...to the Plant Ecology group website, led by Prof. Dr. Katja Tielbörger! Here you can find information to our main research topics, our teaching, our staff, job announcements and news. Ms Tielbörger is also head of the Botanical Garden.

If you want to get us to know us better, join one of our regular group seminars which we host together with the Plant Evolutionary Ecology group! We are presenting our work in these seminars and provide you with an insight into the highly active and diverse range of research topics of the plant ecology department.

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29.07.2026 ► Gresse, J., Segrestin, J., Götzenberger, L., Lepš, J., Liancourt, P., Seifan, M., Tielbörger, K. and Májeková, M. (2026). Ecological determinants of stability in dryland plant communities. New Phytologist https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.71453

20.02.2026 ► Schmid M., Tielbörger K., Daval A., & Mullon C. (2026). Plastic germination, temporal niche partitioning and emergent assortative mating in annual plants. Ecology Letters, 29, e70346. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele.70346

11.02.2026 ► Shcherbinina, E., Muehe, M.E, Drabesch, S., Tielbörger, K., Tomiolo, S. (2026). Microplastic fragments in sand alleviate the negative effects of heavy metals on plants. Environmental Challenges, 22, 101421. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envc.2026.101421

11.02.2026 ► Gresse, J., Götzenberger, L., Lepš, J., Liancourt, P., Seifan, M., Tielbörger, K., & Májeková, M. (2026). Drought resistance drives population temporal stability of annuals in drylands. Journal of Ecology, 114, e70257. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.70257

22.12.2025 ► van den Brink, L., Canessa, R., Bader, M. Y., Neidhardt, H., Oelmann, Y., Cavieres, L. A., & Tielbörger, K. (2026). Inverse effects of soil moisture and litter quality on litter decomposition along a gradient from hyper-arid to temperate climate. Journal of Ecology, 114, e70224. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.70224

16.10.2025 ► Ohlert T., Smith M.D., Collins S.L., … ,  Tielbörger, K., … van den Brink, L., … (2025). Drought intensity and duration interact to magnify losses in primary productivity. Science, 390(6770), 284-289. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ads8144

30.06.2025 ► Delerue, F., Randé, H., Nemer, D., …, Gresse, J., … (2025). An extreme drought and heatwave event led to collapse of facilitation by metallophyte species in metalliferous ecosystems. Plant and Soil, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-025-07611-3

03.06.2025 ► First I., Falik O., Májeková M., Segev, U., Gruntman M. (2025). Plant responses to light competition: does evolutionary history matter? Functional Ecology, 00: 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.70066

01.06.2025 ► Lillipuu E. M., Májeková M., Dvorský M., Liancourt P., Hájek T., Mudrák O. (2025). Drought avoidance strategy drives the assembly of plant communities in grasslands restored on former arable land. Journal of Environmental Management 386, 125844. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.125844

19.05.2025 ► Pan X., Hautier Y., Lepš J., ..., Májeková M., … (2025). Reconciling links between diversity and population stability across global plant communities. Authorea Preprint. 10.22541/au.174766347.70526064/v1

14.05.2024 ► de Bello F., Fischer F. M., Puy J., ..., Májeková M., ... (2025). Raunkiæran Shortfalls: Challenges and perspectives in trait-based ecology. Ecological Monographs 95(2), e70018.  https://doi.org/10.1002/ecm.70018

02.04.2025 ► Pärtel, M., Tamme, R., Carmona, C.P., … Amputu, V., … (2025). Global impoverishment of natural vegetation revealed by dark diversity. Nature 641, 917–924. doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08814-5.