Dendrochronology and global change ecology with emphasis on high-resolution climate reconstructions and interdisciplinary investigations of the volcano-climate-human nexus.
Research Area
I consider myself a dendrochronologist, paleoclimatologist, and global change ecologist, working together with colleagues from all over the world. My curiosity-driven, interdisciplinary research addresses the following question(s): What are the causes and consequences of past and present changes in diverse, though often intertwined environmental system components, across a wide range of spatiotemporal scales; and how can different tree-ring archives, parameters and techniques be optimised to provide scientific answers to timely research questions of topical relevance at the crossroads of wildlife biology, forest ecology, mycology, (paleo)climatology and human history. My scientific credo is “Ask the right question(s) and let the data speak”.
After 14 years at the Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape (WSL within the ETH Domain), I joined Cambridge in 2017 as Professor of Environmental Systems Analysis and established the Tree-Ring Unit (TRU) at the Department of Geography. My group is combining state-of-the-art dendrochronological and wood anatomical data and methods. Although fieldwork mainly focusses on alpine and arctic environments across the Northern Hemisphere, we also work in arid regions where the effects of global warming are most evident. My group is exploring linkages between climate variability and human history at various spatiotemporal scales.
Project Interests
I am much interested in co-developing projects in dendrochronology (including wood anatomy), high-resolution (paleo)climatology, and global change ecology (including mycology). I am also excited about multi-disciplinary projects to unravel the direct and indirect relationships between volcanic eruptions, climate variations, ecological responses and societal consequences. More specifically, I would be delighted to supervise a PhD project on the development of new tree ring-based climate reconstructions in the Pamir Mountains in Tajikistan and/or the Taurus Mountains in southern Turkey.
