Biography

My interest is to understand ecosystem functioning. We are losing species from all phyla in all ecosystems all around the world. However, the consequences of such loss for ecosystem functioning remain unpredictable. Understanding how species interact and how they are linked to their environment is a prerequisite to the understanding of ecosystem functioning and the consequences of species loss for our societies.

I did my Ph.D. in a tree Biodiversity Ecosystem Functioning experiment (BEF China), where I was focusing on tree-tree interaction effects on carbon cycling from forest productivity to soil carbon storage through its effects on microbial community and litter decomposition. I was doing this work as part of the TreeDì doctoral school which is aiming to understand tree – tree interactions in Chinese subtropical forest within the BEF China platform. I am now focussing on the biodiversity-microclimate-functioning nexus. In my current project SoilDivTemp, I am aiming to understand how vegetation diversity is modulating temperature and the consequences for soil functions at global scale.