Research Interests

I am broadly interested in how plants interact with their environment and how these interactions affect the functioning of the plant and the ecosystem. My goal as an ecologist is to enable us to better manage natural systems in order to maintain their functioning under global change, as well as improving agricultural and forestry practices for a sustainable provision of ecosystem functions and services.

I have mostly applied trait-based approaches to better understand and generalize patterns of plant functioning and plant-microbe interactions. Particularly the belowground world of plant roots and fungi fascinates me with its important role in so many ecosystem processes.

With a background in biodiversity-ecosystem functioning, I am intrigued by the way diversity in species, phenotypes, strategies and interactions evolved and is shaping plant communities. I also study the importance of diversity for plant pathogen transmission and outbreaks and the potential implications for our management of land and crops.