Prof. Dr. Christian Körner

Christian Körner (1949) is Austrian citizen and Swiss resident

Prof. Dr. Christian Körner Institute of Botany, University of Basel
Schönbeinstrasse 6
4056 Basel (Switzerland)
Tel. ++41 (0)61 267 35 10 Fax ++41 (0)61 267 35 04
ch.koerner@unibas.ch

1968-1973	M.Sc. (Biol.Diploma), University of Innsbruck, Austria
1973-1977	Ph.D. thesis, University of Innsbruck with W. Larcher (Water relations of alpine plants)
1977-1980	Postdoc: Austrian MAB alpine program and field work in the Caucasus (Georgia)
1980-1981	Postdoctoral fellow, Research School of Biol. Sci., Australian Natl. Univ. (RSBS-ANU) Canberra
1982-1989	Senior lecturer University of Innsbruck (1982 “Habilitation” for Botany). Various projects on alpine ecology
1989	Visiting Research Fellow, RSBS-ANU, Canberra (stable carbon isotopes)
since 1989	Full Professor for Botany, University of Basel (for research projects see below)
1994-1999	Joint project with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama (Mellon Foundation)
1995-2007	High elevation treeline research, globally
2000-	Swiss canopy crane project
2003	Publication of Alpine Plant Life (2nd ed.)
2009-	ERC Advanced Grant (2 Mio. CHF) TREELIM, exploring thermal tree species limits in Europe

The influence of increasing atmospheric CO₂ concentration on natural vegetation (incl. Swiss Canopy Crane project SCC in a mature forest), alpine plant ecology and biodiversity, high elevation treeline research - global comparisons, implications of climate change in the Mediterranean, various projects in bioclimatology. For detailed information see Projects

Diversity and structure of plants, plant physiological ecology and systems ecology, geobotany and vegetation of the earth, M.Sc. course in Ecology. For detailed information see Master in Ecology and Master in Ecology topics

Academia Europaea (London), Austrian Academy of Sciences (Vienna), German Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina (Halle), National Academy of India (Foreign Fellow)

Past president of ProClim (Forum for Climate and Global Change 2000-2006), acting president of the Biodiversity Forum (both Swiss Academy of Sciences), member of OCCC (advisory board for the Swiss Department of the Interior on climate change issues) (2000-), member of the Council of the Swiss Scientific Academies (CASS) (2000-)

Chair of the Global Mountain Biodiversity assessment (GMBA) of DIVERSITAS (1998-), task leader of the Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems (GCTE) project of IGBP (1998-2004), science steering committee of the International Geosphere Biosphere Program (IGBP) (1998-2004) and Swiss national representative (2000-2006), Swiss national representative of SCOPE (2006-), convening Lead Author of the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment, mountains chapter (2002-2005)

Highest score in Ecology for all German, Austrian and Swiss research institutions 1997-1998 (Bild der Wiss. 8/1999), plenary opening lecture of the International GCTE-LUCC Conference (Barcelona 1998), vice president International Botanical Congress (St. Louis 1999, plenary lecture), plenary speaker for the millennial ESA/BES conference (Orlando, 2000), Tansley lecture of the British Ecological Society (London 2002), private Royal Colloquium for his Majesty the King of Sweden (2003), keynote at 8th SBSTA plenary/CBD Convention of Biodiversity (Montreal 2003), plenary lecture, International Botanical Congress (Vienna 2005), plenary lecture/opening session Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP, Beijing 2006), Marsh Award, British Ecological Society (2007), international citation score

Editor-in-Chief of Oecologia (Springer, since 1997), editorial board of SCIENCE (2000-2004), TREE (Trends in Ecology and Evolution), Global Change Biology (Blackwell), Biologie in unserer Zeit (VCH Wiley), GAIA (1996-), Editor-in-Chief of Frontiers in Functional Plant Ecology

See List of Publications