I conduct research on several aspects of experimental plant eco-physiology under controlled laboratory conditions as well as in the field. I work with submerged aquatic plants in freshwater systems as well as seagrasses and macroalgae inhabiting seawater or brackish waters. More recently, I have expanded my research interests to also include flood tolerance of terrestrial wetland plants or even dryland plants.

Much of my research is carried out in collaboration with international colleagues in Europe, Australia or Japan - see collaborations for more details on some of the exciting ongoing projects.

We currently have 12 MM DKK to work on "Climate-smart African rice" and 3 MM DKK to work on "Inducible barriers to radial O2 loss in plant roots".

National and International Collaborations

I am regularly collaborating with colleagues in Danish universities as well as abroad. Visits to other labs is an essential component of my research as it serves as an important source of inspiration. Scientific leadership strongly depends on personality and I am constantly trying to adopt strategies that can stimulate the working environment or improve the output of my own lab. My key collaborators are listed below and for some of them I have created a small presentation of our ongoing or past research. See more for exciting examples

People

Elisa Pellegrini, postdoc. Elisa has a Marie-Curie grant to work on ROL barriers. More...

Max Herzog, postdoc. Max is primarily afiliated with Climate-smart African rice. More...
Shuai Tong, PhD student. Tong is going to work with flood and salinity tolerance of wild rice. More...
Lucas Peralta, PhD student, is working with the barrier to radial oxygen loss. More...

Zhiwei Song, PhD student. Song is going to work with salinity tolerance of wild rice. More...

Current research topics

Climate-smart African rice
This is a Danida-funded project where we aim at developing new climate-smart rice cultivars that are tolerant to flooding and salinity. Universities in the Philippines, Kenya and Tanzania are involved. More...

Nano ecology in Plain-of-jars
Hundreds of ancient jars in used in funeral ceremonies 3,000 y ago now support a diverse community of aquatic plants and animals. The Villum Foundation has granted a 2 y project to address fundamental ecological questions.

Flood tolerance of crops

Climate changes have already resulted in an increasing number of floods. Hence, there is a pertinent need to develop crops that are more flood tolerant in order to sustain the global food production. More…

Eco-physiology of seagrasses

Globally, seagrasses colonize vast areas in the shallow coastal zone where they play essential roles as ecosystem engineers. In order to protect and also restored seagrass systems, more knowledge on their eco-physiology is required. More…

Flood tolerance of wetland plants

Wetland plants experience flood events on a regular basis and they possess unexplored traits that enable them to thrive in environments where floods occur on a regular basis or perhaps only once during their life cycle. More…

Ecology of lobelia lakes

The lobelia lake is the most common type of lake in Scandinavia but we only have few in Denmark. These lakes support a unique vegetation with many exciting adaptations to life in carbonate-poor waters. More…

Climate changes and brownification

Brownification of freshwaters is a growing problem in most temperate areas of the world. We do not yet know the mechanisms behind but these are likely related to climate changes, changes in land use and other anthropogenic activities. More…

Global and regional plant distribution

Precipitation, temperature and nutrients control the global distribution of terrestrial plants, but aquatic plants seem to follow different patterns. Water chemistry is important and novel analyses reveal exciting patterns of aquatic plant distribution. More…