Spatial Genetics Lab
banner
spatialgenetics.bsky.social
Spatial Genetics Lab
@spatialgenetics.bsky.social
Spatial Genetics Lab at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

Prof Merry C Schuman. Plant ecological chemistry, genomics, remote sensing, biodiversity.
@sofiavanmoorsel.bsky.social at the Basque Center of Climate Change (BC3) in Bilbao (ES) presenting our research on Intraspecific Variation in Drought Responses in European Beech 🌍🌳
October 8, 2025 at 7:45 AM
How can students use drones to map mountains? Find the latest News entry by @helfenstein.earth on
www.geo.uzh.ch/en/units/sg/...
Remote Sensing of Alpine Forests Excursion at the EGEA Annual Congress 2025
www.geo.uzh.ch
September 22, 2025 at 11:02 AM
How can we protect crop yields sustainably?🌽 "Push-pull" systems are one promising model. Daria and co-authors synthesized knowledge on how #push-pull protects maize against the invasive fall armyworm and test the disputed role of the leguminous intercrop Desmodium. elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...
Desmodium Volatiles in “Push-Pull” Cropping Systems and Protection Against the Fall Armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda
elifesciences.org
July 18, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Reposted by Spatial Genetics Lab
Observed the ARES mission today from the ground in La Massane, France. 🛩️🌳 Calibration measurements are done and more really cool ground data to be collected in the next days here! @spatialgenetics.bsky.social
Puechabon and Massane missions completed under excellent conditions!
Photo below shows Massane CAL site and hotspot with aircraft shadow.
We are returning to LFMP for refueling.
July 16, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Reposted by Spatial Genetics Lab
Join us at @eseb2025.bsky.social! We aim to unite researchers working on tree genomics in natural and experimental populations and on strategies for monitoring forest genetic diversity! @spatialgenetics.bsky.social @domcoqetc.bsky.social Submit your abstract here: eseb2025.com/call-for-abs...
April 11, 2025 at 8:41 AM
New paper from our group! We used remote sensing to identify subtle seasonal differences between closely related beech species and developed models that accurately distinguish them at assisted gene flow sites.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Leveraging remote sensing to distinguish closely related beech species in assisted gene flow scenarios
European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) forests are suffering under increasingly severe and frequent drought. Closely related beech species from Bulgaria,…
www.sciencedirect.com
April 9, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Reposted by Spatial Genetics Lab
Our findings suggest that the growth and associated ecosystem services of species-rich mixtures in afforestation projects can be optimized by artificially selecting seed families with high mixture performance in biodiversity experiments.
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Identifying seed families with high mixture performance in a subtropical forest biodiversity experiment
Afforestation projects using species mixtures are expected to better support ecosystem services than monoculture plantations. While grassland studies have shown natural selection favoring high-perfo...
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
April 8, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Reposted by Spatial Genetics Lab
I am pleased to co-organize the "Beech Genomes for the Future" workshop on April 4th at the University of Zürich! 🌳

Are you working on or interested in beech genomics? Take a look and join us for this one-day workshop!

swissforestlab.wsl.ch/en/events-an...
March 17, 2025 at 8:21 AM
We're organizing a thematic workshop on "Beech genomes for the future". Registration and abstract submission can be done via this link: swissforestlab.wsl.ch/en/events-an.... We hope to interact with many people interested in finding a way to keep this forest species around!
Thematic workshop 2025
swissforestlab.wsl.ch
March 6, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Reposted by Spatial Genetics Lab
Happy to share our latest work towards monitoring functional diversity using #Sentinel-2 time series at @esa.int's #BIOSPACE25 conference in Frascati, Italy. Visit our poster and talk to our team from @spatialgenetics.bsky.social and @wslresearch.bsky.social! 😊
February 11, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Reposted by Spatial Genetics Lab
Sustainability and environmental impact assessments of trade and investment agreements need to address biodiversity more effectively! enveurope.springeropen.com/articles/10....
Unmute biodiversity risks of free trade? The EFTA–Mercosur Agreement (Swiss) case study - Environmental Sciences Europe
Sustainability and environmental impact assessments of trade and investment agreements need to address biodiversity more effectively. To showcase this, we examined a report, commissioned by Switzerlan...
enveurope.springeropen.com
February 12, 2025 at 8:42 AM
🚀 The Genes from Space team recently hosted a workshop in Bern with over 100 participants (!!) joining to learn about our new monitoring tool. It enables users to use space-based Earth observation data to assess habitat suitability and estimate key genetic diversity metrics worldwide🌍
February 6, 2025 at 12:52 PM
🌍🌳 Using Sentinel 2- data, we showed that Swiss forests with higher functional diversity resist & recover better from drought! A step toward scaling BEF insights to real-world forests! Check out our new publication in GCB by @helfenstein.earth et al. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Satellite Observations Reveal a Positive Relationship Between Trait‐Based Diversity and Drought Response in Temperate Forests
The relationship between functional diversity (richness, evenness) and drought response (resistance, recovery, resilience) during the severe 2018 drought in Switzerland was analyzed using satellite-d...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
February 6, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Reposted by Spatial Genetics Lab
A couple of years ago, I switched fields a bit by starting to work with European beech. The more I get to know this tree species, the more I appreciate and love it. Now, the first paper – written together with MSc student Dave Kurath – is out! agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Leaf Spectroscopy Reveals Drought Response Variation in Fagus sylvatica Saplings From Across the Species' Range
Leaf reflectance measurements effectively track drought-induced trait changes in beech saplings in a non-destructive way Beech saplings from the Iberian Peninsula show greater drought resistance ...
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
February 3, 2025 at 8:40 AM
Reposted by Spatial Genetics Lab
I am excited that our symposium "Adaptation to environmental changes in trees through the lens of common gardens and genomics" has been accepted to be included at the @eseb.bsky.social conference in August in Barcelona. Be ready to submit your abstracts!
January 10, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Reposted by Spatial Genetics Lab
So this happened. Somebody is not getting tenure @ethzurich.bsky.social. It took a lot of people with a lot of courage and strength to make this happen. Thinking of them today!
www.tagesanzeiger.ch/klimaforsche...
Weltbekannter Klimaforscher muss die ETH Zürich nach Vorwürfen verlassen
Gegen den Professor haben acht Personen Vorwürfe erhoben. Er bestreitet jedes Fehlverhalten. Nach Berichten dieser Redaktion ordnete die ETH eine Untersuchung an und handelt nun.
www.tagesanzeiger.ch
December 19, 2024 at 1:45 PM
New paper from our group! We found that maize plants from push-push fields had a higher relative abundance of metabolites toxic to insect herbivores. This suggests that maize plants growing with companion plants are "stronger" than maize plants growing alone.
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Push–Pull Intercropping Increases the Antiherbivore Benzoxazinoid Glycoside Content in Maize Leaf Tissue
Push–pull technology refers to a promising mixed cropping practice for sustainable agricultural intensification, which uses properties of intercrop and border crop species to defend a focal crop again...
pubs.acs.org
November 15, 2024 at 7:56 AM
Hey everyone! Just a quick re-introduction of the Spatial Genetics group at the University of Zurich. We're committed to leave the other page behind us and start a new social media chapter here! Nice to meet you all :-)
Hello Science Bluesky! We just moved here from the other page and are looking forward to engaging with everyone here. We are the Spatial Genetics lab at the University of Zurich and work on plant ecological chemistry, genomics, remote sensing, biodiversity and much more! 🍂🌱🪴🌳🛩️🌍🛰️
November 11, 2024 at 2:45 PM
Reposted by Spatial Genetics Lab
2 open PhD positions about unravelling plant-insect communication for sustainable agroecosystems in Switzerland! informationecology.github.io/openpositions/
Open positions
Information Ecology is…
informationecology.github.io
November 11, 2024 at 1:58 PM
Is the staggeringly profitable business of scientific publishing bad for science?
www.theguardian.com/science/2017...
November 20, 2023 at 1:25 PM
Reposted by Spatial Genetics Lab
November 20, 2023 at 1:23 PM
Reposted by Spatial Genetics Lab
November 16, 2023 at 2:25 PM
Hello Science Bluesky! We just moved here from the other page and are looking forward to engaging with everyone here. We are the Spatial Genetics lab at the University of Zurich and work on plant ecological chemistry, genomics, remote sensing, biodiversity and much more! 🍂🌱🪴🌳🛩️🌍🛰️
November 16, 2023 at 1:12 PM