| My background as a plant ecologist has always been coupled
with a strong interest in scientific methods and interdisciplinary
research. Herb-chronology
being a relatively new a posteriori approach into
the past life of perennial forbs (dicotyledonous herbs) seems
a perfect match to unify these two interests. In the past, I
mainly strove to provide herb-chronology with a sound scientific
basis, and to use it for questions into population biology and
life-history changes in response to changing environments. While
delving into automation of image analysis, my strong interest
in anatomy and its link to ecophysiology awakenend, in line
with the well-known theme 'form fits function'. I personally
feel a need to integrate these three fields, because I am convinced
that there is a high, unexploited potential for cross-fertilization.
Currently, I am trying to reveal how phenotypic plasticity
in growth and anatomical characteristics (vessel diameter,
lignification patterns) of perennial forb species may relate
to a pre-disposition to withstand climate change. Furthermore,
ongoing improvements of my image analysis project (ROXAS)
help me to explore the potential for automated approaches
to quantitative wood anatomy in tree cores.
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