Melanie Brunn

Dr. Melanie Brunn

  • Research, Teaching
  • Group: Soil
  • Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
    Institut für Geographie und Geoökologie
    Reinhard-Baumeister-Platz 1
    76131 Karlsruhe
    Germany

Melanie Brunn

Biodiversity, Chronosequences, climate and land-use change, GIS, nutrient cycles, soil organic matter, stable C and N isotopes

Topics

  • Climate change impacts on soil organic carbon dynamics in forest soil
  • Carbon and nutrient cycles across chronosequences
  • Decomposition of organic matter via δ13C depth profiles
  • Carbon dynamics in the rhizosphere
  • Nitrogen saturation in forests
  • Tropical biodiversity experiments
 

CV

Since 2018 Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute of Geography and Geoecology (IfGG), Geomorphology and Soil Science Group, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
2017-2018 Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Geosciences, Geoecology, Eberhard Karls University of Tuebingen
2011-2017 PhD student. University of Koblenz-Landau and Eberhard Karls- University of Tuebingen. Thesis: “Controls of vertical carbon stable isotope distribution in topsoil: temperature, precipitation and time”
2003-2009 Student of Geography with specifications in Botanic and Geology, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Department of Geography, Soil Science. Diploma thesis: “Element fluxes in litterfall in a tropical tree plantation in Panama: effects of biodiversity and microtopography“

Research abroad

2017 Visiting Scientist, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (Panama)
2013 Visiting Scientist, Lincoln University, Christchurch (New Zealand)
2008 Visiting Scientist, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (Panama)

Awards and research grants

2015 Poster Prize Winner during the fifth International Symposium on Soil Organic Matter 2015, Goettingen (Germany)
2013 Research grant by the German Academic Exchange Service DAAD (D/12/45516)
2011-2015 Scholarship by the Grant Foundation Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany)
2012-2013 Travel grants for conference contributions by the Interdisciplinary Graduation Center of the University of Koblenz-Landau (Germany)
2011-2013 Research grants to fund student researchers by the University of Koblenz-Landau (Germany)
2008-2009 Research grant to conduct research in Panama by the University of Mainz (Germany)

Presentations

 

Oral presentations

Brunn, M., Oelmann, Y. (2017): Decomposition of soil organic matter approximated by stable carbon isotopes: a meta-analysis. German Soil Science Society (DBG) meeting 2017, Goettingen, Germany.

Brunn, M., Spielvogel, S., Condron, L., Wells, A., Oelmann, Y. (2015): Vertical δ13C and δ15N changes during pedogenesis. German Soil Science Society (DBG) Meeting 2015, Munich, Germany.

Brunn, M., Spielvogel, S., Condron, L., Wells, A., Oelmann, Y. (2015): Vertical δ13C and δ15N changes during pedogenesis. European Geoscience Union (EGU) General Assembly 2015, Vienna, Austria.

Brunn, M., Spielvogel, S., Sauer, T., Oelmann, Y. (2013): δ13C depth profiles in forest soils as proxy for decomposition of SOM across a temperature and precipitation gradient. German Soil Science Society (DBG) Meeting 2013, Rostock, Germany.

Brunn, M., Spielvogel, S., Oelmann, Y. (2012): Carbon sequestration in forest soils of Rhineland-Palatinate: decomposition estimated via δ13C depth profiles. Workshop: “Isotopes in Ecosystem Sciences“, Goettingen, Germany.

 

Poster

Ryan, J. R., Brunn, M., Oelmann, Y. (2017): Carbon cycling and translocation processes in Baltic Sea coastal dune topsoils. German Soil Science Society (DBG) Meeting 2017, Goettingen, Germany.

Brunn, M., Brodbeck, S., Oelmann, Y. (2016): Three decades after afforestation are sufficient to yield decomposition-related vertical δ13C depth profiles in soil. JESIUM 2016 - Joint European Stable Isotope User Group Meeting, Gent, Belgium.

Brunn, M., Condron, L., Wells, A., Spielvogel, S., Oelmann, Y. (2015): Vertical δ13C and δ15N changes during pedogenesis and succession across a temperate rainforest dune chronosequence. Fifth International Symposium on Soil Organic Matter, Goettingen, Germany (Poster Award Winner).

Brunn, M., Spielvogel, S., Condron, L., Wells, A., Oelmann, Y. (2014): Climate and pedogenesis affect δ13C depth profiles in SOM. The Sixth International Workshop on Soil and Sedimentary Organic Matter Stabilization and Destabilization (SOM6) 2014, Kiawah Island, South Carolina, USA.

Brunn, M., Wilcke, W., Oelmann, Y. (2011): Element fluxes in litterfall in a tropical tree plantation in Panama: effects of biodiversity and microtopography. German Soil Science Society (DBG) Meeting 2011, Berlin & Potsdam, Germany.

Miscellaneous

 

Memberships and Reviewer

Memberships:
European Geoscience Union (EGU), seit 2015
German Soil Science Society (DBG), seit 2011
Reviewer: Plant and Soil, PlosOne, Forests, Biology and Fertility of Soils
 

Public reports

Interview (14.01.2015): Melanie Brunn erforscht die Stabilität von Kohlenstoff in Böden. Uni Blog Universität Koblenz-Landau (https://www.uni-koblenz-landau.de/blog /forschung-vorgestellt-melanie-brunn-erforscht-die-stabilitaet-von-kohlenstoff-in-boeden/)

Publications