Professor of Environmental Systems Analysis
Ulf Büntgen conducts fieldwork all over the globe to provide answers to his main research questions: What are the causes and consequences of changes in different, though intertwined environmental systems across space and time, and how can diverse tree-ring parameters and archives be compiled and analysed to provide answers to such and related inter-/cross-disciplinary research questions?
Biography
Career
- 01.2017-present: Professor of Environmental Systems Analysis (ESA), Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, UK
- 01.2017-present: Senior Scientist at Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
- 10.2016-present: Faculty Member at the Department of Geography, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
- 01.2014-12.2016: Head of PAGES (Past Global Changes) working group: Euro-Med2k “Climate of Europe and the Mediterranean of the last 2 millennia”
- 11.2013-present: ITRDB board member
- 01.2013-12.2016: Head of Dendroecology Group at Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
- 09.2012-present: Associated Senior Scientist at CzechGlobe Global Change Research Institute CAS, Brno, Czech Republic
- 10-12.2010: Guest Professor at University of Madrid, Spain, Department of Astrophysics, collaboration with JF Gonzalez-Rouco
- 03-04.2009: Associated Research Fellow at Institute of Geography, Masaryk University of Brno, Czech Republic
- 06.2007-12.2016: Associated Research Fellow of Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Switzerland
- 08.2003-12.2016: Scientist at Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Qualifications
- 10.2011: Habilitation (Palaeoclimatology/palaeoecology) at University of Bern: Tree rings and climate – beyond temperature reconstructions
- 11.2006: PhD thesis (Dr phil. nat.), Department of Geography, University of Bern, Switzerland: Long-term European climate reconstructions from high-elevation tree-rings. Grade: summa cum laude, supervisors: Wanner H, Esper J, Nicolussi K
- 08.2003: Master thesis, Department of Geography, University Bonn, Germany: Dendroklimatologische Analysen einer 1000-jährigen Lärchenchronologie aus rezenten und verbauten Hölzern für das Lötschental, Schweiz. Grade: 1.0, supervisors: Winiger M, Esper J, Neuwirth B
- 04.1999-08.2003: Studies of Geography, Geology and Cartography, University Bonn, Germany
Research
Research foci
- Alpine ibex horn growth: Disentangling biotoc and abiotic drivers of annual Caprinae horn growth rates
- Arctic driftwood: Wood anatomy, Ocean Circulation Patterns, Provenancing, aDNA sequencing
- Climate variability: MWP, LIA, Recent Warming, Color-preservation, Forcing agents
- Dendrochronology: De-trending, Composite chronologies, Maximum Latewood Density
- Early instrumental measurements: Homogenization, Urban-Heat-Island, High-elevation observations
- Mountain systems: European Alps, Carpathian arc, Pyrenees, Caucasus, Scandinavia and Tien Shan
- Mushroom phenology and productivity: Intra- and inter-annual extremes and trends in fungi fruiting
- Landscape dynamics: Change and persistence in Alpine environment, settlement and building history
- Palaeoclimatology: Long-term reconstructions, regional- to large-scale networks, frequency domains
- Plague dynamics: Climatic and environmental triggers of plague outbreaks in Central Asia and Europe
- Population ecology: Long-term insect outbreak dispersal and dynamics, fungi fruiting and phenology
- Settlement activity: Construction timber, felling dates, dendroarchaeology, human history, population migration
- Truffle ecology: Fruit body formation, daily growth rings, climatic drivers, ectomycorrhizal ecology, host plant
- Vegetation dynamics: Intra-/interannual growth responses, treeline and ecotone dynamics, shrubs and herbs
Research locations
- Alps: TRW and MXD network, living and relict wood material, composite chronologies, millennial-long summer temperature reconstructions, spatiotemporal reconstructions of LBM outbreaks, settlement and building history, intra-annual growth dynamics, treeline studies, Lötschental, Southern French Alps, Valais, Engadine, Tyrol, treeline soil-temperature logger, Larix decidua, Picea abies, Pinus cembra, Pinus sylvestris, Abies alba
- Aragon: Truffle assessment in the Teruel region, tree-ring sampling of Juniperus thurifera
- Atlas: TRW network, living trees, millennial-long PDSI reconstruction, NAO studies, Cedrus atlantica
- Carpathians: TRW network, living trees, summer temperature, treeline soil-temp. logger, Larix decidua, Picea abies, Pinus cembra, Pinus sylvestris
- Caucasus: TRW network, living trees, growth-climate response analysis, treeline soil-temp. logger, Pinus sylvestris
- Germany: TRW composite chronology of the last millennium, drought reconstruction, Quercus spec.
- Greenland: Arctic driftwood sampling, chronology development, reconstructing ocean circulation and post-glacial uplift
- Guadarrama: TRW network, living trees, Pinus sylvestris, Pinus nigra, Pinus pinaster, Pinus pinea
- Moravia: TRW network, living and relict wood material, 700-year long composite chronology, Abies alba
- Pyrenees: TRW and MXD network, living and relict wood, treeline soil-temp. logger, Pinus uncinata
- Scandinavia: TRW and MXD network, living trees, offshore sampling, Pinus sylvestris
- Siberia: TRW and MXD living and relict wood, shore and off-shore, driftwood and treeline dynamics
- Tatra: TRW network, MXD site chronologies, living trees, summer temperature and drought reconstructions of the past ~300 years, treeline soil-temp. logger, Larix decidua, Picea abies, Pinus cembra, Pinus sylvestris, Abies alba
- Vosges: TRW network, living trees, mixed signal, species-specific upper treeline, Fagus sylvatica
Publications
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