Background and activities
Bente Jessen Graae
I study plant performance, community dynamics and productivity, and carbon fluxes and stocks in vegetation - all in response to different environmental drivers. Most of my work has been carried out in Arctic-alpine ecosystems, temperate-boreal forests and tropical savanna and the research focuses on how plant and plant community dynamics are responding to changes in climate, land use history and grazing. I work mostly in the field but can also be seen in the lab or greenhouse when needed. I right now work within three networks:
the Horizon 2020 project AfricanBioServices where I lead the work package on drivers of change in biodiversity and ecosystem function in the Greater Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem (Tanzania and Kenya). See more here: http://africanbioservices.eu
the Fleur network studying the impact of climate change to forest herbs along a latitudinal gradient from France to Northern Sweden see http://www.fleur.ugent.be
the ECOSHRUB network studying the effect of shrub encroachment on community dynamics and ecosystem processes in alpine tundra see http://www.ntnu.edu/biology/ecoshrub
In my group you also find:
Post doc: Stuart Smith
Ph.D. students: Mia Vedel Sørensen and Kristin Odden Nystuen,
and I cosupervise the Ph.D. students Koen Kuipers and Anders Kolstad
Scientific, academic and artistic work
A selection of recent journal publications, artistic productions, books, including book and report excerpts. See all publications in the database
Journal publications
- (2018) Impact of an invasive alien plant on litter decomposition along a latitudinal gradient. Ecosphere.
- (2018) Litter type and termites regulate root decomposition across contrasting savanna land-uses. Oikos.
- (2018) Experimental herbivore exclusion, shrub introduction, and carbon sequestration in alpine plant communities. BMC Ecology. vol. 18 (1).
- (2017) Latitudinal variation of life-history traits of an exotic and a native impatiens species in Europe. Acta Oecologica. vol. 81.
- (2017) Predictability in community dynamics. Ecology Letters. vol. 20 (3).
- (2017) Biological Flora of the British Isles: Milium effusum. Journal of Ecology. vol. 105 (3).
- (2017) Stay or go - how topographic complexity influences alpine plant population and community responses to climate change. Perspectives in plant ecology, evolution and systematics. vol. 30.
- (2017) Biotic and abiotic drivers of intraspecific trait variation within plant populations of three herbaceous plant species along a latitudinal gradient. BMC Ecology. vol. 17 (1).
- (2017) Panorama of agro-pastoralism in western Serengeti: A review and synthesis. Livestock Research for Rural Development. vol. 29:191 (10).
- (2017) Where does the community start, and where does it end? Including the seed bank to reassess forest herb layer responses to the environment. Journal of Vegetation Science. vol. 28 (2).
- (2017) Draining the Pool? Carbon Storage and Fluxes in Three Alpine Plant Communities. Ecosystems. vol. 21 (2).
- (2017) Impact of climate change on alpine vegetation of mountain summits in Norway. Ecological research. vol. 32 (4).
- (2016) Pre-adaptation or genetic shift after introduction in the invasive species Impatiens glandulifera?. Acta Oecologica. vol. 70.
- (2016) Acido- and neutrophilic temperate forest plants display distinct shifts in ecological pH niche across north-western Europe. Ecography. vol. 39 (12).
- (2015) Synchronous flowering despite differences in snowmelt timing among habitats of Empetrum hermaphroditum. Acta Oecologica. vol. 69.
- (2015) Divergent regeneration responses of two closely related tree species to direct abiotic and indirect biotic effects of climate change. Forest Ecology and Management. vol. 342.
- (2015) Low genetic diversity despite multiple introductions of the invasive plant species Impatiens glandulifera in Europe. BMC Genetics. vol. 16 (103).
- (2015) Patterns of phenotypic trait variation in two temperate forest herbs along a broad climatic gradient. Plant Ecology. vol. 216 (11).
- (2015) Linking small-scale topography with microclimate, plant species diversity and intra-specific trait variation in an alpine landscape. Plant Ecology & Diversity. vol. 8 (3).
- (2015) Disjunct populations of European vascular plant species keep the same climatic niches. Global Ecology and Biogeography. vol. 24 (12).