Univ.-Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wanek

RESEARCH INTEREST
As a terrestrial ecosystem ecologist my research focuses on the linkage between plant and microbial functioning and ecosystem processes, i.e. on the role of plants and soil microbes and their interaction in controlling ecosystem processes. My work centers on grasslands and forests in the tropical and temperate biome.
During the last years I specifically focused on
(i) stable isotope fractionation in plants, microorganisms and ecosystems as integrator of physical and biological processes,
(ii) nitrogen/phosphorus nutrition of plants and microorganisms,
(iii) nutrient cycling in tropical and temperate ecosystems,
(iv) stoichiometric relationships in plants, microorganisms and the environment, and
(v) how global change affects plant – soil – microbe relations.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
- A. Schindlbacher, J. Schnecker, M. Takriti, W. Borken, W. Wanek (2015) Microbial physiology and soil CO2 efflux after 9 years of soil warming in a temperate forest – no indications for thermal adaptation. Global Change Biology 21, 4265–4277.
- PG. Taylor, GP. Asner, K. Dahlin, C. Anderson, DE. Knapp, RE. Martin, J. Mascaro, R. Chazdon, R. Cole, W. Wanek, F. Hofhansl, A. Townsend (2015) Landscape-scale controls on aboveground forest carbon stocks on the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica. PlosONE 10(6): e0126748
- S. Zechmeister-Boltenstern, KM. Keiblinger, M. Mooshammer, J. Penuelas, A. Richter, J. Sardans, W. Wanek (2015) The application of ecological stoichiometry to plant-microbial-soil organic matter transformations. Ecological Monographs 85: 133-155.
- F. Hofhansl, J. Schnecker, G. Singer, W. Wanek (2015) New insights into mechanisms driving carbon allocation in tropical rainforests. New Phytologist 205: 137–146.
- F. Hofhansl, J. Kobler, J. Ofner, S. Drage, EM. Pölz, W. Wanek (2014) Sensitivity of tropical forest aboveground productivity to climate anomalies in SW Costa Rica. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 28: 1437-1454.
- M. Mooshammer, W. Wanek, I. Hämmerle, L. Fuchslueger, F. Hofhansl, A. Knoltsch, J. Schnecker, M. Takriti, M. Watzka, B. Wild, K. M. Keiblinger, S. Zechmeister-Boltenstern, A. Richter (2014) Adjustment of microbial nitrogen use efficiency to carbon:nitrogen imbalances regulates soil N cycling. Nature Communications 5: article no 3694.
- M. Mooshammer, W. Wanek, Sophie Zechmeister-Boltenstern, A. Richter (2014) Stoichiometric imbalances between terrestrial decomposer communities and their resources: mechanisms and implications of microbial adaptations to their resources. Frontiers in Microbiology 5: article 22.
- R.J.W. Brienen, P. Hietz, W. Wanek, M. Gloor (2013) Oxygen isotopes in tree rings record variation in precipitation 18O and amount effects in the south of Mexico. Journal of Geophysical Research – Biogeosciences 118: 1604-1615.
- P. Hietz, B.L. Turner, W. Wanek, A. Richter, C.A. Nock, S.J. Wright (2011) Pervasive change in the nitrogen cycle in tropical forests. Science 334, 664-666.
CURRENT PROJECTS
- Soil organic N-cycling - MicrON
- Soil fluxomics and tracing SOM decomposition at the molecular level
- Tropical Biogeochemistry
- Ecological Stoichiometry