Spatial Genetics of Ecosystems

We want to know why living beings vary and where their variation matters for ecology and for people.

Led by Prof. Meredith Schuman, the Spatial Genetics group studies the heritable and environmentally responsive variation of organisms in their environments. Many of our projects focus on plants, among Nature's master chemists and fixers of carbon. We are interested in the consequences of genetic variation for organisms and the ecosystems they form. In many projects, we partner with ecosystem managers including farmers, foresters, and conservationists.

We are part of the University Research Priority Program on Global Change and Biodiversity, partners in UPSCALE,collaborators of the Biology Integration Institute ASCEND, and contributors to sMile. We are initiators of "Genes from Space" and the Earth Metabolome Initiative. In addition, we lead or participate in different projects about the genetic and biochemical diversity of life and its important and practical consequences.

The Spatial Genetics group is in the Department of Geography and the Department of Chemistry.
https://www.geo.uzh.ch/en/units/sg.html
https://www.chem.uzh.ch/en/research/groups/schuman.html

Image credits are Isabelle Helfenstein and © contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2017)

Point of Contact:Isabelle Helfenstein