Dr. Ricarda Pätsch
I am a vegetation ecologist interested in understanding plant species diversity, richness, and functional patterns, as well as soil-plant relationships, using vegetation surveys, high-resolution soil data, and trait and climate data from available databases. I study how various environmental factors shape plant species distribution and taxonomic, structural, and functional vegetation patterns in open habitats and extreme environments such as salt-affected vegetation and bedrock meadows in Europe and North America. My research provides helpful information to nature conservationists and policymakers for them to make informed decisions to protect and preserve long-term resilient plant communities and habitats. I am experienced in field botany, vegetation sampling, and data analyses for which I primarily employ R (e.g., classification, DCA, glm, NMDS, niche modelling [HOF], PCA, RandomForest, linear regression), GIS (QGIS [map handling]), and established software for vegetation research (Turboveg 2 & 3 [database handling] and JUICE [cluster exploration]). I support publicly accessible vegetation databases and data repositories. I believe that supporting students from underrepresented groups through skilled mentoring and an inclusive environment will enable higher-quality science in the future. Furthermore, I am convinced that respectful and mutually supportive collaboration facilitates a shared understanding of challenges, tasks, and goal-oriented solutions. |
"And I thought if I could give more minoriy people an opportunity to do PhD`s some exciting things might emerge."
Dame Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Astronomist
Dame Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Astronomist