Laufende Forschungsprojekte

WATERWISE: Co-designing sustainable management solutions for resilient Alpine headwaters (2024-2027, with University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, Fondazione Edmund Mach, Italy, and many other European partners), funded by the EU Interreg Alpine Space programme

Plants & Politics: Plant cover and politics in desertification-affected areas (2024-2026, with University of Leipzig and University Halle-Wittenberg), funded by the LeipzigLab

EU Erasmus+ BESTNATURE: Boosting EU Biodiversity STrategy by empowering high education curricula and green skills for NATURE protection and restoration (2023-2026, with University of Tuscia, University of Bologna, University of Graz, Carinthia University of Applied Sciences and E.C.O. – Institute for Ecology, Austria)

LIFE PROGNOSES: LIFE PRotection of Old Growth Forests in Europe: Natural heritage, Outline, Synthesis and Ecosystem Services - Strengthening primary and old growth forest protection in Europe by capitalising on World Heritage sites. (2021-2024, involved in work packages 1 and 2, with Northwest German Forest Research Institute (NW-FVA) and many other partners)

BioCult: Culture and Conservation – Harnessing synergies between cultural traditions and biodiversity protection (2021-2024, leader vegetation group, with Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and many other partners)

Ausgewählte abgeschlossene Forschungsprojekte

Improving dietary quality and livelihoods using farm and wild biodiversity through an integrated community-based approach in Kenya (2019-2023, leader wild edible plants group, with Bioversity International, Nairobi, Kenya, and many other partners)

Organizational sense-making, innovation, and adaptation in response to extreme exogenous jolts – The responses of natural parks in Ukraine to the Russian onslaught in 2022 (2022-2023, cooperation project with refugee scientists from the Ukraine and many other partners funded by the Volkswagen Foundation

Reconciling human livelihood needs and nature conservation in East African forest biodiversity hotspots  (2016-2019, leader vegetation group)

BiomassWeb - Improving food security in Africa through increased system productivity of biomass-based value webs  (2015-2018, project coordinator)

Floristic composition and affinities of the Ethiopian coffee forest vegetation(2009-2013, project lead)

The protection of forests under global biodiversity and climate policy (2009-2013, sub-project lead)

Aktuelle Publikationen

2024

Chala D, Gizaw A, Thorn JPR, Cuni Sanchez A, Eilu G, Demissew S, Hemp C, Hemp A, Schmitt CB, Marchant R & Brochmann C. 2024. The sky islands in eastern Africa: biodiversity, opportunities, and risks. In: Schneiderbauer S, Pisa PF, Shroder JF, Szarzynski J (eds.): Safeguarding Mountain Social-Ecological Systems. Vol 2: Building Transformative Resilience in Mountain Regions Worldwide. Elsevier, ISBN: 9780443328244, 97-106

de Deus Vidal J, Schmitt CB, Koch I. 2023. Comparative richness patterns of range sizes and life forms of Apocynaceae along forest–savanna transitions in Brazil. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 204(3), 230-241. (Open Access)

Oluoch WA, Borgemeister C, de Deus Vidal J, Fremout T, Gaisberger H, Whitney C, Schmitt CB. 2024. Predicted changes in distribution and richness of wild edible plants under climate change scenarios in northwestern Kenya. Regional Environmental Change 24:11, 1-15. (Open Access)

San SM, Kumar N, Biber-Freudenberger L, & Schmitt CB. 2024. Policy Evaluation and Monitoring of Agricultural Expansion in Forests in Myanmar: An Integrated Approach of Remote Sensing Techniques and Social Surveys. Land 13(2), 150. (Open Access)

Schmitt CB & de Deus Vidal J. 2024. Global patterns of biodiversity in forests. In: Peh K, Corlett R & Bergeron Y (Eds.): The Routledge Handbook of Forest Ecology (2nd edition). Routledge, Oxford, UK, ISBN 9781032348384

Schmitt CB, Kellermann A, Schmid BC, Anhuf D. 2024. § 16 Klimatologische Ereignisse. In: Freudenberg D & von Lewinski K (eds.): Handbuch Bevölkerungsschutz Grundlagen – Recht – Praxis. Verlag C.H. BECK, München, 329-344.

Schmitt CB, Schmid BC, Wagener J, Anhuf D. 2024. § 15 Hydrologische Ereignisse. In: Freudenberg D & von Lewinski K (eds.): Handbuch Bevölkerungsschutz Grundlagen – Recht – Praxis. Verlag C.H. BECK, München, 311-328.

Schmitt CB, Schmid BC, Wagener J, Anhuf D. 2024. § 17 Geophysikalische Ereignisse. In: Freudenberg D & von Lewinski K (eds.): Handbuch Bevölkerungsschutz Grundlagen – Recht – Praxis. Verlag C.H. BECK, München, 345-352.

Slik F, …Schmitt CB et al. (ca. 100 Autor:innen) 2024. Wind dispersed tree species have greater maximum height. Global Ecology and Biogeography, e13878. (Open Access)

2023

Kung’u GN, Cousseau L, Githiru M, Habel JC, Kinyanjui M, Matheka K, Schmitt CB, Seifert T, Teucher M, Lens L & Apfelbeck B. 2023. Anthropogenic activities affect forest structure and arthropod abundance in a Kenyan biodiversity hotspot. Biodiversity and Conservation, 32: 3255-3282.(Open Access)

Oluoch WA, Whitney C, Termote C, Borgemeister C & Schmitt CB. 2023. Indigenous communities’ perceptions reveal threats and management options of wild edible plants in semiarid lands of northwestern Kenya. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 19: 13. (Open Access)

San SM, Biber-Freudenberger L, Kumar N & Schmitt CB. 2023. Agroforestry-based community forestry as a large-scale strategy to reforest agricultural encroachment areas in Myanmar: ambition vs. local reality. Annals of Forest Science, 80(27): 15. (Open Access)

2022

Avilés Irahola D, Mora-Motta A, Barbosa Pereira A, Bharati L, Biber-Freudenberger L, Petersheim C, Quispe-Zuniga MR, Schmitt CB & Youkhana E. 2022. Integrating scientific and local knowledge to address environmental conflicts: the role of academia. Human Ecology, doi: 10.1007/s10745-022-00344-2. (Open Access)

Akoto DS, Partey ST, Abugre S, Akoto S, Denich M, Borgemeister C & Schmitt CB. 2022. Comparative analysis of leaf litter decomposition and nutrient release patterns of bamboo and traditional species in agroforestry system in Ghana. Cleaner Materials, 4: 100068. (Open Access)

Oluoch WA, Whitney CW, Termote C, Borgemeister C & Schmitt CB. 2022. Integrated participatory approach reveals perceived local availability of wild edible plants in Northwestern Kenya. Human Ecology, doi: 10.1007/s10745-022-00370-0. (Open Access)

Vandekerkhove K, Meyer P, Kirchmeir H, Piovesan G, Hirschmugl M, Larrieu L, Kozák D, Mikoláš M, Nagel T, Schmitt C & Blumröder J. 2022. Old-growth criteria and indicators for beech forests (Fageta). Report, LIFE-PROGNOSES - Work Package 1.11, pp. 51. (Open Access)

2021

Brackhane S, Klein B, Reif A & Schmitt CB. 2021. Implementing the 2% wilderness goal in Germany – The National Natural Heritage Site Rechlin as a case study. Journal for Nature Conservation, 64: 126067.

Brackhane S, Reif A, Zin E & Schmitt CB. 2021. Are natural disturbances represented in strictly protected areas in Germany? Global Ecology and Conservation, e01436: 21. (Open Access)

Cuni-Sanchez A & 101 co-authors, including Schmitt CB. 2021. High aboveground carbon stock of African tropical montane forests. Nature, 596: 536-542.

2020

Akoto DS, Partey ST, Denich M, Kwaku M, Borgemeister C & Schmitt CB.  2020. Towards bamboo agroforestry development in Ghana: evaluation of crop performance, soil properties and economic benefit. Agroforestry Systems, 94: 1759-1780. (Open Access)

Akoto DS, Partey ST, Denich M, Kwaku M, Borgemeister C & Schmitt CB. 2020. Environmental and financial assessment of producing bioenergy from Bambusa balcooa, Anogeissus leiocarpa and Senna siamea in Ghana. Journal of Cleaner Production, 275: 123147.

Aleman JC & 32 co-authors, including Schmitt CB. 2020. Floristic evidence for alternative biome states in tropical Africa. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117(45): 28183-28190.

Avilés-Irahola D, Beuchelt T, Schmitt CB, Nischalke S, Youkhana E & Geiger F. 2020. Gender inequalities show and deepen in times of pandemic. ZEF blog post.

Callo-Concha D, Jaenicke H, Schmitt CB & Denich M. 2020. Food and non-food biomass production, processing and use in sub-Saharan Africa: Towards a regional bioeconomy, Editorial. Sustainability, 12(5): 2013. (Open Access)

Callo-Concha D, Jaenicke H, Schmitt CB & Denich M (Eds.). 2020. Advances in Food and Non-Food Biomass Production, Processing and Use in Sub-Saharan Africa: Towards a Basis for a Regional Bioeconomy. Edited book (434 pages), MDPI. Basel, Switzerland. (Open Access)

Habel JC, Nzau JM, Apfelbeck B, Bendzko T, Fischer C, Kimatu JN, Mwakumanya MA, Maghenda M, Mulwa RK, Rieckmann M, Shauri H, Teucher M & Schmitt CB. 2020. Land scarcity, communication gaps and institutional confusions influence the loss of biodiversity in south-eastern Kenya. Biodiversity and Conservation, 29: 3835-3841. (Open Access)

Muscarella R & 222 co-authors, including Schmitt CB. 2020. The global abundance of tree palms. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 29(9): 1495-1514. (Open Access)

Schmitt CB, Börner J & Luedeling E. 2020. Planting trees - no all-round solution for climate change mitigation. ZEFNews 41. Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Germany, p. 10. (Open Access) 

Teucher M, Schmitt CB, Wiese A, Apfelbeck B, Maghenda M, Pellikka P, Lens L & Habel JC. 2020. Behind the fog: Forest degradation despite logging bans in an East African cloud forest. Global Ecology and Conservation, 22: e01024. (Open Access)

Weitere Publikationen:

ResearchGate

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Laufende Arbeiten

Kerstin Hikel: Seed dispersal in the Kenyan coastal forests. (mit Paris Lodron Universität Salzburg)

Su Mon San: Managing forest encroachment with an integrated approach of remote sensing and social science: A case study in Myanmar. (mit Universität Bonn)

Abgeschlossene Arbeiten

Wyclife A. Oluoch (2024): Availability and sustainable harvesting of wild edible plants in Turkana County, Kenya. (mit Universität Bonn)

Dr. Sebastian Brackhane (2021): Wilderness Areas in Germany - Potential, Priorities and Evaluation. (mit Universität Freiburg)

Dr. Daniel Akoto-Sarfo (2020): Bamboo agroforestry for household energy and food security in Ghana: An exploratory study. (mit Universität Bonn)

Dr. María Jeaneth Delgado-Aguilar (2017): Integration of remote sensing techniques and information on ecosystem services to measure tropical forest degradation: a case study from Ecuador. (mit Universität Freiburg)

2024

Julia Gasser (2024): Kommunikationsstrategien zur Etablierung einer Risikokultur am Beispiel der Waldbrandproblematik auf Mallorca. Bachelorarbeit, Universität Passau.

Mona Pinzinger (2024): Zerstörung der brasilianischen Savanne Cerrado - ökologische Folgen der Sojaproduktion für die Region Matopiba. Bachelorarbeit, Universität Passau.

Almut Sopper (2024): Klimakrise und Kulturerbe - Auswirkungen und Schutzmaßnahmen für Baudenkmäler am Beispiel der Dome in Florenz und Passau. Bachelorarbeit, Universität Passau.

Vanessa Vollenschier (2024): Do Turismo, que não convém, nasce o mal e pouco bem - The Impact of Tourism on Nature on Faial, Pico, and São Miguel Island (Azores, Portugal). Masterarbeit, Universität Passau.

2023

Corinna Fritzsche (2023): Potentiale und Herausforderungen von Mangrovenwaldaufforstung in Indonesien. Bachelorarbeit, Universität Passau.

Miriam Mayr (2023): Mexico's Tequila industry between tradition and human-environment impacts. Bachelorarbeit, Universität Passau.

Laura Schiller (2023): Naturschutz und Forstwirtschaft im Clinch? Eine qualitative Analyse der Motive und Werte in der Diskussion um die natürliche Waldentwicklung. Masterarbeit, Universität Passau.

Charlotte Uhlrich (2023): Chancen und Herausforderungen von Agroforstsystemen als Anpassungsstrategie an den Klimawandel in Deutschland. Bachelorarbeit, Universität Passau.

2022

Gregor Baumann (2022): Blühflächen als Naturschutzmaßnahmen in der Bayerischen Landwirtschaft. Zulassungsarbeit, Universität Passau.

Christine Dyschel (2022): Global change and the traditional adaptation of the Turkana to their environment. Bachelorarbeit, Universität Passau.

Antonia Milde (2022): Die Spuren der Eiszeit in Bayern – Der Nationalpark Bayerischer Wald und seine glaziale Vergangenheit im Fokus besucherorientierter Erfahrbarkeit. Zulassungsarbeit, Universität Passau.

Sandy Taut (2022): Coffea – Der Kaffeeanbau in Lateinamerika und seine Auswirkungen auf Biodiversität und Boden. Bachelorarbeit, Universität Passau.

2021

Constantin Bomheuer (2021): Is seaweed farming all that it is claimed to be? A critical analysis of the impact that seaweed farming has on biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and eutrophication in the Pacific Northwest coast. Bachelorarbeit, Universität Passau.

Matthias Mader (2021): Auswirkungen des Klimawandels auf die bayerischen Wälder und Adaptionsstrategien. Bachelorarbeit, Universität Passau.