Stefan Zerbe is Full Professor for Environment and Applied Botany at the Faculty of Science and Technology since 2009 and Vice-Rector for Research at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano since 2012. He studied biology at the Universities Würzburg and Stuttgart-Hohenheim, Germany. He obtained his doctorate as well as his post-doctoral lecturing qualification (Habilitation) and was researcher and guest professor for Botany at the Technical University of Berlin. From 2006-2009, he held the Chair of Geobotany and Landscape Ecology and was Managing Director of the Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology at the University of Greifswald, Germany. There, he founded and was head of the International Master Program Landscape Ecology and Nature Conservation. At the FUB, he was Director of the study program B.Sc. Agricultural Science and Agricultural Technology and currently is the coordinator of the PhD program Mountain Environment and Agriculture, member of various scientific boards and commissions at the FUB, and scientific consultant of various German foundations within the Stifterverbandfür die Deutsche Wissenschaft. His main research and teaching fields are Vegetation and Landscape Ecology as well as Restoration Ecology, focusing on the Alps, Central and Southern Europe, and Central as well as East Asia. His main interest lies on interdisciplinary and international cooperation within research and teaching activities. He is author and co-author of 5 books and monographs and more than 150 scientific papers.
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Current research projects (selection) |
2013-2014 Use of waste water for irrigation in cities of the Southern Alps. Foundation of the Free University ofBozen-Bolzano.
2011-2015 Sustainable coastal land management: Trade-offs in ecosystem services (COMTESS). BMBF Research Programm „Sustainable Land Management“. Project Coordinator Prof. M. Kleyer, Univ. Oldenburg.
2010-2015 Sustainable management of river oases along the Tarimriver, China. (Sumario). BMBF Research Programm „Sustainable Land Manage-ment“. ProjectCoordinator Prof. M. Disse, Bundeswehr Univ. München.
2011-2014 Biodiversity and sustainable management of mountain grassland
in the Javakheti Highland, South Caucasus, Georgia (BIOMAN) – an interdisciplinary socio-ecological study. BauerFoundationwithintheStifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft.
2011-2013 Heavy metal stress in urban green spaces and the potential of phytoremediation with tree species in Southern Italy. Ministerodell’Istruzione, dell’Università e dellaRicerca (PRIN).
2011-2014 Sustainable use of biomass in South Tyrol: from production to technology. Autonomous ProvinceBozen.
2010-2014 Retreating glaciers and emerging ecosystems in the Southern Alps (EMERGE). Dr. Erich Ritter- and Dr. Herzog SellenbergFoundationwithinthe Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft.
2010-2013 Sustainable water management and wetland restoration in settlements of continental-arid Central Asia (SuWaRest). BodeFoundationwithintheStifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft.
2010-2013 Ecosystem services and restoration of traditional land-use systems in the Southern Alps (EcoRAlps). StemmlerFoundationwithintheStifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft.
Publications (10 selected)
1) Skowronek, S., Terwei, A., Zerbe, S., Mölder, I. Annighöfer, P., Kawaletz, H., Ammer, C., Heilmeier, H. (2013): Regeneration potential of floodplain forests under the influence of non-native tree species – Soil seed bank analysis in Northern Italy. Restoration Ecology (in press).
2) Zerbe, S., Steffenhagen, P., Parakenings, K., Timmermann, T., Frick, A., Gelbrecht, J., Zak, D.: Restoration success regarding ecosystem services after 10 years of rewetting peatlands in NE German. Environmental Management (accepted).
3) Radtke, A., Ambraß, S., Zerbe, S., Tonon, G., Ammer, C. (2013):Traditional coppice forest management drives the invasion of Ailanthus altissima and Robiniapseudoacacia into deciduous forests Forest Ecology and Management 291: 308-317.
4) Annighöfer, P. J., Schall, P., Kawaletz, H., Mölder, I., Terwei, A., Zerbe, S., Ammer, C. (2012): Vegetative growth response of black cherry (Prunusserotina, Ehrh.) to different mechanical control methods in a biosphere reserve. Canadian J. For. Res.42 (12): 2037-2051.
5) Thevs, N., Zerbe, S., Kyosev, Y., Rouzi, A., Tang, B., Abdusalih, N., Novitskiy, Z. (2012):Apocynumvenetum L. and ApocynumpictumSchrenk (Apocynaceae) as multi-functional and multi-service plant species in Central Asia: a review on biology, ecology, and utilization.J. Applied Botany and Food Quality 85: 159-167.
6) Mantilla-Contreras, J., Schirmel, J., Zerbe, S. (2012): Influence of soil and microclimate on species composition and grass encroachment in heath succession. Journal of Plant Ecology 5 (3): 249-259.
7) Jansen, F., Ewald, J., Zerbe, S. (2011): Ecological preferences of alien plant species in North-Eastern Germany. Biological Invasions 13: 2691-2701.
8) Frick, A., Steffenhagen, P., Zerbe, S., Timmermann, T., Schulz, K. (2011): Monitoring of the vegetation composition in rewetted peatland with iterative decision tree classification of satellite imagery. PhotogrammetrieFernerkundungGeoinformation 3: 109-122.
9) Zemmrich, A., Manthey, M., Zerbe, S., Damdinsürengiyn O. (2010): Driving environmental factors and the role of grazing in grassland communities: A comparative study along an altitudinal gradient in Western Mongolia. J. Arid Environments 74:1271-1280.
Jansen, F., Zerbe, S., Succow, M. (2009): Changes in landscape naturalness derived from a historical land register – a case study from NE Germany. Landscape Ecology 24: 185-198.