman J., Arfin-Khan M.A.S., … Pillar V. (2023) Traits of dominant plant species drive normalized difference vegetation index in grasslands globally. Glob. Ecol. Biogeogr. 32(5), 695-706. doi:10.1111/geb.13644 Institutional Repository DORA

Kambach S., Sabatini F.M., Attorre F., Biurrun I., Boenisch G., Bonari G., … Bruelheide H. (2023) Climate-trait relationships exhibit strong habitat specificity in plant communities across Europe. Nat. Commun. 14(1), 712 (11 pp.). doi:10.1038/s41467-023-36240-6 Institutional Repository DORA

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