Vanessa Minden

Human-induced changes in the global environment strongly affect plant performance, with the main drivers being changes in land‐use, carbon dioxide levels, nutrient availability and input of anthropogenic compounds, such as pesticides. Against this background, my research focuses on disentangling intrinsic differences among individuals of the same or different species from the effects of the abiotic environment. 

I have a special interest in the within-generational and transgenerational trait plasticity, as well as in the effects of veterinary antibiotics on plant performance. Understanding the responses of plants to the environment, their trait-trait relationships and ultimately their effects on ecosystem properties is crucial for understanding ecosystem processes per se and allows predictions of consequences of the changing environment we live in.

Selected publications

Minden V, Verhoeven K, Olde Venterink H (2023) Adaptive plasticity and fitness costs of endangered, non-endangered and invasive plants in response to variation in nitrogen and phosphorus availability. Ecology and Evolution 13: e10075. 

Minden V, Schaller J, olde Venterink H (2021) Plants increase silicon content as a response to nitrogen or phosphorus limitation: a case study with Holcus lanatus. Plant and Soil 462: 95-108. 

 Pufal G, Memmert J, Leonhardt SD, Minden V (2019) Negative bottom-up effects of sulfadiazine, but not penicillin and tetracycline, in soil substitute on plants and higher trophic levels. Environmental Pollution 245: 531-544.

Milla R, Bastida JM, Turcotte MM, Jones G, Violle C, Osborne CO, Chacón-Labella J, Sosinski Jr. EE, Kattge J, Laughlin DC, Forey E, Minden V, Cornelissen JHC, Aimaud B, Kramer K, Boenisch G, He T, Pillar VD, Byun C (2018) Phylogenetic patterns and phenotypic profiles of the species of plants and mammals farmed for food. Nature Ecology & Evolution 2: 1808-1817. 

Craven D, Eisenhauer N, Pearse WD, Hautier Y, Roscher C, Isbell F, Connolly J, Ebeling A, Griffin J, Hines J, Jentsch A, Lemoine N, Meyer ST, van Ruijven J, Smith M, Beierkuhnlein C, Boenisch G, Hector A, Kattge J, Kreyling J, Lanta V, de Luca E, Polley HW, Reich PB, Tilman D, Weigelt A, Wilsey B, Catford JA, Craine J, Schamp B, Bahn M, Byun C, Minden V, Cornelissen JHC, Manning P (2018) Multiple facets of biodiversity drive the diversity-stability relationship. Nature Ecology & Evolution 2: 1579-1587.