Prof. Dr. Melanie Brunn

I study how plant-soil interactions shape biogeochemical cycles, ecosystem resilience, and carbon storage in forests and human-managed landscapes under global environmental change. My work combines long-term field experiments, manipulative studies, and data-driven approaches to link rhizosphere-scale processes with ecosystem and landscape-level dynamics. My research aims to advance predictive understanding of how ecosystems respond to climate extremes and land-use change, thereby contributing to interdisciplinary perspectives on human-environment interactions and informing sustainable land management and climate mitigation strategies.

After completing my studies in Geography at the University of Mainz (2009), I earned my Ph.D. at the University of Tübingen (2017). I then held research positions as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Tübingen (2017–2018) and as a project coordinator at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) (2018–2019). In 2019, I took up a qualifying research position (Habilitation track) at RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau. From 2022 to 2025, I served as Visiting Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Koblenz. In the winter term 2025/26, I held the Visiting Professorship of Physical Geography at the University of Osnabrück, and since the summer term 2026, I have been serving as Visiting Professor of Physical Geography and Landscape Studies at the University of Bamberg.

Education

2017
Ph.D. in Geoecology, University of Tübingen, Germany
Department of Geosciences, Geoecology
Thesis: Controls of Vertical Carbon Stable Isotope Distribution in Topsoil: Temperature, Precipitation, and Time

2009
Diploma in Geography, University of Mainz, Germany
Department of Geography, Soil Science
Thesis: Element Fluxes in Litterfall in a Tropical Tree Plantation in Panama: Effects of Biodiversity and Microtopography

Academic Positions

• 2026 - present: Visiting Professor of Physical Geography and Landscape Studies, University of Bamberg, Germany
• 2025 - 2026: Visiting Professor of Physical Geography, University of Osnabrück, Germany
• 2022 - 2025: Visiting Professor of Physical Geography, University of Koblenz, Germany
• 2019 - present: Assistant Professor, RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, Germany (on leave)
• 2018 - 2019: Project Coordinator, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany
• 2017 - 2018: Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Tübingen, Germany

(State 2026)

• Obersteiner, S., Klein, T., Brunn, M.* (2026) Technical note: Methodological choices influence root carbon exudation measurements. Frontiers in Agronomy.
• Grange, S.K., Girardi, J.P., Mendoza-Lera, C., Dyckmans, J., Muñoz, K., Brunn, M., Jungkunst, H.F. (2025) Stable isotopes as a tool towards a better understanding of the biogeochemical traits of invasive Fallopia japonica: a pot experiment. Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies. 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/10256016.2025.2567068
• Brunn, M.*, Mueller, C.W., Chari, N.R., Meier, I.C., Obersteiner, S., Phillips, R.P., Taylor, B.N., Tumber-Dávila, S.J., Ullah, S., Klein, T. (2025) Tree carbon allocation to root exudates Implications for carbon budgets, soil sequestration, and drought response. Tree Physiology 45(4). https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpaf026
• Schnabel, F., Guillemot, J., Barry, K.E., Brunn, M., Cesarz, S., Eisenhauer, N., Gebauer, T., Guerrero-Ramirez, N., Handa, T., Madsen, C., Mancilla, L., Monteza, J., Moore, T., Oelmann, Y., Scherer-Lorenzen, M., Schwendenmann, L., Wagner, A., Wirth, C., Potvin, C. (2025) Tree diversity increases carbon stocks and fluxes above- but not belowground in a tropical forest experiment. Global Change Biol. 31(2): e70089. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70089
• Brunn, M.*, Billings, S.A., Birke, J., Nielsen, M.W., Kilian Salas, S., Brockmüller, S., Oelmann, Y. (2024) On the importance of diversity in ecological research. Plants, People, Planet 6(6): 1207-1214. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10553
• Chari, N. R., Tumber-Dávila, S.J., Phillips, R.P., Bauerle,T.L., Brunn, M., Hafner, B.D., Klein, T., Obersteiner, S., Reay, M. K., Ullah, S., Taylor, B.N. (2024) Estimating the global root exudate carbon flux. Biogeochemistry 167(7): 895-908. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-024-01161-z
• Bölscher, T., Vogel, C., Meurer, K., Herrmann, A.M., Colombi, T., Brunn, M., Domeignoz-Horta, L.A. (2024) Beyond growth: The significance of non-growth anabolism for microbial carbon-use efficiency in the light of soil carbon stabilisation. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 193: 109400. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2024.109400
• Manfrin, A., Schirmel, J., Mendoza-Lera, C., Ahmed, A., Bohde, R., Brunn, M., Brühl, C. A., Buchmann, C., Bundschuh, M., Burgis, F., Diehl, D., Entling, M. H., Ganglo, C, Geissler, S., Gerstle, V., Girardi, J. P., Graf, T., Huszarik, M, Jamin, J., Joschko, T. J., Jungkunst, H. F., Knäbel, A., Kolbenschlag, S., Lorke, A., Muñoz, K., Ogbeide, C., Osakpolor, S. E., Pietz, S., Riess, K., Roodt, A. P., Rovelli, L., Röder, N., Rösch, V., Schaumann, G. E., Schäfer, R. B., Schmitt, T., Schmitz, D., Schützenmeister, K., Schwenk, K., Stehle, S., Schulz, R. (2023) SystemLink: moving beyond aquatic-terrestrial interactions to incorporate food web studies. Limnology and Oceanography Bulletin 32(2): 77-81. https://doi.org/10.1002/lob.10557
• Brunn, M.*, Krüger, J, Lang, F. (2023) Experimental drought increased the belowground sink strength towards higher topsoil organic carbon stocks in a temperate mature forest. Geoderma 431: 116356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2023.116356
• Girardi, J.P., Korz, S., Muñoz, K., Jamin, J., Schmitz, D., Rösch, V., Riess, K., Schützenmeister, K., Jungkunst, H.F., Brunn, M.* (2022) Nitrification inhibition by polyphenols from invasive Fallopia japonica under copper stress. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science 185(6): 923-934. https://doi.org/10.1002/jpln.202200255
• Hikino, K., Danzberger, J., Riedel, V.P., Hesse, B.D., Hafner, B.D., Gebhardt, T., Rehschuh, R., Ruehr, N.K., Brunn, M., Bauerle, T.L., Landhäusser, S.M., Lehmann, M.M., Rötzer, T., Pretzsch, H., Buegger, F., Weikl, F., Pritsch, K., Grams, T.E.E. (2022) Dynamics of initial carbon allocation after drought release in mature Norway spruce - Increased belowground allocation of current photoassimilates covers only half of the carbon used for fine-root growth. Global Change Biology 28 (23): 6889-6905. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16388
• Jungkunst, H.F., Göpel, J., Horvath, T., Ott, S., Brunn, M. (2022) Global soil organic carbon-climate interactions: Why scales matter. WIREs Climate Change 13 (4): e780. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.780
• Brunn, M.*, Hafner, B.D., Zwetlsloot, M.J., Weikl, F., Pritsch, K., Hikino, K., Ruehr, N.K., Sayer, E.J., Bauerle, T.L. (2022) Carbon allocation to root exudates is maintained in mature temperate tree species under drought. New Phytologist 235 (3). https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.18157
• Jungkunst, H.F., Goepel, J., Horvath, T., Ott, S., Brunn, M. (2021) New uses for old tools: Reviving Holdridge Life Zones in soil carbon persistence research. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science 184, 5–11. https://doi.org/10.1002/jpln.202100008
• Grams T.E.E, Hesse, B.D., Gebhardt, T., Weikl, F., Rötzer, T., Kovacs, B., Hikino, K., Hafner, B.D., Brunn, M., Bauerle, T., Häberl, K.-H., Pretzsch, H., Pritsch, K. (2021) The Kroof experiment – realization and efficacy of a recurrent drought experiment plus recovery in a beech/spruce forest. Ecosphere 12 (3), 20. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3399
• Brunn, M.*, Brodbeck, S., Oelmann, Y. (2017) Three decades following afforestation are sufficient to yield δ13C depth profiles in soil. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science 180, 643-647. https://doi.org/10.1002/jpln.201700015
• Brunn, M.*, Condron, L., Wells, A., Spielvogel, S., Oelmann, Y. (2016) Vertical distribution of carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios in topsoils across a temperate rainforest dune chronosequence in New Zealand. Biogeochemistry 129 (1-2): 37-51. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-016-0218-4
• Brunn, M.*, Spielvogel, S., Sauer, T., Oelmann, Y. (2014) Temperature and precipitation effects on δ13C depth profiles in SOM under temperate beech forests. Geoderma 235, 146-153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2014.07.007

* Corresponding author: Melanie Brunn

• Brunn, M. Stability under Climate Change: Carbon Fluxes from Tree Canopy to Soil. 9th Environmental Ecology Symposium – Root Research in Support of Climate Change Adaptation Strategies in Agriculture and Forestry. HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein, Austria (17.09.2024).
• Brunn, M. Controls of atmospheric carbon transfer to soil by root exudates. EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria (16.04.2024).
• Schifferdecker, G., Tsegai, D., Brunn, M., Wagenknecht, J., Global Crises, Drought and Ecosystem Restoration. Geographisches Quartett – Talkshow. University of Bonn (18.09.2023).
• Brunn, M. From canopy to soil – below ground carbon partitioning to root exudates during drought and species mixing. Guest speaker at the Research Training school RTG 2300 “Enrichment of European beech forests with conifers: impacts of functional traits on ecosystem functioning” in Göttingen, Germany (30.-31.03.2023).
• Brunn, M. Carbon dynamics during long-term Podzol formation. Bodenkundliches Kolloquium. Institute of Soil Science, University of Hohenheim, Germany (09.12.2019).

Editorial and Review Activities

I serve as Associate Editor for the international journals Scientific Reports (Nature Portfolio) and Soil Use and Management (Wiley). In addition, I have been acting as a reviewer for numerous international scientific journals as well as for national and international research funding organizations for many years.

Advisory Boards and Academic Committees

•    Member of the Advisory Board of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
•    Member of the Habilitation Committee, RPTU Landau (2021)
•    Representative of the non-professorial faculty, RPTU Landau (2019–2020)
•    Member of the working group “Gender Studies Program”, University of Koblenz

Professional Societies and Scientific Networks

I am committed to interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaboration as well as to promoting diversity in academia. I am a member of scientific societies including the German Soil Science Society (DBG), the European Geosciences Union (EGU), and the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (GFÖ), and I actively participate in international research networks.

• 2024: Travel Grant (international conference participation), German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
• 2022: Next Generation Scientist Support, New Phytologist Foundation
• 2021: Visiting Scientist Support, EJP SOIL Programme
• 2015: Poster Prize, International Symposium on Soil Organic Matter
• 2013: Research Grant (field research in New Zealand), German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
• 2011–2014: Doctoral Scholarship, Graduate Funding Programme of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate (three-year competitive fellowship)

My research is embedded in international collaborations and has been shaped by research stays at leading institutions worldwide. I was a visiting scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute  (Panama) (2008, 2027, 2026), the Weizmann Institute of Science  (Israel) (2023), the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Sweden) (2021, 2022), and Lincoln University (New Zealand) (2013). Beyond institutional collaborations, I actively contribute to international research networks. For example, I am a member of the International Exudate Network, where I contribute expertise on plant-soil interactions and experimental design.