Dr. Sara König
Contact
Department of Soil System Science
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
Theodor-Lieser-Str. 4
06120 Halle (Saale)
Germany
Tel.: +49 341 235-482347

Research interests
My research interests focus on spatiotemporal dynamics of soil ecosystems and the resilience behaviour of their functions under environmental fluctuations. I develop and apply mechanistic simulation models for investigating related research questions in various scenarios. I am especially interested in
- finding trade-offs between describing complex systems adequately, while keeping enough simplicity for understanding the model dynamics
- applying a systemic approach involving knowledge of various disciplines
- combining theory, simulation models and empirical work
- gaining a mechanistic understanding of the dynamic response to fluctuating conditions or management strategies
In my current position in the BonaRes project, I am working on a systemic process model for understanding and predicting the influence of soil management on soil functions under different conditions.
Foto: Gunnar Dreßler, UFZ
2021 (1)
General statistical scaling laws for stability in ecological systems
Ecol. Lett. 24 (7), 1474 - 1486
full text (doi)2020 (1)
Physical, chemical and biological effects on soil bacterial dynamics in microscale models
Front. Ecol. Evol. 8 , art. 53
full text (doi)2019 (1)
Disturbance size can be compensated for by spatial fragmentation in soil microbial ecosystems
Front. Ecol. Evol. 7 , art. 290
full text (doi)2018 (2)
Spatiotemporal disturbance characteristics determine functional stability and collapse risk of simulated microbial ecosystems
Sci. Rep. 8 , art. 9488
full text (doi)
Functional resistance to recurrent spatially heterogeneous disturbances is facilitated by increased activity of surviving bacteria in a virtual ecosystem
Front. Microbiol. 9 , art. 734
full text (doi)2017 (2)
Modelling functional resilience of microbial ecosystems: Analysis of governing processes
Environ. Modell. Softw. 89 , 31 - 39
full text (doi)
Mycelium-mediated transfer of water and nutrients stimulates bacterial activity in dry and oligotrophic environments
Nat. Commun. 8 , art. 15472
full text (doi)2016 (3)
Modelling spatiotemporal dynamics of biodegradation under disturbances: Insights into functional stability of microbial ecosystems
Dissertation, Universität Osnabrück
PhD Dissertation 4/2016
Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung - UFZ, Leipzig, 108 pp.
Bacterial dispersal promotes biodegradation in heterogeneous systems exposed to osmotic stress
Front. Microbiol. 7 , art. 1214
full text (doi)
Mycelium-like networks increase bacterial dispersal, growth, and biodegradation in a model ecosystem at various water potentials
Appl. Environ. Microb. 82 (10), 2902 - 2908
full text (doi)
2018- |
PostDoc at the Department of Soil System Science BonaRes project |
2017-2018 | Sponsorship Coordinator for ISME17 |
2016-2018 |
PostDoc at the Department of Ecological Modelling (in cooperation with the Department of Environmental Microbiology) |
2012-2016 |
PhD Student at UFZ within the Twin Project, topic: "Modelling spatiotemporal dynamics of biodegradation under disturbances" |
2011-2012 |
Master of Science Environmental Systems and Resources Management, University of Osnabrück |
2007-2011 |
Bachelor of Science Applied System Science, University of Osnabrück |
2018 - 2020 | Institute of Environmental Systems Research, Osnabrück University, Germany |
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2014 - 2019 | Institute of Environmental Systems Research, Osnabrück University, Germany |
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2014 - 2019 | Institute of Environmental Systems Research, Osnabrück University, Germany |
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2013 - 2017 | Department Ecological Modelling, UFZ, Leipzig & Kohren-Sahlis, Germany |
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2011 - 2012 | Institute of Environmental Systems Research, Osnabrück University, Germany |
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Talks
2019
König, S., Weller, U., Lang, B., Mayer, S., Stößel, B., Vogel, H.-J., Wiesmeier, M., Wollschläger, U. (2019): The importance of long-term field experiments for modelling soil functions in agricultural systems. DOK conference, Monte Verita, Switzerland
König, S., Vogel, H.-J., Harms, H., Worrich, A. (2019): Functional stability in soil ecosystems - Insights from the microscale modelling perspective. Gesellschaft für Ökologie (GfÖ), Münster, Germany
König, S., Weller, U., Lang, B., Mayer, S., Stößel, B., Vogel, H.-J., Wiesmeier, M., Wollschläger, U. (2019): Systemic modelling of soil functions under the impact of land management. Deutsche Bodenkundliche Gesellschaft (DBG), Bern, Switzerland
König, S., Vogel, H.-J., Weller, U. (2019): Hydrological modelling of a dynamic pore space. European Geosciences Union General Assembly (EGU), Vienna, Austria
König, S., Weller, U., Lang, B., Mayer, S., Stößel, B., Vogel, H.-J., Wiesmeier, M., Wollschläger, U. (2019): The importance of long-term field experiments for modelling soil functions in agricultural systems. LTFE Meeting IOSDV, Gießen, Germany
2018
König, S., Worrich, A., Banitz, T., Harms, H., Kästner, M., Miltner, A., Wick, L., Frank, K., Thullner, M., Centler, F. (2018): Increased activity of surviving bacteria facilitate functional resistance to recurrent disturbances: a modelling study. Ecology of Soil Microorganisms (ESM), Helsinki, Finland
2017
König, S., Worrich, A., Banitz, T., Harms, H., Kästner, M., Miltner, A., Wick, L., Frank, K., Thullner, M., Centler, F. (2017): Stable biomass versus stable function - opposite effects of spatial fragmentation on the resistance of virtual microbial ecosystems. Joint Meeting of the British Ecological Society (BES) and the Ecological Society of Germany (GfÖ): Ecology Across Borders (EAB), Ghent, Belgium
König, S., Firle, A.-L., Koehnke, M. Banitz. T., Frank, K. (2017): Too big or too narrow? Disturbance characteristics determine the functional resilience in virtual microbial ecosystems. Conference on Functional ecology and environment (FEE), Ecolab, Toulouse, France
König, S., Firle, A.-L., Koehnke, M., Banitz, T., Frank, K. (2017): Too big or too narrow? Disturbance characteristics determine the functional resilience in virtual microbial ecosystems. European Geosciences Union General Assembly (EGU), Vienna, Austria
2016
König, S., Worrich, A., Banitz, T., Centler, F., Kästner, M., Miltner, A., Wick, L., Thullner, M., Frank, K. (2016): Where is the edge of collapse? Insights from modelling microbial ecosystem functions under recurrent disturbances. Annual Meeting of the British Ecological Society (BES), Liverpool, UK
König, S., Worrich, A., Wick, L., Miltner, A., Kästner, M., Thullner, M., Centler, F., Banitz, T., Frank, K. (2016): Can you escape the beat? Modelling spatiotemporal biodegradation dynamics during periodic disturbances. European Geosciences Union General Assembly (EGU), Vienna, Austria
2015
König, S., Worrich, A., Banitz, T., Centler, F., Frank, K., Kästner, M., Miltner, A., Wick, L., Thullner, M. (2015): Modelling bacterial degradation after disturbances. 15th EuCheMS International Conference on Chemistry and the Environment (ICCE), Leipzig, Germany
König, S., Banitz, T., Centler, F., Frank, K., Thullner, M. (2015): Functional resilience of microbial ecosystems in soil: How important is a spatial analysis? European Geosciences Union General Assembly (EGU), Vienna, Austria
Poster pitches
König, S., Banitz, T., Centler, F., Frank, K., Thullner, M. (2015): Functional resilience of microbial ecosystems in soil: How important is a spatial analysis? 6th Congress of European Microbiologists (FEMS), Maastricht, Netherlands
Posters
König, S., Lang, B., Ließ, M., Russell, D., Vogel, H.-J., Weller, U., Wiesmeier, M., Wollschläger, U. (2019): Modelling the dynamics of soil functions for agricultural land use: how to adequately represent biological processes? Gesellschaft für Ökologie (GfÖ), Münster, Germany
König, S., Worrich, A., Banitz, T., Centler, F., Harms, H., Kästner, M., Miltner, A., Wick, L. Y., Thullner, M., Frank, K. (2018): On the edge of collapse: Modelling microbial ecosystem functions under spatially heterogeneous recurrent disturbances. International Symposium on Microbial Ecology (ISME17), Leipzig, Germany
König, S., Worrich, A., Kästner, M., Miltner, A., Wick, L. Y., Thullner, M., Banitz, T., Frank, K., Centler, F. (2015): Hot spots and cold spots: Modelling biodegradation dynamics in response to disturbance regimes. Ecology of soil microorganisms (ESM), Prague, Czech Republic
König, S., Banitz, T., Centler, F., Frank, K., Thullner, M. (2015): Functional resilience of microbial ecosystems in soil: How important is a spatial analysis? 6th Congress of European Microbiologists (FEMS), Maastricht, Netherlands
König, S. & Worrich, A., Banitz, T., Centler, F., Frank, K., Kästner, M., Miltner, A., Thullner, M., Wick, L. (2015): Uncovering stability mechanisms in microbial ecosystems. 6th Congress of European Microbiologists (FEMS), Maastricht, Netherlands
Worrich, A. & König, S., Banitz, T., Centler, F., Frank, K., Kästner, M., Miltner, A., Thullner, M., Wick, L. (2015): Uncovering stability mechanisms in microbial ecosystems: combining microcosm experiments, computational modelling and ecological theory in a multidisciplinary approach. European Geosciences Union General Assembly (EGU), Vienna, Austria
König, S., Frank, K., Thullner, M. (2015): Recovering ecosystem functioning: The meaning of space for microbes. Higrade Conference, UFZ, Leipzig, Germany