Institute of Plant Sciences

Research

Paleoecology - Vegetation Dynamics - Prof. Dr. Willy Tinner

Addresses ecological and climatic questions on annual to millennial time scales and uses quaternary sedimentary sequences (e.g. pollen, macrofossils, charcoal, diatoms, chironomids) and modelling approaches to study the long-term interactions among climate, the biosphere and society.

Collaborative Activities

International Moor Excursion

The International Moor Excursion (IME) aims to extensively discuss new paleoecological and paleoclimatic results in the landscape and at the study site

News

Haller Medal

Since 1809, the Haller Medal has been awarded to personalities who have most distinguished themselves through performance, diligence and talent in the Bernese schools and academies and who have completed their studies here. This year, our alumna, Dr. Sandra Olivia Brügger, was awarded a Haller Medal for her outstanding scientific achievements in the field of palaeoecology and climate science. She received her gold medal from our Rector on 7 December at the Dies Academicus.

GENICA: Unlocking paleogenomic insights from ice caves

Maria Leunda Esnaola has been awarded a highly competitive SNSF Starting Grant for her GENICA project and will start at the IPS in 2025. This project will explore how past environmental disturbances have shaped European mountain vegetation by combining paleoecology and paleogenomics. By analyzing ancient DNA from plant remains preserved in ice cave deposits, this research will reveal genetic and demographic changes in key species over the past 5700 years. This innovative study aims to provide new insights into the resilience and vulnerability of mountain species in the context of ongoing climate change.

Christoph Schwörer receives SNSF Consolidator Grant

The five-year research project titled "Assessing Past and Future Forest Responses to Climate Change Impacts Using Ancient DNA (ARIaDNA)" addresses the urgent ecological challenges posed by climate change and the biodiversity crisis. The ARIaDNA project seeks to uncover how plants have historically adapted to rapid climate warming, with the aim of deepening our understanding of ecosystem responses to climate change and support the development of innovative management strategies.

Figthting hay fever with AI

Experts at the University of Bern who specialize in the vegetation of the past are contributing their knowledge to an innovation project that is developing devices for pollen monitoring. The development is based on AI and is intended to help people who suffer from allergies.

The canton of Bern places the Faulenseemoos under protection

The University of Bern has been researching the strongly endangered geotope for almost 80 years; its discoverer was the Spiez secondary school teacher and university professor Max Welten. In the Faulenseemoos, seasonal stratifications provide information on the history of vegetation, aquatic plants and animals, the quality of the water, the climate, temperature and precipitation and even the intensity and type of agriculture. It offers an insight into 15,000 years of the earth's history. The protection by the canton of Bern also makes it possible to revalue the mire as a biotope.

How open were temperate forests in Europe prior to the expansion of Homo sapiens?

Past interglacials, i.e. periods with similarly warm climatic conditions than today, offer valuable lessons about the vegetation structure and composition under anthropogenically non-disturbed conditions. Based on the fossil pollen data from 96 sites across Europe, an international team led by researchers of the Aarhus University, Denmark, modelled the vegetation structure of the last interglacial period (129’000 – 116’000 years ago). They conclude that temperate forests were possibly more open than generally thought and discuss the potential role of extinct large herbivores like elephants, rhinoceros, and aurochs.

In the fast lane thanks to genome recycling

Sedimentary analyses show that in just 16,000 years, more than 500 cichlid species, distributed throughout the entire food web, have evolved in Lake Victoria. This explosion of biodiversity was made possible by repeated cycles of fusion and diversification in evolutionary lineages. As pollen finds show, wetland fishes in Lake Victoria thrived when savannah communities dominated the area and lake levels were low, allowing wetland vegetation to spread. However, wetland fish occurrence decreased when the aquatic vegetation declined with the transformation of Lake Victoria into a deep lake, as researchers from the University of Bern (IEE, IPS, GIUB and IfG) and Eawag have described in the “Nature” journal.

Quaternary Vegetation Dynamics of Europe

After 17 long years of preparation, we've finally published a weighty and impressive book about the history of vegetation in Europe. It's a captivating and one-of-a-kind overview of the eventful journey of plant cover across Europe over the past 2.6 million years, marked by numerous periods of cold and warmth. We had a lovely little celebration on our institute's campus to honour this remarkable achievement.

Back to the future with pollen

Pollen troubles us with hay fever. But they are also incredibly useful for climate research. Palaeoecologist Willy Tinner explains how he can look into the future of climate thanks to ancient pollen grains. An insight into the pollen time machine.

Former IPS employee receives honorary doctorate degree

The Faculty of Science of the University of Bern confers the degree of Doctor philosophiae honoris causa on Jacqueline F. N. van Leeuwen, Hattem, NL. Jacqueline van Leeuwen was a laboratory assistant at the University of Bern from 1991-2017. In the first 10 years at the Institute of Geobotany, Department of Biology, later until her retirement at the newly founded Institute of Plant Sciences, Department of Biology and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern.

Prix Schläfli - Rewarding the best Swiss PhDs in the natural sciences

The Prix Schläfli 2020 Geosciences of the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT) was awarded to Dr. Fabian Rey for having examined plant material in annually laminated sediments to infer the land use and vegetation history more precisely than ever before. The unrivaled chronological precision is of great importance for studying vegetation dynamics in response to human impact.

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