Dr. Liana Kindermann - Scientist

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ResearchGate
 

Current Projects

I am conducting research within the DFG funded collaborative research centre Future Rural Africa, project A01: Future Carbon Storage. Within that interdisciplinary project, my work in Namibia is focused on vegetation surveys which aim to determine synergies and trade-offs along the conservation and intensification pathways of rural future-making. I am focusing on carbon storage in trees and shrubs, effects of trophic rewilding on plant communities, useful tree species, and ecosystem services derived from trees. I will be conducting further research in this project’s second phase focusing on Zambia. 

I am also involved in our working group's activities at Global Change Experimental Facility (GCEF) and within the global Biodesert initiative.

Research Interests

• Carbon storage in dryland vegetation
• Disturbance ecology in savannas
• Ecosystem services provided by savanna vegetation
• Functional trait ecology in plants
• Land-use transformation and social-ecological change
• Biodiversity-ecosystem functioning & biodiversity-ecosystem service relationship
• Global climate change impacts on plant functional traits and ecosystem services

Education and Experience

Since 2024 PostDoc and lecturer at University of Potsdam, Biodiversity Research / Systematic Botany

2024 Dissertation at University of Potsdam: "Trees, Shrubs, and Land-use Change: The Future of Carbon Storage in an African Savanna"

2022 – 2024 Doctoral researcher and lecturer at University of Potsdam, Biodiversity Research / Systematic Botany and within CRC Future Rural Africa

2018 – 2021 Doctoral researcher with Universities of Cologne and Bonn and within CRC Future Rural Africa

2016 - 2017 Research assistant at University of Cologne, leading student excursions to Global Change Experimental Facility (GCEF)

2013 - 2016 Research assistant (intermittently) in project Resilience, Collapse and Reorganisation (RCR), Anglo-American Department,                                Historical Institute, University of Cologne

2009 - 2016 Staatsexamen/State Examination (equivalent to MSc degree) for Biology, History and Educational Sciences, University of Cologne

2008 - 2014 Student assistant (intermittently) at Zoological and Botanical Institutes, University of Cologne

Publications

• Biancari L, Aguiar MR, Eldridge DJ, [...], Kindermann L, [...], Linstädter A et al. (2024) Drivers of woody dominance across global drylands. Science Advances 10, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adn6007
• Díaz-Martínez, P., Maestre, F.T., Moreno-Jiménez, E., [...] Kindermann, L., [...] Linstädter, A. et al. Vulnerability of mineral-associated soil organic carbon to climate across global drylands. Nature Climate Change 14, 976–982 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02087-y
• Kindermann, L. (2024) Trees, Shrubs, and Land-use Change: The Future of Carbon Storage in an African Savanna (Phd Thesis), https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/64894
• Gross, N., Maestre, F.T., Liancourt, P., [...] Kindermann, L., Linstädter, A. [...] et al. (2024). Unforeseen plant phenotypic diversity in a dry and grazed world. Nature 632, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07731-3
• Korell, L., Andrzejak, M., Berger, S., Durka, W., Haider, S., Hensen, I., Herion, Y., Höfner, J., Kindermann, L., Klotz, S., Knight, T. M., Linstädter, A., Madaj, A.-M., Merbach, I., Michalski, S., Plos, C., Roscher, C., Schädler, M., Welk, E., & Auge, H. (2024). Land use modulates resistance of grasslands against future climate and inter-annual climate variability in a large field experiment. Global Change Biology, 30, e17418. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17418
• Kindermann, L., Dobler, M., Niedeggen, D., Fabiano, E. C., & Linstädter, A. (2022). Dataset on Woody Aboveground Biomass, Disturbance Losses, and Wood Density from an African Savanna Ecosystem. Data in Brief, 108155, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2022.108155.
• Kindermann, L., M. Dobler, D. Niedeggen, Linstädter, A. (2022) A new protocol for estimation of woody aboveground biomass in disturbance-prone ecosystems. Ecological Indicators 135:108466. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.108466
• Sandhage-Hofmann, A., Linstädter, A., Kindermann, L., Angombe, S., Amelung, W. (2021). Conservation with elevated elephant densities sequesters carbon in soils despite losses of woody biomass. Global Change Biology 27, 4601-4614. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/gcb.15779