Education

04.2007 – 07.2010

PhD at the botanical institute of the University of Basel, Switzerland
"Infra-red thermometry in alpine terrain", supervised by Prof. Ch. Körner (Project Ecochange)

10.2005 – 03.2007

Master of Science in Ecology, University of  Basel, Switzerland
"Local extinction risk, colonisation probability and spatial spread of the alpine Geum reptans on a glacier foreland in the Swiss Alps", supervised by Prof. J. Stöcklin

10.2002 –09.2005

Bachelor of Science in organismic biology, University of Basel, Switzerland

Professional experience

since 01.2019

Scientific staff member at the WSL (Group Plant regeneration Ecology
Spatial and temporal modelling and data analysis of forest ecosystems with focus on the impact of climate change, disturbance events and tree regeneration.

10.2013 – 09.2018

PostDoc / Junior Lecturer at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland (Group ECOSPAT)
Scientific research in the fields of biogeography, community ecology and spatial modelling. Teaching of courses at graduate and undergraduate level.

07.2011 – 09.2013

Travelling the World (AUS, NZ, SE-Asia, Russia, Mongolia)
Practical experience with different ecosystems and improvement of language skills.

05.2011 –06.2011

Civil service at the Museum-BL, Switzerland
Development and implementation of a taxonomic backbone for the natural history collection of the museum.

08.2010 –04.2011

PostDoc at the University of Basel, Switzerland
Drought-sensitivity of deciduous tree species. (Projekt MatchTree).

04.2007 –07.2010

PhD Candidate at the University of Basel, Switzerland
Infra-red thermometry of alpine and arctic landscapes (Projekt Ecochange).

Reseach interests

I am an ecologist working in multiple fields including ecophysiology, bioinformatics and climatology. During my PhD I studied the influence of micro-climate on the spatial distribution of artic/alpine plant species and their expected reaction to global warming. Further research projects included the effect of drought on deciduous tree species, various technical as well as applied aspects of species distribution modelling and community ecology.

Reseachgate       Google Scholar        ReseacherID: K-3416-2013

 

Projects

The projected increase in the frequency of forest fires due to climate change underlines the need for long-term studies on tree regeneration and succession after forest fires. These data serve as a basis for adaptive management and intervention plans.

This project aims to integrate the recording of standardized mast observation into existing phenology networks (e.g. PhaenoNet, Phenowald, PhenoRanger) and field surveys. The recorded data will be made publicly available on the already established platform of MastWeb hosted at WSL.

New and improved functionality for the mastweb.ch platform to collect, distribute, visualise and evaluate data on tree fecundity levels in Swiss forests.

In this project, we are investigating the extent to which the spatial predictability of forest plant species and fungi can be improved by using high-resolution soil maps. In addition, we analyse how climate change affects the distribution of different species and what role soil plays in this.

Spatial modelling of drought effects on Swiss forests

Eine Übersicht über minimale und maximale Stammzahlen der Verjüngung in Schweizer Wäldern fehlt. BENCHMARKS soll Bandbreiten von Verjüngungsdichten für Baumarten und Höhenklassen berechnen, differenziert nach Naturraum, Höhenstufen, groben NaiS-Standorttypen und Waldstrukturen.

This project investigates the biotic communities and food webs between ground vegetation and tree canopies, contributing to a better understanding of the three-dimensional relationship between forest structure and physiology, biodiversity, and ecosystem functions.

The project examines how warmer winters and hot-dry summers affect the growth of potential future tree species during the advanced regeneration stage and how this response is modulated by soil properties and soil biotic communities.

We demonstrate optimization pathways of forest management to mitigate climate change.

Publications

Allgaier Leuch B., Abegg M., Scherrer D., Frehner M., Losey S. (2024) Vegetationshöhenstufen und Standorttypen im LFI: bisherige und neue Angaben im Vergleich. Schweiz. Z. Forstwes. 175(2), 64-71. doi:10.3188/szf.2024.0064 Institutional Repository DORA

Bose A.K., Doležal J., Scherrer D., Altman J., Ziche D., Martínez-Sancho E., … Camarero J.J. (2024) Revealing legacy effects of extreme droughts on tree growth of oaks across the Northern Hemisphere. Sci. Total Environ. 926, 172049 (12 pp.). doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172049 Institutional Repository DORA

Díaz‐Yáñez O., Käber Y., Anders T., Bohn F., Braziunas K.H., Brůna J., … Bugmann H. (2024) Tree regeneration in models of forest dynamics: a key priority for further research. Ecosphere. 15(3), e4807 (25 pp.). doi:10.1002/ecs2.4807 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

Flury R., Portier J., Rohner B., Baltensweiler A., Di Bella Meusburger K., Scherrer D., … Stadelmann G. (2024) Soil and climate‐dependent ingrowth inference: broadleaves on their slow way to conquer Swiss forests. Ecography. 2024(7), e07174 (14 pp.). doi:10.1111/ecog.07174 Institutional Repository DORA

Maag N., Korner‐Nievergelt F., Szymkowiak J., Hałas N., Maziarz M., Neubauer G., … Pasinelli G. (2024) Wood warbler population dynamics in response to mast seeding regimes in Europe. Ecology. 105, e4227 (15 pp.). doi:10.1002/ecy.4227 Institutional Repository DORA

Rota F., Scherrer D., Bergamini A., Price B., Walthert L., Baltensweiler A. (2024) Unravelling the impact of soil data quality on species distribution models of temperate forest woody plants. Sci. Total Environ. 944, 173719 (11 pp.). doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173719 Institutional Repository DORA

Scherrer D., Lüthi R., Bugmann H., Burnand J., Wohlgemuth T., Rudow A. (2024) Impacts of climate warming, pollution, and management on the vegetation composition of Central European beech forests. Ecol. Indic. 160, 111888 (10 pp.). doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2024.111888 Institutional Repository DORA

Stadelmann G., Portier J., Rohner B., Frehner M., Ibrahim M., Klesse S., … Flury R. (2024) Ökologisch kohärente Baumartengruppen für die praxisnahe Forschung. Schweiz. Z. Forstwes. 175(6), 312-313. doi:10.3188/szf.2024.0312 Institutional Repository DORA

Wohlgemuth T., Scherrer D. (2024) Was sagen uns Pflanzenarten über die Vegetation und die Umweltbedingungen. Zürcher Wald. 56(6), 4-7. Institutional Repository DORA

Scherrer D., Moser B., Wohlgemuth T. (2023) Huhn oder Ei? Störungen und Baumartenzusammensetzung. In P. Bebi & J. Schweier (Eds.), WSL Berichte: Vol. 144. Aus Störungen und Extremereignissen im Wald lernen. Birmensdorf: Eidg. Forschungsanstalt für Wald, Schnee und Landschaft WSL. 33-40. doi:10.55419/wsl:35228 Institutional Repository DORA

Scherrer D., Baltensweiler A., Bürgi M., Fischer C., Stadelmann G., Wohlgemuth T. (2023) Low naturalness of Swiss broadleaf forests increases their susceptibility to disturbances. For. Ecol. Manag. 532, 120827 (8 pp.). doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2023.120827 Institutional Repository DORA

Scherrer D., Allgaier Leuch B., Fischer C., Frehner M., Wohlgemuth T. (2023) Maintaining the protective function of mountain forests under climate change by the concept of naturalness in tree species composition. Front. For. Glob. Change. 6, 1191639 (12 pp.). doi:10.3389/ffgc.2023.1191639 Institutional Repository DORA

Wohlgemuth T., Queloz V., Moser B., Pezzatti G.B., Scherrer D., Vitasse Y., Conedera M. (2023) Dynamik von Störungen in Wäldern auf der Alpennordseite von 1900 bis 2022. Disturbance dynamics on the north of the Alps from 1900 to 2022. In P. Bebi & J. Schweier (Eds.), WSL Berichte: Vol. 144. Aus Störungen und Extremereignissen im Wald lernen. Birmensdorf: Eidg. Forschungsanstalt für Wald, Schnee und Landschaft WSL. 17-24. doi:10.55419/wsl:35224 Institutional Repository DORA

Bader M.K.F., Scherrer D., Zweifel R., Körner C. (2022) Less pronounced drought responses in ring-porous than in diffuse-porous temperate tree species. Agric. For. Meteorol. 327, 109184 (14 pp.). doi:10.1016/j.agrformet.2022.109184 Institutional Repository DORA

Bose A.K., Rigling A., Gessler A., Hagedorn F., Brunner I., Feichtinger L., … Schaub M. (2022) Lessons learned from a long‐term irrigation experiment in a dry Scots pine forest: impacts on traits and functioning. Ecol. Monogr. 92(2), e1507 (18 pp.). doi:10.1002/ecm.1507 Institutional Repository DORA

Scherrer D., Bürgi M., Gessler A., Kessler M., Nobis M.P., Wohlgemuth T. (2022) Abundance changes of neophytes and native species indicate a thermophilisation and eutrophisation of the Swiss flora during the 20th century. Ecol. Indic. 135, 108558 (11 pp.). doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.108558 Institutional Repository DORA

Scherrer D., Ascoli D., Conedera M., Fischer C., Maringer J., Moser B., … Wohlgemuth T. (2022) Canopy disturbances catalyse tree species shifts in Swiss Forests. Ecosystems. 25, 199-214. doi:10.1007/s10021-021-00649-1 Institutional Repository DORA

Bose A.K., Scherrer D., Camarero J.J., Ziche D., Babst F., Bigler C., … Rigling A. (2021) Climate sensitivity and drought seasonality determine post-drought growth recovery of Quercus petraea and Quercus robur in Europe. Sci. Total Environ. 784, 147222 (13 pp.). doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147222 Institutional Repository DORA

Scherrer D., Hiltebrand F., Dengler J., Wohlgemuth T. (2021) Mind the gaps: comparison of representative vs opportunistic assessment of tree regeneration in Central European beech forests. For. Ecol. Manag. 491, 119179 (10 pp.). doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2021.119179 Institutional Repository DORA

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