Research foci and projects

Numerous exchange processes take place between the terrestrial biota and the atmosphere that contribute to the regulation of the atmosphere's composition and climate, on timescales from hours to millennia. However, in many cases the underlying processes and the feedbacks that operate within the system are understood only poorly. This applies especially regarding exchange processes in natural vs. those in anthropogenically managed ecosystems, and the interactions that take place in pristine vs. polluted environments. Our research addresses the following main questions:

• What are the key biological processes that affect atmospheric composition and climate; what is the source/sink distribution of atmospherically reactive biological substances, how do their production and uptake vary e.g., in relation to vegetation dynamics, and plant and microbial carbon, water and nitrogen cycles?
• When, where and how was human influence discernible in the past centuries and millennia; how is biosphere-atmosphere exchange transformed in polluted compared to non-polluted environments, and what are the implications for the state of the past, present and future atmosphere?
• What is the role of land use and land cover change compared to that of climate change, and what are the possible feedbacks in the Earth System?