Prof. Dr. Charlotte Grossiord

How does global warming affect plants - and thus the important functions and services provided for humans by ecosystems? As a physiological ecologist, I have been investigating this question throughout my scientific career.

In my doctorate at Lorraine University and at INRAE Grand Est-Colmar, in France, I explored how tree species diversity affects the water and carbon balance of trees. In particular, I focused on the resistance of plants to extreme events. In my postdoc at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the USA, I then investigated how forests adapt to the exacerbation of droughts with higher temperature.

I have been conducting research at WSL since 2018, supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation's "Ambizione" funding program. My focus is on how trees react to a warmer and drier climate, and how the combination of different species could buffer its negative impacts.

I was appointed tenure-track Assistant Professor at EPFL and WSL in September 2019. I am head of research group Functional Plant Ecology, and from March 1st 2020 on I will lead the WSL site in Lausanne, identified as PERL lab at EPFL.