Regional Ecophysiology

The research group Regional Ecophysiology is measuring and modelling the exchanges of energy, water and trace gases between the terrestrial biosphere and the atmosphere. We have installed Eddy covariance towers in three German ecosystems: a beech forest, moist pasture and agriculture.

The group is developing model diagnostic tools such as parameter screening, sensitivity analysis, and tools related to model optimisation. These tools are used to constrain model parameters by measured fluxes and auxiliary observations. The main models are the soil and snow energy, water and isotope model Soil-Litter-Iso, the land surface models Noah-MP and Cable, and the hydrologic model mHM and its routing scheme mRM.

We are last but not least working on better descriptions of isotope diagnostics in climate models for more reliable representations of the carbon and water cycles at long time scales.

Projects and Research Topics

Projects

Carbon fluxes with forest gap models
Isotope diagnostics in ecosystem analysis and land surface models
Analysis of land surface models
Scale independent formulations of land surface models
Biomass of the Amazon region

Publications

2018 (13)

Cuntz, M., Haverd, V., (2018):
Physically accurate soil freeze-thaw processes in a global land surface scheme
J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst. 10 (1), 54 - 77
full text (url)
Demirel, M.C., Mai, J., Mendiguren, G., Koch, J., Samaniego, L., Stisen, S., (2018):
Combining satellite data and appropriate objective functions for improved spatial pattern performance of a distributed hydrologic model
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 22 (2), 1299 - 1315
full text (url)
Djukic, I., Kepfer-Rojas, S., Kappel Schmidt, I., Steenberg Larsen, K., Beier, C., Berg, B., Verheyen, K., Schmidt, A., Auge, H., Rebmann, C., Stadler, J., Caliman, A. et al., (2018):
Early stage litter decomposition across biomes
Sci. Total Environ. 628–629 , 1369 - 1394
full text (url)
Madi, R., de Rooij, G.H., Mielenz, H., Mai, J., (2018):
Parametric soil water retention models: a critical evaluation of expressions for the full moisture range
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 22 (2), 1193 - 1219
full text (url)
Marañón-Jiménez, S., Van den Bulcke, J., Piayda, A., Van Acker, J., Cuntz, M., Rebmann, C., Steppe, K., (2018):
X-ray computed microtomography characterizes the wound effect that causes sap flow underestimation by thermal dissipation sensors
Tree Physiol. 38 (2), 287 - 301
full text (url)
Marx, A., Kumar, R., Thober, S., Rakovec, O., Wanders, N., Zink, M., Wood, E.F., Pan, M., Sheffield, J., Samaniego, L., (2018):
Climate change alters low flows in Europe under global warming of 1.5, 2, and 3 °C
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 22 (2), 1017 - 1032
full text (url)
Nicolini, G., Aubinet, M., Feigenwinter, C., Heinesch, B., Lindroth, A., Mamadou, O., Moderow, U., Mölder, M., Montagnani, L., Rebmann, C., Papale, D., (2018):
Impact of CO₂ storage flux sampling uncertainty on net ecosystem exchange measured by eddy covariance
Agric. For. Meteorol. 248 , 228 - 239
full text (url)
Peichl, M., Thober, S., Meyer, V., Samaniego, L., (2018):
The effect of soil moisture anomalies on maize yield in Germany
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. 18 (3), 889 - 906
full text (url)
Rödig, E., Cuntz, M., Rammig, A., Fischer, R., Taubert, F., Huth, A., (2018):
The importance of forest structure for carbon fluxes of the Amazon rainforest
Environ. Res. Lett. 13 (5), art. 054013
full text (url)
Data DOI
Samaniego, L., Thober, S., Kumar, R., Wanders, N., Rakovec, O., Pan, M., Zink, M., Shefﬁeld, J., Wood, E.F., Marx, A., (2018):
Anthropogenic warming exacerbates European soil moisture droughts
Nat. Clim. Chang. 8 (5), 421 - 426
full text (url)
Data DOI
Taubert, F., Fischer, R., Groeneveld, J., Lehmann, S., Müller, M.S., Rödig, E., Wiegand, T., Huth, A., (2018):
Global patterns of tropical forest fragmentation
Nature 554 (7693), 519 - 522
full text (url)
Thober, S., Kumar, R., Wanders, N., Marx, A., Pan, M., Rakovec, O., Samaniego, L., Sheffield, J., Wood, E.F., Zink, M., (2018):
Multi-model ensemble projections of European river floods and high flows at 1.5, 2, and 3 degrees global warming
Environ. Res. Lett. 13 (1), art. 014003
full text (url)
Zink, M., Mai, J., Cuntz, M., Samaniego, L., (2018):
Conditioning a hydrologic model using patterns of remotely sensed land surface temperature
Water Resour. Res. 54 (4), 2976 - 2998
full text (url)

2017 (11)

Babel, W., Lüers, J., Hübner, J., Rebmann, C., Wichura, B., Thomas, C.K., Serafimovich, A., Foken, T., (2017):
Long-term carbon and water vapour fluxes
In: Foken, T., (ed.)
Energy and Matter Fluxes of a Spruce Forest Ecosystem
Ecological Studies 229
Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, p. 73 - 96
full text (url)
Dechant, B., Cuntz, M., Vohland, M., Schulz, E., Doktor, D., (2017):
Estimation of photosynthesis traits from leaf reflectance spectra: Correlation to nitrogen content as the dominant mechanism
Remote Sens. Environ. 196 , 279 - 292
full text (url)
Foken, T., Göckede, M., Lüers, J., Siebicke, L., Rebmann, C., Ruppert, J., Thomas, C.K., (2017):
Development of flux data quality tools
In: Foken, T., (ed.)
Energy and Matter Fluxes of a Spruce Forest Ecosystem
Ecological Studies 229
Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, p. 277 - 308
full text (url)
Lange, M., Dechant, B., Rebmann, C., Vohland, M., Cuntz, M., Doktor, D., (2017):
Validating MODIS and Sentinel-2 NDVI products at a temperate deciduous forest site using two independent ground-based sensors
Sensors 17 (8), art. 1855
full text (url)
Rödig, E., (2017):
Simulating carbon stocks and fluxes of the Amazon rainforest: a journey across temporal and spatial scales
Dissertation, Universität Osnabrück
PhD Dissertation 12/2017
Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung - UFZ, Leipzig, 152 pp.
full text (pdf)
Rödig, E., Cuntz, M., Heinke, J., Rammig, A., Huth, A., (2017):
Spatial heterogeneity of biomass and forest structure of the Amazon rain forest: Linking remote sensing, forest modelling and field inventory
Glob. Ecol. Biogeogr. 26 (11), 1292 - 1302
full text (url)
Rödig, E., Huth, A., Bohn, F., Rebmann, C., Cuntz, M., (2017):
Estimating the carbon fluxes of forests with an individual-based forest model
For. Ecosyst. 4 , art. 4
full text (url)
Samaniego, L., Kumar, R., Thober, S., Rakovec, O., Zink, M., Wanders, N., Eisner, S., Müller Schmied, H., Sutanudjaja, E.H., Warrach-Sagi, K., Attinger, S., (2017):
Toward seamless hydrologic predictions across spatial scales
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 21 (9), 4323 - 4346
full text (url)
Schrön, M., Köhli, M., Scheiffele, L., Iwema, J., Bogena, H.R., Lv, L., Martini, E., Baroni, G., Rosolem, R., Weimar, J., Mai, J., Cuntz, M., Rebmann, C., Oswald, S.E., Dietrich, P., Schmidt, U., Zacharias, S., (2017):
Improving calibration and validation of cosmic-ray neutron sensors in the light of spatial sensitivity
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 21 (10), 5009 - 5030
full text (url)
Wollschläger, U., Attinger, S., Borchardt, D., Brauns, M., Cuntz, M., Dietrich, P., Fleckenstein, J.H., Friese, K., Friesen, J., Harpke, A., Hildebrandt, A., Jäckel, G., Kamjunke, N., Knöller, K., Kögler, S., Kolditz, O., Krieg, R., Kumar, R., Lausch, A., Liess, M., Marx, A., Merz, R., Mueller, C., Musolff, A., Norf, H., Oswald, S.E., Rebmann, C., Reinstorf, F., Rode, M., Rink, K., Rinke, K., Samaniego, L., Vieweg, M., Vogel, H.-J., Weitere, M., Werban, U., Zink, M., Zacharias, S., (2017):
The Bode hydrological observatory: a platform for integrated, interdisciplinary hydro-ecological research within the TERENO Harz/Central German Lowland Observatory
Environ. Earth Sci. 76 (1), art. 29
final draft (pdf)
Zink, M., Kumar, R., Cuntz, M., Samaniego, L., (2017):
A high-resolution dataset of water fluxes and states for Germany accounting for parametric uncertainty
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 21 (3), 1769 - 1790
final draft (pdf)

2016 (13)

Cuntz, M., Mai, J., Samaniego, L., Clark, M., Wulfmeyer, V., Branch, O., Attinger, S., Thober, S., (2016):
The impact of standard and hard-coded parameters on the hydrologic fluxes in the Noah-MP land surface model
J. Geophys. Res. 121 (18), 10676 - 10700
full text (url)
Fischer, R., Bohn, F., Dantas de Paula, M., Dislich, C., Groeneveld, J., Gutiérrez, A.G., Kazmierczak, M., Knapp, N., Lehmann, S., Paulick, S., Pütz, S., Rödig, E., Taubert, F., Köhler, P., Huth, A., (2016):
Lessons learned from applying a forest gap model to understand ecosystem and carbon dynamics of complex tropical forests
Ecol. Model. 326 , 124 - 133
full text (url)
Haughton, N., Abramowitz, G., Pitman, A.J., Or, D., Best, M.J., Johnson, H.R., Balsamo, G., Boone, A., Cuntz, M., Decharme, B., Dirmeyer, P.A., Dong, J., Ek, M., Guo, Z., Haverd, V., van den Hurk, B.J.J., Nearing, G.S., Pak, B., Santanello, J.A., Stevens, L.E., Vuichard, N., (2016):
The plumbing of land surface models: Is poor performance a result of methodology or data quality?
J. Hydrometeorol. 17 (6), 1705 - 1723
full text (url)
Haverd, V., Cuntz, M., Nieradzik, L.P., Harman, I.N., (2016):
Improved representations of coupled soil–canopy processes in the CABLE land surface model (Subversion revision 3432)
Geosci. Model Dev. 9 , 3111 - 3122
full text (url)
Kumar, R., Musuuza, J.L., Van Loon, A.F., Teuling, A.J., Barthel, R., Ten Broek, J., Mai, J., Samaniego, L., Attinger, S., (2016):
Multiscale evaluation of the Standardized Precipitation Index as a groundwater drought indicator
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 20 (3), 1117 - 1131
full text (url)
Marx, A., Samaniego, L., Kumar, R., Thober, S., Mai, J., Zink, M., (2016):
Der Dürremonitor – Aktuelle Information zur Bodenfeuchte in Deutschland
In: Wernecke, G., Ebner von Eschenbach, A.-D., Strunck, Y., Kirschbauer, L., Müller, A., (Hrsg.)
Wasserressourcen – Wissen im Flussgebieten vernetzen. Beiträge zum Tag der Hydrologie am 17./18. März 2016 in Koblenz, ausgerichtet von der Hochschule Koblenz und der Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde
Forum für Hydrologie und Wasserbewirtschaftung 37
Deutsche Vereinigung für Wasserwirtschaft, Abwasser und Abfall (DWA), Hennef, S. 131 - 142
full text (url)
Nijzink, R.C., Samaniego, L., Mai, J., Kumar, R., Thober, S., Zink, M., Schäfer, D., Savenije, H.H.G., Hrachowitz, M., (2016):
The importance of topography-controlled sub-grid process heterogeneity and semi-quantitative prior constraints in distributed hydrological models
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 20 (3), 1151 - 1176
full text (url)
Piayda, A., (2016):
Peer review report 2 On “Correction for light scattering combined with sub-pixel classification improves estimation of gap fraction from digital cover photography”
Agric. For. Meteorol. 217 (Supplement 1), 195 - 196
full text (url)
Rakovec, O., Kumar, R., Mai, J., Cuntz, M., Thober, S., Zink, M., Attinger, S., Schäfer, D., Schrön, M., Samaniego, L., (2016):
Multiscale and multivariate evaluation of water fluxes and states over European river basins
J. Hydrometeorol. 17 (1), 287 - 307
full text (url)
Van Stan, J.T., Lewis, E.S., Hildebrandt, A., Rebmann, C., Friesen, J., (2016):
Impact of interacting bark structure and rainfall conditions on stemflow variability in a temperate beech-oak forest, central Germany
Hydrol. Sci. J.-J. Sci. Hydrol. 61 (11), 2071 - 2083
full text (url)
Wiedemann, A., Marañón-Jiménez, S., Rebmann, C., Herbst, M., Cuntz, M., (2016):
An empirical study of the wound effect on sap flux density measured with thermal dissipation probes
Tree Physiol. 36 (12), 1471 - 1484
full text (url)
Zech, A., Müller, S., Mai, J., Heße, F., Attinger, S., (2016):
Extending Theis' solution: Using transient pumping tests to estimate parameters of aquifer heterogeneity
Water Resour. Res. 52 (8), 6156 - 6170
full text (url)
Zink, M., Samaniego, L., Kumar, R., Thober, S., Mai, J., Schäfer, D., Marx, A., (2016):
The German drought monitor
Environ. Res. Lett. 11 (7), art. 074002
full text (url)

2015 (9)

Best, M.J., Abramowitz, G., Johnson, H.R., Pitman, A.J., Balsamo, G., Boone, A., Cuntz, M., Decharme, B., Dirmeyer, P.A., Dong, J., Ek, M., Guo, Z., Haverd, V., van den Hurk, B.J.J., Nearing, G.S., Pak, B., Peters-Lidard, C., Santanello Jr., J.A., Stevens, L., Vuichard, N., (2015):
The plumbing of land surface models: benchmarking model performance
J. Hydrometeorol. 16 (3), 1425 - 1442
full text (url)
Costa-e-Silva, F., Correia, A.C., Piayda, A., Dubbert, M., Rebmann, C., Cuntz, M., Werner, C., David, J.S., Pereira, J.S., (2015):
Effects of an extremely dry winter on net ecosystem carbon exchange and tree phenology at a cork oak woodland
Agric. For. Meteorol. 204 , 48 - 57
full text (url)
Cuntz, M., Mai, J., Zink, M., Thober, S., Kumar, R., Schäfer, D., Schrön, M., Craven, J.R., Rakovec, O., Spieler, D., Prykhodko, V., Dalmasso, G., Musuuza, J., Langenberg, B., Attinger, S., Samaniego, L., (2015):
Computationally inexpensive identification of noninformative model parameters by sequential screening
Water Resour. Res. 51 (8), 6417 - 6441
full text (url)
Kumar, R., Musuuza, J.L., Van Loon, A.F., Teuling, A.J., Barthel, R., Ten Broek, J., Mai, J., Samaniego, L., Attinger, S., (2015):
Multiscale evaluation of the Standardized Precipitation Index as a groundwater drought indicator
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Diss. 12 (8), 7405 - 7436
full text (url)
Leverkus, A.B., Castro, J., Delgado-Capel, M.J., Molinas-González, C., Pulgar, M., Marañón-Jiménez, S., Delgado-Huertas, A., Querejeta, J.I., (2015):
Restoring for the present or restoring for the future: enhanced performance of two sympatric oaks (Quercus ilex and Quercus pyrenaica) above the current forest limit
Restor. Ecol. 23 (6), 936 - 946
full text (url)
Nijzink, R.C., Samaniego, L., Mai, J., Kumar, R., Thober, S., Zink, M., Schäfer, D., Savenije, H.H.G., Hrachowitz, M., (2015):
The importance of topography controlled sub-grid process heterogeneity in distributed hydrological models
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Diss. 12 , 13301 - 13358
full text (url)
Piayda, A., Dubbert, M., Werner, C., Correia, A.V., Pereira, J.S., Cuntz, M., (2015):
Influence of woody tissue and leaf clumping on vertically resolved leaf area index and angular gap probability estimates
For. Ecol. Manage. 340 , 103 - 113
full text (url)
Thober, S., Kumar, R., Sheffield, J., Mai, J., Schäfer, D., Samaniego, L., (2015):
Seasonal soil moisture drought prediction over Europe using the North American Multi-Model Ensemble (NMME)
J. Hydrometeorol. 16 (6), 2329 - 2344
full text (url)
Zech, M., Bösel, S., Tuthorn, M., Benesch, M., Dubbert, M., Cuntz, M., Glaser, B., (2015):
Sauna, sweat and science – quantifying the proportion of condensation water versus sweat using a stable water isotope (²H/¹H and ¹⁸O/¹⁶O) tracer experiment
Isot. Environ. Health Stud. 51 (3), 439 - 447
full text (url)

2014 (8)

Demuzere, M., Coutts, A.M., Göhler, M., Broadbentb, A.M., Wouters, H., van Lipzig, N.P.M., Gerbet, L., (2014):
The implementation of biofiltration systems, rainwater tanks and urban irrigation in a single-layer urban canopy model
Urban Climate 10 (1), 148 - 170
full text (url)
Dubbert, M., Cuntz, M., Piayda, A., Werner, C., (2014):
Oxygen isotope signatures of transpired water vapor: the role of isotopic non-steady-state transpiration under natural conditions
New Phytol. 203 (4), 1242 - 1252
full text (url)
Dubbert, M., Mosena, A., Piayda, A., Cuntz, M., Correia, A.C., Pereira, J.S., Werner, C., (2014):
Influence of tree cover on herbaceous layer development and carbon and water fluxes in a Portuguese cork-oak woodland
Acta Oecol. - Int. J. Ecol. 59 , 35 - 45
full text (url)
Dubbert, M., Piayda, A., Cuntz, M., Correia, A.C., Costa e Silva, F., Pereira, J.S., Werner, C., (2014):
Stable oxygen isotope and flux partitioning demonstrates understory of an oak savanna contributes up to half of ecosystem carbon and water exchange
Front. Plant Sci. 5 , art. 530
full text (url)
Luyssaert, S., Jammet, M., Stoy, P.C., Estel, S., Pongratz, J., Ceschia, E., Churkina, G., Don, A., Erb, K., Ferlicoq, M., Gielen, B., Grunwald, T., Houghton, R.A., Klumpp, K., Knohl, A., Kolb, T., Kuemmerle, T., Laurila, T., Lohila, A., Loustau, D., McGrath, M.J., Meyfroidt, P., Moors, E.J., Naudts, K., Novick, K., Otto, J., Pilegaard, K., Pio, C.A., Rambal, S., Rebmann, C., Ryder, J., Suyker, A.E., Varlagin, A., Wattenbach, M., Dolman, A.J., (2014):
Land management and land-cover change have impacts of similar magnitude on surface
Nat. Clim. Chang. 4 (5), 389 - 393
full text (url)
Piayda, A., Dubbert, M., Rebmann, C., Kolle, O., Costa e Silva, F., Correia, A., Pereira, J.S., Werner, C., Cuntz, M., (2014):
Drought impact on carbon and water cycling in a Mediterranean Quercus suber L. woodland during the extreme drought event in 2012
Biogeosciences 11 (24), 7159 - 7178
full text (url)
Thober, S., Mai, J., Zink, M., Samaniego, L., (2014):
Stochastic temporal disaggregation of monthly precipitation for regional gridded data sets
Water Resour. Res. 50 (11), 8714 - 8735
full text (url)
Thober, S., Samaniego, L., (2014):
Robust ensemble selection by multivariate evaluation of extreme precipitation and temperature characteristics
J. Geophys. Res. 119 (2), 594 - 613
full text (url)

2013 (9)

Dubbert, M., Cuntz, M., Piayda, A., Maguás, C., Werner, C., (2013):
Partitioning evapotranspiration – Testing the Craig and Gordon model with field measurements of oxygen isotope ratios of evaporative fluxes
J. Hydrol. 496 , 142 - 153
full text (url)
Göhler, M., Mai, J., Cuntz, M., (2013):
Use of eigendecomposition in a parameter sensitivity analysis of the Community Land Model
J. Geophys. Res.-Biogeosci. 118 (2), 904 - 921
full text (url)
Mai, J., Trump, S., Lehmann, I., Attinger, S., (2013):
Parameter importance in FRAP acquisition and analysis: a simulation approach
Biophys. J. 104 (9), 2089 - 2097
full text (url)
Marañón-Jiménez, S., Castro, J., Fernández-Ondoño, E., Zamora, R., (2013):
Charred wood remaining after a wildfire as a reservoir of macro- and micronutrients in a Mediterranean pine forest
Int. J. Wildland Fire 22 (5), 681 - 695
full text (url)
Marañón-Jiménez, S., Castro, J., Querejeta, J.I., Fernández-Ondoño, E., Allen, C.D., (2013):
Post-fire wood management alters water stress, growth, and performance of pine regeneration in a Mediterranean ecosystem
For. Ecol. Manage. 308 , 231 - 239
full text (url)
Mauder, M., Cuntz, M., Drüe, C., Graf, A., Rebmann, C., Schmid, H.P., Schmidt, M., Steinbrecher, R., (2013):
A strategy for quality and uncertainty assessment of long-term eddy-covariance measurements
Agric. For. Meteorol. 169 , 122 - 135
full text (url)
Wehrer, M., Mai, J., Attinger, S., Totsche, K.U., (2013):
Kinetic control of contaminant release from NAPLs – Information potential of concentration time profiles
Environ. Pollut. 179 , 301 - 314
full text (url)
Wiedemann, A., Marañón-Jiménez, S., Rebmann, C., Cuntz, M., Herbst, M., (2013):
An empirical study of wound response dynamics on sap flow measured with thermal dissipation probes
In: Steppe, K., (ed.)
Proceedings of the IXth International Workshop on Sap Flow; Ghent, Belgium, June 4 - 7, 2013
Acta Hort. 991
International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS), The Hague, p. 107 - 114
full text (url)
Wöhling, T., Gayler, S., Priesack, E., Ingwersen, J., Wizemann, H.-D., Högy, P., Cuntz, M., Attinger, S., Wulfmeyer, V., Streck, T., (2013):
Multiresponse, multiobjective calibration as a diagnostic tool to compare accuracy and structural limitations of five coupled soil-plant models and CLM3.5
Water Resour. Res. 49 (12), 8200 - 8221
full text (url)