Welcome to ALPECOLe

Alpine plant life is not fundamentally different from life elsewhere. How to feed, how to survive, how to reproduce, how to pass over genes and with whom, and when to die? But in the cold, the challenges for successful plant life are particularly severe. With my lessons on sexual and clonal reproduction I wish to wake your interest for the many fascinating ways plants have found to sustain at high altitudes. I am a population ecologist with a particular interest for reproductive biology and population genetics. To me, alpine ecology was always a way to combine my scientific interests with what I would call my enthusiasm for the beauty and prodigies of nature. My PhD was about driving forces of succession in abandoned calcareous grassland in the lowlands. Later, I turned to alpine ecology and worked on the population biology and reproduction of clonal pioneer species on glacier forelands in Switzerland and in the Caucasus. Actually, natural and cultural impacts on the biodiversity of alpine grassland and population genetics of alpine plant species are among my main research interests. Since many years I organize field courses and excursions on floristics, vegetation and ecology in the Swiss Alps. I would feel happy if ALPECOLe motivated you to participate in one of our courses and we could also meet personally.