Prof. Dr. Arthur Gessler

Prof. Dr. Arthur Gessler

Funzione

Responsabile di gruppo

 

Dinamica del bosco

Ecologia degli Ecositemi

  

Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL
Zürcherstrasse 111
8903 Birmensdorf

Sito

WSL Birmensdorf Bi HL D 26

Understanding the processes that drive and regulate forest growth, biogeochemical cycles, biotic interactions and biodiversity-ecosystem functioning at different scales is of central importance to our work. Only with this understanding we can assess and predict shifts in the function of ecosystems and landscapes subjected to fundamental changes in the prevailing environmental conditions (i.e. climate and land use).

EDUCATION/TRAINING

Institution and Location Degree Year(s) Field of Study
University of Freiburg

University of Freiburg

University of Freiburg

Diplom

Dr. rer. nat

PD (habil)

1994

1998

2004

Biology

Tree Physiology

Tree Physiology

POSITIONS: Employment /Experience

1994-1999

 

Postgraduate student/research assistant at the University of Freiburg (Institute of Forest Botany and Tree Physiology), Germany
1999-2002 Postdoctoral Fellow and Group leader at the University of Freiburg (Institute of Forest Botany and Tree Physiology), Germany
2002-2005 Research fellow of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft at the University of Freiburg, Germany
2002-2003 Visiting Fellow at the at the School of Forest and Ecosystem Science of the University of Melbourne, Austrlia
2005 Senior Research Fellow at the School of Forest and Ecosystem Science of the University of Melbourne, Australia
2005-2006 Visiting Fellow at the Research School of Biological Sciences at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
2006 Research Fellow at the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique in Nancy/Champenoux, France
2006-2009 Head of the Core Facility Metabolomics at the Centre for Biosystem Analysis (ZBSA) of the University of Freiburg, Germany
2009-2014 Head of the Institute for Landscape Biogeochemistry at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) and Professor for Landscape Biogeochemistry at the Humboldt University at Berlin
Since 2014 Research Program and Group Leader at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL

 

Five selected Publications:

(a full publication list can be found at: www.arthur-gessler.de)

Hommel R, Siegwolf R., Saurer M, Farquhar GD, Kayler Z, Ferrio JP, Gessler A. 2014. Drought response of mesophyll conductance in forest understory species - Impacts on water use efficiency and interactions with leaf water movement. Physiologia Plantarum online.

Gessler A, Brandes E, Keitel C, Boda S, Kayler ZE, Granier A, Barbour M, Farquhar GD, Treydte K. 2013. The oxygen isotope enrichment of leaf-exported assimilates - does it always reflect lamina leaf water enrichment? New Phytologist 200: 144-157.

Offermann C, Ferrio JP, Holst J, Grote R, Siegwolf R, Kayler Z, Gessler A. 2011. The long way down – Are carbon and oxygen isotope signals in the tree ring uncoupled from canopy physiological processes? Tree Physiology 31: 1088-1102.

Wingate L, Ogée J, Burlett R, Bosc A, Devaux M, Grace J, Loustau D, Gessler A. 2010 Photosynthetic carbon isotope discrimination and its relationship to the carbon isotope signals of stem, soil and ecosystem respiration. New Phytologist, 188: 576–589.

Gessler A, Tcherkez G, Karyanto O, Keitel C, Ferrio JP, Ghashghaie J, Farquhar GD. 2009. On the metabolic origin of the carbon isotope composition of CO2 evolved from darkened light-acclimated leaves in Ricinus communis. New Phytologist 181: 374–386

Projects

In this project we will assess the physiological processes by which trees adjust and interact among each other under a changing climate, determine the consequences of these processes on forest responses to climatic stresses and improve our understanding of these effects on forests functioning at a large comprehensive scale.

Establishing an inventory of soil water availability to trees in Swiss forest soils. This is done by means of model-based analysis of the water balances at 16 long-term monitoring sites in Switzerland, representing various geographical locations, soil and vegetation types.

Which are the main mechanisms conveying adaptation on the organ and whole tree level, how fast does acclimation occur and how long is an acclimation potential sustained?

The synchronization between supply and demand of resources in temperate forests is vital to ensure the optimal and sustainable functioning of these ecosystems. This project aims to understand how global warming is disrupting interactions between above- and below-ground organisms.

The project aims to provide novel mechanistic ways to reconstruct functional responses of trees to climatic changes in high temporal and spatial resolution by improving and combining fractionation models for carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen isotopes.

We use a long-term precipitation manipulation experiment in mature Pinus sylvestris forests and a natural precipitation gradient from 840 mm to 290 mm/year with Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica, to study the "Drought effects on reproductive phenology and the physiological mechanisms of pine trees".

INSIghtForest will accompany the Cost Action WATSON "WATer isotopeS in the critical zONeproposes" by establishing a unique data set of high frequency in-situ measured water isotopes located in a long-term irrigation experiment Pfynwald in the naturally dry valley of Valais, Switzerland.

The VPDrought Experiment aims to disentangle the effects of air and soil drought on forests. This is the first time worldwide that such an experiment is being conducted in this combination and quality. It is being carried out in the Pfynwald forest on an existing WSL research site.

The objective of the SwissPhenocam project is to develop and implement an automated phenology monitoring tool that will deliver added-value climate services regarding plant phenological responses to ongoing climate change and the carbon and water cycles.

The microC-flux project aims at elucidating the diel dynamics of carbon within foliage of conifer trees, assessing the C-enrichment within transient starch pools of needle tissues by means of nanoSIMS imaging and modelling the opposite radial transport of water and assimilates inside of needles

Die Forschungsstation Seehornwald Davos wurde in den 80er-Jahren von der WSL initiiert und ist damit eine der ältesten permanent betriebenen Wald-Vegetations-Forschungsstationen in der Schweiz.

Photosynthesis of forest ecosystems can be reduced in spring most likely due to cold temperatures. Such cold-related processes are, however, not captured in mechanistic models and we thus aim to assess the mechanisms and frequencies of such depressions and include them into models.

"PhenoRangers" aims to establish interactions between current research on the impact of climate change on the forest and the public, using phenology as the main tool.

As part of the Blue-Green Biodiversity Research Initiative (Eawag-WSL funded by ETH), we study differences in the effect of global environmental change on the phenology of primary production in lakes and their surrounding watersheds using remote sensing techniques.

In this project we assess the uptake and transport of nanoplastics in trees by using polystyrene nanoparticles doped with Palladium and detection of these particles with ICP-MS.

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.

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.

Our project, which proposes a novel approach (i.e., the use of virus-like particles), is key for the fundamental biological understanding of the transport and fate of nanoparticles in forest trees. Possible immediate applications include the development of new solutions for the nano-enabled foliar-a

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.

Klimaangepasste Baumarten im Schutzwald der BLS Südrampe.

Biological diversity has a huge potential to preserve and support agricultural ecosystem services. This project analyses the impact of agricultural and environmental policies on biodiversity and ecosystem services of agricultural production systems.

TreeNet ist ein internationales Beobachtungs- und Forschungsnetzwerk, in dem Punktdendrometer automatisch die täglichen Stammradiusschwankungen von Bäumen erfassen. Der kontinuierliche Fluss von Daten liefert Echtzeitinformationen über die Wasserverhältnisse im Baum und das radial Stammwachstum

We will enhance the design of the Swiss NFI plots to accomodate an augmented series of measurements, sampling and analysis needed to respond to pressing research question on status and change of the Swiss forest.

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.

It is important to have good information on the condition of the trees in the plots. Therefore scientists determine the relationships between crown condition and a number of environmental parameters.

FORWARDS aims to develop, test, and implement a European Observatory that will supply timely and detailed information on European forests' vulnerability to climate change impacts, and provide knowledge to guide climate smart forestry

Do evolutionary constraints on photoperiod and circadian clocks hinder adaptation and acclimation of plants to climate change? With this project, we will provide the mechanistic basis and a conceptual framework to understand how climatic and daylight/photoperiod cues jointly affects tree functioning.

The Long-Term Ecologiocal Research in Europe (LTER-Europe) capitalizes on research infrastructures such as the in-situ network of sites and information technology. Thousands of research projects have been carried out taking advantage of this infrastructure.

In this project, we investigate the potential of spectral proxies, obtained from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) high-resolution multispectral and thermal imaging, to detect trees pre-visual drought stress responses.

Nowcast and predict forest condition from TreeNet data with the help of machine learning.

Ongoing shifts in land use and climate patterns are profoundly impacting forest dynamics, underscoring the critical role of biodiversity in fostering resilient ecosystems and sustaining vital ecosystem services. A review will provide on relevant measures to promote biodiversity in managed forests.

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

Integrating different datasets will allow us to disentangle and better understand the relationship between leaf level chlorophyll fluorescence, remotely sensed sun induced fluorescence and photosynthetic CO2 uptake in response to drought.

This project investigates different ways of visualizing the complex data collected at the Pfynwald research site.

Phenology might not be only controlled by temperature, photoperiod and water availability but also by tree intrinsic factors related to sink-source relationships.

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.

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

Chin A.R.O., Gessler A., Laín O., Østerlund I., Schaub M., Théroux-Rancourt G., … Lambers J.H.R. (2025) The memory of past water abundance shapes trees 7 years later. Am. J. Bot. 112(1), e16452 (10 pp.). doi:10.1002/ajb2.16452 Institutional Repository DORA

Senf C., Esquivel-Muelbert A., Pugh T.A.M., Anderegg W.R.L., Anderson-Teixeira K.J., Arellano G., … van der Maaten-Theunissen M. (2025) Towards a global understanding of tree mortality. New Phytol. doi:10.1111/nph.20407 Institutional Repository DORA

Shakas A., Hediger R., Gessler A., Singha K., de Pasquale G., D'Odorico P., … Meusburger K. (2025) Does optimality partitioning theory fail for belowground traits? Insights from geophysical imaging of a drought‐release experiment in a Scots Pine forest. New Phytol. 245(2), 546-558. doi:10.1111/nph.20245 Institutional Repository DORA

Anthony M.A., Tedersoo L., De Vos B., Croisé L., Meesenburg H., Wagner M., … Averill C. (2024) Fungal community composition predicts forest carbon storage at a continental scale. Nat. Commun. 15, 2385 (13 pp.). doi:10.1038/s41467-024-46792-w Institutional Repository DORA

Bernhard F., Floriancic M.G., Treydte K., Gessler A., Kirchner J.W., Meusburger K. (2024) Tree- and stand-scale variability of xylem water stable isotope signatures in mature beech, oak and spruce. Ecohydrology. 17(2), e2614 (20 pp.). doi:10.1002/eco.2614 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

Bose A.K., Gessler A., Büntgen U., Rigling A. (2024) Tamm review: drought-induced Scots pine mortality – trends, contributing factors, and mechanisms. For. Ecol. Manag. 561, 121873 (13 pp.). doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2024.121873 Institutional Repository DORA

Depardieu C., Lenz P., Marion J., Nadeau S., Girardin M.P., Marchand W., … Isabel N. (2024) Contrasting physiological strategies explain heterogeneous responses to severe drought conditions within local populations of a widespread conifer. Sci. Total Environ. 923, 171174 (14 pp.). doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171174 Institutional Repository DORA

Diao H., Cernusak L.A., Saurer M., Gessler A., Siegwolf R.T.W., Lehmann M.M. (2024) Dry inside: progressive unsaturation within leaves with increasing vapour pressure deficit affects estimation of key leaf gas exchange parameters. New Phytol. 244(4), 1275-1287. doi:10.1111/nph.20078 Institutional Repository DORA

Diao H., Cernusak L.A., Saurer M., Gessler A., Siegwolf R.T.W., Lehmann M.M. (2024) Uncoupling of stomatal conductance and photosynthesis at high temperatures: mechanistic insights from online stable isotope techniques. New Phytol. 241(6), 2366-2378. doi:10.1111/nph.19558 Institutional Repository DORA

Didion-Gency M., Vitasse Y., Buchmann N., Gessler A., Gisler J., Schaub M., Grossiord C. (2024) Chronic warming and dry soils limit carbon uptake and growth despite a longer growing season in beech and oak. Plant Physiol. 194(2), 741-757. doi:10.1093/plphys/kiad565 Institutional Repository DORA

Eisenring M., Gessler A., Frei E.R., Glauser G., Kammerer B., Moor M., … Gossner M.M. (2024) Legacy effects of premature defoliation in response to an extreme drought event modulate phytochemical profiles with subtle consequences for leaf herbivory in European beech. New Phytol. 242(6), 2495-2509. doi:10.1111/nph.19721 Institutional Repository DORA

Eisenring M., Gessler A., Frei E.R., Glauser G., Kammerer B., Moor M., … Gossner M.M. (2024) Verfrühter Laubfall der Buche im Dürresommer 2018 hat längerfristige Auswirkungen auf Buchen-Insekten-Interaktionen. Schweiz. Z. Forstwes. 175(2), 90-104. 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

Ferretti M., Gessler A., Cools N., Fleck S., Guerrieri R., Jakovljević T., … Sanders T.G.M. (2024) Resilient forests need joint forces for better inventorying and monitoring. For. Ecol. Manag. 561, 121875 (6 pp.). doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2024.121875 Institutional Repository DORA

Gao D., Luster J., Zürcher A., Arend M., Bai E., Gessler A., … Hagedorn F. (2024) Drought resistance and resilience of rhizosphere communities in forest soils from the cellular to ecosystem scale – insights from 13C pulse labeling. New Phytol. 242(3), 960-974. doi:10.1111/nph.19612 Institutional Repository DORA

Gessler A., Zweifel R. (2024) Beyond source and sink control – toward an integrated approach to understand the carbon balance in plants. New Phytol. 242(3), 858-869. doi:10.1111/nph.19611 Institutional Repository DORA

Gessler A., Schaub M., Bose A., Trotsiuk V., Valbuena R., Chirici G., Buchmann N. (2024) Finding the balance between open access to forest data while safeguarding the integrity of National Forest Inventory-derived information. New Phytol. 242(2), 344-346. doi:10.1111/nph.19466 Institutional Repository DORA

Gessler A., Wieloch T., Saurer M., Lehmann M.M., Werner R.A., Kammerer B. (2024) The marriage between stable isotope ecology and plant metabolomics – new perspectives for metabolic flux analysis and the interpretation of ecological archives. New Phytol. 244(1), 21-31. doi:10.1111/nph.19973 Institutional Repository DORA

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