Plant Physiological Ecology & Biogeochemistry (Michelsen) Lab

We focus on climate change effects and anthropogenic impact on organisms, plant physiological and biogeochemical processes in natural and semi-natural ecosystems, mainly in the temperate and arctic zone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fields of research are within general and physiological ecology in terrestrial systems, including interactions between the ecosystem components, and the biodiversity of soil organisms and plants. Major approaches include investigation of plant physiological and biogeochemical responses to natural environmental variation and to global and regional environmental changes and disturbances (e.g. climate change, UV-B radiation and land use).

We also study the interactions between aboveground processes such as photosynthesis, the relation to tissue chemistry, and to belowground processes, such as nutrient mineralisation and uptake by plants.

 

 

Our research is primarily experimental and includes both process-level and organism/population-level components. It spans a range of temporal and spatial scales, including:

  • use of stable isotopes in ecology

  • gas exchange at leaf and whole plant level

  • nutrient mineralisation, plant nutrient uptake, and soil–microbe–plant interactions

  • nitrogen flow and carbon cycling at community, ecosystem, and landscape levels

The research takes place in arctic and temperate ecosystem types. The group is using the facilities in the Ecological-Chemical Laboratory, the Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry and the Ecophysiology Laboratory. Field work takes place in Denmark, Sweden (Abisko),  Greenland (Zackenberg, Disko), and elsewhere.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The group has funding from EU Marie Curie (2021-2023), Carlsberg Foundation (2021; 2022) and DFF-FNU (2020-2023; 2022-2025).

The group is also part of CENPERM - Center for Permafrost (2012-2022)

Center for Permafrost, CENPERM, funded with100 mio. DKK by Danish National Research Foundation (Danmarks Grundforskningsfond), investigates the interactions between microorganisms, soil and plants in relation to permafrost dynamics and trace gas emission. The Center is a close collaboration between Dept. of Geosciences and Dept. of Biology at University of Copenhagen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Group leader

Anders Michelsen
Professor

Phone +45 23 39 82 86
andersm@bio.ku.dk

Group members

Name Title Phone E-mail
Anders Michelsen Professor E-mail
Christoffer Bugge Harder Postdoc +4535328507 E-mail

Master Students and PhD

Name Title E-mail
Pernille May Yde Master Student   E-mail
Mengyuan Huang Guest PhD Student   E-mail
Oscar Redeyoff Master Student   E-mail
Frida Kristine Brockmann Master Student   E-mail
Åsa Märta Paulina Lie Master Student   E-mail
Marc Højerslev Eriksen Master Student   E-mail