Northern Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning

NorEcoFun group studies biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in Northern ecosystems – boreal forest and tundra. We focus on plant communities, which form the foundation of ecosystems. This foundation is changing especially in tundra and boreal forest due to climate and land use changes.

For predicting the community changes and understanding their consequences for ecosystem functioning, we investigate

1. long-term changes in natural plant communities,
2. characteristics of plant communities, which regulate their sensitivity to a change, and their impacts on ecosystem functioning,
3. how species interactions and dispersal influence plant community structure and thereby ecosystem functioning under a changing environment.