Since 1 September, Prof. Dr Julia Bechteler has headed the new ?Bryophyte Ecology and Evolution? research group at the Senckenberg Institute for Plant Form and Function (SIP) at the University of Jena. This is the first professorship for mosses in Germany. Bechteler’s research centres on the adaptation mechanisms of plants to extreme environmental conditions, in particular the genetic basis of drought resistance. In addition to her work in basic research, she will further develop the collection of mosses and lichens in the Herbarium Haussknecht in order to further utilize their potential for biodiversity and climate research.

Mosses play a crucial role in ecosystems

Mosses are among the oldest land plants and play an important role in numerous ecosystems. They colonize a wide variety of habitats—from damp forests to bogs and rocky areas—and contribute significantly to the regulation of water and nutrient cycles.

?The ecological services provided by these green land plants should not be underestimated. Thanks to their high water storage capacity, mosses prevent soil erosion, promote soil formation and create microclimatic conditions that provide habitats for other plants, fungi and microorganisms?, explains the head of the Senckenberg Institute of Plant Form and Function in Jena, Prof. Dr Christine R?mermann, adding: ?I am delighted that together with the University of Jena, we have now been able to fill the professorship of Bryophyte Ecology and Evolution with an excellent candidate.?

Prof. Dr Julia Bechteler heads the new research group. After completing her first state examination for teaching at German grammar schools at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit?t München (LMU Munich), Bechteler completed her doctorate in biology at the same university from 2014 to 2018. She then worked as a research assistant at the University of Bonn. In the meantime, she took on an interim professorship for Plant Biodiversity and Evolution at the University of Bonn before taking up a junior professorship for Biodiversity and Ecology of Plants at RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau in 2023. This was followed in 2024 by a professorship for Phylogenomics and Systematics of Plants or Fungi at LMU Munich.

Bechteler's work focuses on the adaptation of plants to extreme drought, particulary in the DFG-funded SFB1211 sub-project ?Desert Transcriptomics?, which investigates the molecular basis of adaptation in desert plants. The biologist’s research combines ecological, evolutionary and molecular approaches, thereby contributing significantly to understanding biodiversity and the adaptation mechanisms of plants in extreme habitats.

Making greater use of the Herbarium Haussknecht for research

At the Senckenberg Institute for Plant Form and Function in Jena, Bechteler will be devoting herself to the exciting questions of how mosses shape their environment and have adapted to different habitats over the course of evolution. She is particularly interested in both ecological relationships and the genetic basis of adaptation processes. In addition, she will further develop the Herbarium Haussknecht’s cryptogam collection—plants that reproduce sexually without flowering—and strengthen its relevance for research.

The collection offers unique insights into the diversity of mosses and will be increasingly used to understand their role in ecosystem functions—for example, as water reservoirs, climate regulators or bioindicators for changes in biodiversity in the Anthropocene, the age of humankind.