Research

I am working on research projects in the areas of biology education and plant ecology and the combination of the two. I am especially interested in how an effective education on ecology can help students understand the complex and emergent processes of ecosystems.

Ecological Literacy

Climate change, biodiversity loss, and land-use change pose unprecedented challenges to contemporary societies. Addressing these challenges requires a deep and operational understanding of ecological processes and their interactions with society. My research therefore focuses on four interrelated questions: What ecological knowledge and concepts do students need in order to competently engage with ecological problems? How do students understand and interpret core ecological concepts, particularly in complex, real-world scenarios? How do values and normative orientations interact with ecological knowledge in shaping students’ reasoning and decision-making? And how can ecological competence be fostered and assessed in order to evaluate the effectiveness of educational interventions?

Data Literacy

Together with colleagues from the Universities of Münster and Kassel, we are developing a comprehensive interdisciplinary framework for data literacy in biology and mathematics education. Building on this framework, our overarching goal is to design and empirically test a tool that supports students’ data literacy through AI-generated adaptive feedback. The project uses biological contexts such as health and biodiversity datasets; at Giessen, our focus is on the biodiversity component.

Plant Awareness

Trained as a botanist, I am strongly motivated to investigate how people perceive plants, how they engage with them, and how plant life can be made more accessible and meaningful to broader audiences. Plants provide essential benefits for humanity, and meeting global challenges such as food security and sustainable land use requires people who understand how plants function. My research examines visual plant perception in collaboration with Roman Asshoff (Münster), and Daniel Kaiser and Philipp Flieger (both Giessen). In parallel, together with Marcia Eugenio-Gozalbo and Inés Cubrero (both Valladolid), and Rafa Suárez (Salamanca), I investigate educational approaches aimed at increasing plant awareness among students.

Tree growth in cold climates

Globally, tree growth declines abruptly at a growing-season mean temperature of approximately 6 °C, giving rise to arctic and alpine treelines. This threshold marks the functional limit of the tree growth form. Despite its global consistency, the physiological mechanisms underlying this sharp cessation of growth remain unresolved. My research therefore aims to identify the physiological processes that prevent trees from growing beyond this temperature limit. This work is conducted in collaboration with Mathias Zeidler (Giessen) and Christian Körner (Basel).