Opgenoorth Lab - Plant Ecology and Geobotany

The guiding principle of my research group is to understand the adaptation of forests and mountain ecosystems in changing environments in order to contribute to the conservation of biodiversity and the sustainable management of ecosystems. Our work is based on a diverse set of methods for the integrative and cross-scale analysis of plant phenotypes, plant (epi)genotypes, and environments. This includes methods from molecular ecology, sensor-based characterization of phenotypes and environments, and the whole range of controlled experiments in climate chambers, greenhouses, and common gardens as well as field work in natural environments. A substantial part of our work deals with trees - which we like to fly over, climb in, put sensors on, bore holes into, extract wood from, and use any other method that comes our way and helps to uncover their secrets. So far our work has been based in Europe, South America, Africa and High Asia.