This page is no longer being updated. For current members of the Plant Ecology group, please visit https://plantecology-alexander.ethz.ch/people.html​

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Jake Alexander
​assistant professor

Situated at the interface of ecology and evolution, my research addresses fundamental questions about how species’ interactions with other organisms and with their environment shape patterns of plant species' distribution, diversity and range dynamics.

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Chelsea Chisholm
​postdoctoral researcher

I use both large datasets and distributed experiments to address questions in community ecology and global change. Previously I have worked in arctic and alpine environments to examine how plant communities vary across environmental gradients, and the consequences for ecosystem functioning. In my current role I use demographic data to model the spread of invasive plant species across alpine ranges.

​Chelsea's website

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Loïc Liberati
​research assistant

After working more than ten years in different fields of horticulture, I obtained my masters in biogeosciences in 2017 in Lausanne . My masters project focused on the distribution and evolution of windy ridge vegetation and how it varies with substrate type in the Zermatt valley. Now I use my technical and naturalistic skills to set-up and maintain field and greenhouse experiments, making exhaustive botanical inventories and collecting data.

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Shengman Lyu
​phd student

I obtained my B.Sc in ecology at Lanzhou University in 2014, and my M.Sc at Fudan University in 2017. I am broadly interested in trait-based community ecology. For my doctoral work, I combine modelling and field experiments to investigate the ability of functional traits to predict the outcome of novel interactions among herbaceous plants in the Swiss Alps.

​ResearchGate

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Tim Murray
​research assistant

As a technical specialist in the lab, I assist with the the setup and maintenance of field experiments, as well as the collection of plant and soil samples, and plant trait data throughout the field season. I also manage the molecular biology lab, which primarily focuses on the analysis of soil micro-organisms and their contribution to alpine ecosystem processes.

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Hanna Nomoto
​phd student

In my PhD I aim to understand the ecological and evolutionary responses of alpine plants to climate change. Based on a transplant experiment in the Swiss Alps, I study how morphological and demographic traits in alpine plants respond to increased temperatures (direct consequences of climate change) and changing competitive interactions (indirect consequences of climate change). I also investigate how patterns of selection on morphology and phenology are influenced by climate change. I obtained my B.Sc from University of Gothenburg and my M. Sc from Uppsala University.

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​Kristiina Visakorpi
​postdoctoral researcher

I’m interested in species interactions and how they shape the surrounding community and ecosystem-level processes. In my previous work, I studied how insect herbivores affect the physiology of their host tree, and how these changes influence forest-level primary productivity, or the structure of the insect community associated with the same tree. Here at ETH Zürich, I plan to look at the combined effects of temperature, competition and herbivory on carbon assimilation and allocation by alpine plants. Working on a transplant experiment in the Swiss Alps, my aim is to understand the mechanisms determining competitive outcomes and species distributional ranges in alpine plant communities.

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Tom Walker
​postdoctoral researcher

My work focuses on understanding how climate change affects, and is affected by, the functioning of alpine and arctic ecosystems. Specifically, I borrow approaches from molecular biology, microbial physiology, biogeochemistry and ecosystem science to characterise the interplay between plants, soil organisms and their abiotic environment, and to interrogate this over multiple spatial and temporal scales.

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alumni

Lucija Grladinovic, masters student 2019
Giorgia Ferretti, masters student 2018
Aline Cardinaux, masters student 2017
Hristina Kostic, masters student 2017​
Jessica Joachim, research assistant 2016-2017
Jean Burgermeister, research assistant 2017

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We are enormously grateful to the many people who have helped set-up and run experiments over the years - here are just a few ...