Christian Koerner

BIOGRAPHY

ACADEMIC POSITION:
Professor and Chair of Unit, Institute of Botany

EDUCATION AND BACKGROUND:
• 1968-1973 MSc (Biol Diploma), University of Innsbruck, Austria
• 1973-1977 PhD thesis, University of Innsbruck with W Larcher (Water relations of alpine plants)
• 1977-1980 Postdoc: Austrian MAB alpine program and field work in the Caucasus (Georgia)
• 1980-1981 Postdoctoral fellow, Research School of Biological Science, Australian National University (RSBS-ANU) Canberra
• 1982-1989 Senior lecturer University of Innsbruck (1982 'Habilitation' for Botany). Various projects on alpine ecology
• 1989 Visiting Research Fellow, RSBS-ANU, Canberra (stable carbon isotopes)
• Since 1989 Full Professor for Botany, University of Basel (for research projects see below)
• 1994-1999 Joint project with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama (Mellon Foundation)
• 1995-2007 High elevation treeline research, globally
• 2000- Swiss canopy crane project
• 2003 Publication of Alpine Plant Life (2nd edn)
• 2009- ERC Advanced Grant (2 Mio CHF) TREELIM, exploring thermal tree species limits in Europe

MEMBERSHIPS:
• Academia Europaea (London)
• Austrian Academy of Sciences (Vienna)
• German Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina (Halle)
• National Academy of India (Foreign Fellow)

RESEARCH PROJECTS:
The influence of increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration on natural vegetation (incl Swiss Canopy Crane project SCC in a mature forest), alpine plant ecology and biodiversity, high elevation treeline research – global comparisons, implications of climate change in the Mediterranean, various projects in bioclimatology.

Christian Koerner has been Editor-In-Chief of the Oecologia journal since 1998.

HOME PAGE
http://pages.unibas.ch/botschoen/koerner/index.shtml