Global change
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Global change
Global change
We live in a time of dramatic changes. Besides being a cause of global climate change, the increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations have a direct bearing on plant functioning as well, since carbon dioxide is he substrate of photosynthesis. Thus we are witnessing an involuntary CO2 fertilisation experiment of global scale. Together with other aspects of global change (e.g. land use changes) we expect complex effects on the functioning of individual plants and entire communities. We approach this problem at different levels:
1.The direct short- and long term consequences of elevated CO2 and altered climatic conditions on selected plant groups
2.The consequences of land use changes on the biodiversity of tropical ecosystems, e.g by comparing primary, secondary forests and pastures with few remaining trees on the diversity of epiphytic plants.
Photo: Kerstin Poltz
Selected Publications
Zotz G, Andrade JL & Einzmann HJR. 2023. CAM plants: Their importance in epiphyte communities and prospects with global change. Annals of Botany, in press.
Maynard LD, Moureau E, Bader MY, Salazar D, Zotz G & Whitehead SR. 2022. Effects of climate change on plant resource allocation and herbivore interactions in a Neotropical rainforest shrub. Ecology and Evolution 12: e9198.
Einzmann HJR, Weichgrebe L & Zotz G. 2022. The impact of a severe El Niño event on vascular epiphytes in lowland Panama. Diversity 14: 325. https://doi.org/10.3390/d14050325
Einzmann HJR & Zotz G. 2017. “No signs of saturation”: Long-term dynamics of vascular epiphyte communities in a human-modified landscape. Biodiversity and Conservation 26: 1393-1410.
Müller L-LB, Albach DC & Zotz G. 2017. “Are 3°C too much?” – Thermal niche breadth in Bromeliaceae and global warming. Journal of Ecology 105: 507–516.
Wagner K & Zotz G. 2018. Epiphytic bromeliads in a changing world: The effect of elevated CO2 and varying water supply on growth and nutrient relations. Plant Biology 20: 636-640.
Monteiro JAF, Zotz G & Körner C. 2009. Tropical epiphytes in a CO2-rich atmosphere. Acta Oecologica 35: 60-68.
Zotz G & Bader MY. 2009. Epiphytic plants in a changing world: Global change effects on vascular and non-vascular epiphytes. Progress in Botany 70: 147-170.
Körner C, Asshoff R, Bignucolo O, Hättenschwiler S, Keel S, Peláez-Riedl S, Pepin S, Siegwolf R & Zotz G. 2005. Carbon flux and growth in mature deciduous forest trees exposed to elevated CO2. Science 309: 1360-1362.
Leuzinger S, Zotz G, Asshoff R & Körner C. 2005. Responses of deciduous forest trees to severe drought in Central Europe. Tree Physiology 25: 641-650.