Dr. Maaike Bader

   

Contact

Tel.: +49-441-798-3343

e-mail: maaike.bader"at"uni-oldenburg.de

  

University of Oldenburg

Department of Biology and Environmental Sciences 

Functional Ecology of Plants

P.O. Box 2503

26111 Oldenburg

Germany

 

   

Curriculum Vitae   Research interests    Teaching     Publications    

 

Curriculum Vitae

2007    PhD, Wageningen University, The Netherlands.

Thesis: Tropical alpine treelines, how ecological processes control vegetation patterning and dynamics. Directed by Prof. Dr. Ir. Arnold K. Bregt and Dr. Max Rietkerk >> download thesis via Wageningen University<< 

2001     MSc Biology (Ir. diploma), Wageningen University, The Netherlands

Thesis: El Río Encantado: El papel de la vegetación riparia en la vida campesina en el valle de Cuzalapa, Jalisco, México. Instituto Manantlán de Ecología y Conservación de la Biodiversidad, Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico. 2001

Thesis: A study on the distribution of vascular epiphytes in a secondary cloud forest, Central Cordillera, Colombia. Wageningen University & University of Amsterdam. 1998-1999   >>Download report<<

Internship: The ecology of ant-gardens in the Colombian Amazon. Tropenbos Colombia & Universidad de Medellín, Colombia. 1998   >>Download report<<

2001   Msc Geo-information Science, Wageningen University, The Netherlands

Thesis: Productivity - biodiversity patterns: a study using multi-temporal NDVI images for central Australia. CSIRO Centre for Arid Zone Research, Alice Springs, Australia. 2000    >>Download report<<

Thesis: A case study of the application of GIS in epiphyte ecology. Wageningen University & University of Amsterdam. 1999  >>Download paper<<

 

Research interests

My research interests span the organisational levels from individual plants (functional ecology) to assemblies of plant communities (spatial ecology).

Two 'lines of interest' are 1) the causes of spatial and temporal vegetation patterns, especially the nature of the feedbacks between plant communities and their environment that shape these patterns, and 2) the performance of plants at their distributional boundaries, e.g. trees at treeline or bryophytes and macrolichens in the warm tropics.

Ad 1. In a homogenous or gradually changing abiotic environment, abrupt vegetation boundaries and stable vegetation mosaics can appear as a result of positive feedback processes between plant communities and their environment. Positive feedback can also cause non-linearity in vegetation dynamics, such as time lags and accelerated invasions. Gradual boundaries, gradual replacements and cyclic succession may be associated with no or negative feedback. Feedbacks can be mediated through many different agents, e.g. water, snow, temperature, radiation, pathogens, herbivores, fire, heavy metals, salt, soil nutrients or soil biota.

Thinking in terms of feedbacks provides a basis for exiting ecological theory, and also it is fundamental for more applied fields like invasion ecology and restoration ecology, and for predicting the effects of climatic change on vegetation cover. 

Environments that are stressful for plants, such as alpine treelines specifically for trees, tend to exhibit strong patterns, and (positive) plant interactions may be crucial for plant survival. Such environments are therefore especially suited to study feedback processes.

Ad 2. Although at first thought it may appear obvious why trees do not occur above the alpine treeline (too cold) or why mosses and lichens develop so little biomass in tropical lowlands (too warm), the mechanisms of these limitations are in fact only partially understood. Why should trees be more sensitive to low temperatures than other plants? When (in a life-cycle, in a year, in a day) and where does the cold hurt most? What role do other factors than temperature play? What role does positive feedback play? And similarly, why should mosses be more sensitive to high temperatures than other plants? What role do other factors than temperature play? How much warming could tropical mosses cope with? These are all questions awaiting satisfactory answers, requiring ecological as well as ecophysiological approaches. 

 

Study systems: (tropical) alpine treelines, epiphytic plants, bryophytes and lichens.

 

 

 

Teaching (link to actual program) 

Functional plant ecology (Practical as part of the course Introduction to Ecology, Bachelor, summer)

Plant biodiversity (Lectures & Practical, Bachelor in summer, Master in winter)

Resource aquisition and use by plants (Lecture series, Master, winter)

Mineral nutrient and water transfer between plant - soil - interface (Practical, Master, summer)

Laboratory methods in functional ecology (Practical, Bachelor, winter) 

Ecophysiology of mosses and lichens (Vertiefungspraktikum, Diplom/Lehramt, summer&winter)

Ecophysiology of CAM and C4 plants (Vertiefungspraktikum, Diplom/Lehramt, summer&winter)

 

Publications

For publications see here.