Climate shapes vegetation, and vegetation in turn changes climate, for example, by soils and plants reflecting sunlight differently or by plants cooling an otherwise dry environment through transpiration. The Climate Vegetation Dynamics Group aims at understanding these terrestrial biogeophysical feedback processes in the Earth's climate system. To this end, we address the following questions: How has the interaction between the atmosphere, vegetation, land surface, and ocean evolved in the past and how might it evolve in the future? Under what conditions might this interaction lead to abrupt transitions to new climate and ecosystem states? (Photo credit for header picture: Stefan Kröpelin, Cologne)
Group members and their research expertise
| Name | Status | Topics (visit the personal web pages to learn more) |
|---|---|---|
| Martin Claussen | Group leader | Global climate - vegetation interaction in past and present day climate |
| Jürgen Bader | Guest (UHH, IfM) | Climate system dynamics |
| Anne Dallmeyer | Scientist | Paleo vegetation dynamics |
| Pinhsin Hu | Guest (MPI-BGC, Jena) | Trait-based modeling of plant functional diversity and its interaction with the climate |
| Leonore Jungandreas | Guest (iDIV, Leipzig) | nteraction between deep convection and land surface in Holocene North Africa |
| Christian Reick | Guest | Theory of the terrestrial carbon cycle |
Group members and publications
- Dallmeyer, A., Weitzel, N., Schild, L., Herzschuh, U., Kleinen, T. & Claussen, M. (2026). Unravelling the tree cover dynamics over the last 20 000 years on the Northern Hemisphere. Climate of the Past, 22, 1125-1157. doi:10.5194/cp-22-1125-2026 [publisher-version]
- Sylvestre, F., Melles, M., Wennrich, V., Dinies, M., Chalié, F., Swingedouw, D., Dallmeyer, A., Shi, X., Claussen, M., Jaeschke, A., Cocquyt, C., Karls, J., Kuper, J., Mallaye, B., Mazur, J.-C., Paillès, C., Rirongarti, R., Rethemeyer, J., Ritter-Prinz, B., Schefuß, E., Viehberg, F., Wagner, B., Werner, M., Yacoub, A. & Kröpelin, S. (2026). Decadal-scale droughts disrupted the African Humid Period in the Sahara. Nature, 652, 365-370. doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10336-7
- Hoelzmann, P., Claussen, M., Dallmeyer, A., Darius, F., Dinies, M., Reinhardt-Imjela, C., Jungandreas, L., Schröder, B. & Kröpelin, S. (2025). Mid-Holocene extreme precipitation in the Tibesti, Central Sahara. Nature Communications, 16(1): 7426. doi:10.1038/s41467-025-62769-9 [publisher-version][supplementary-material][any-fulltext]
- Busch, R., Dallmeyer, A., Herzschuh, U., Pirson, F., Schütt, B. & Becker, F. (2025). Agroclimatic landscapes of Pergamon: modelling agricultral suitability of an ancient city and its environs. PLOS ONE, 20(7): e0325779. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0325779 [publisher-version][supplementary-material][supplementary-material]
- Li, C., Dallmeyer, A., Ni, J., Chevalier, M., Willeit, M., Andreev, A., Cao, X., Schild, L., Heim, B., Wieczorek, M. & Herzschuh, U. (2025). Global biome changes over the last 21,000 years inferred from model-data comparisons. Climate of the Past, 21(6), 1001-1024. doi:10.5194/cp-21-1001-2025 [publisher-version][supplementary-material]
- Duque-Villegas, M., Claussen, M., Kleinen, T., Bader, J. & Reick, C. (2025). Pattern scaling of simulated vegetation change in North Africa during glacial cycles. Climate of the Past, 21(4), 773-794. doi:10.5194/cp-21-773-2025 [publisher-version]
- Zaki, A., Delaunay, A., Baby, G., Haghipour, N., Blanchet, C., Dallmeyer, A., Sternai, P., Woor, S., Wani, O., Khalil, H., Schuster, M., Petraglia, M., Sylvestre, F., Peyrotty, G., Ali, M., Van Buchem, F., Afifi, A. & Castelltort, S. (2025). Monsoonal imprint on late Quaternary landscapes of the Rub’ al Khali Desert. Communications Earth & Environment, 6: 255. [publisher-version][any-fulltext][supplementary-material][supplementary-material][supplementary-material][supplementary-material]
- von Storch, H., Claussen, M., Heimann, M., Sausen, R. & Zorita, E. (2025). Climate science concepts born in Hamburg. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
- Dallmeyer, A., Schild, L., Claussen, M., Kleinen, T. & Herzschuh, U. (2025). Challenges and insights in comparing simulated tree cover changes over the last 20,000 years with reconstructions for the Northern Hemisphere. . EGU General Assembly 2025. Vienna, Austria. 2025-04-27 - 2025-05-01 doi:10.5194/egusphere-egu25-8759 [abstract]
- Specht, N., Claussen, M. & Kleinen, T. (2024). Dynamic interaction between lakes, climate, and vegetation across northern Africa during the mid-Holocene. Climate of the Past, 20, 1595-1613. doi:10.5194/cp-20-1595-2024 [research-data][publisher-version]
- Valencia, S., Villegas, J., Hoyos, N., Duque-Villegas, M. & Salazar, J. (2024). Streamflow response to land use/land cover change in the tropical Andes using multiple SWAT model variants. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 54: 101888. doi:10.1016/j.ejrh.2024.101888 [publisher-version][supplementary-material][supplementary-material][supplementary-material]
- Torres Mendonca, G., Reick, C. & Pongratz, J. (2024). Timescale dependence of airborne fraction and underlying climate-carbon-cycle feedbacks for weak perturbations in CMIP5 models. Biogeosciences, 21, 1923-1960. doi:10.5194/bg-21-1923-2024 [supplementary-material][publisher-version]
- Duque-Villegas, M. (2023). Understanding the dynamics of late Quaternary African humid periods. Phd Thesis, Hamburg: Universität Hamburg. Berichte zur Erdsystemforschung, 272. doi:10.17617/2.3556280 [publisher-version]
- Shi, X., Werner, M., Yang, H., D'Agostino, R., Liu, J., Yang, C. & Lohmann, G. (2023). Unraveling the complexities of the Last Glacial Maximum climate: the role of individual boundary conditions and forcings. Climate of the Past, 19, 2157-2175. doi:10.5194/cp-19-2157-2023 [publisher-version][supplementary-material]
- Specht, N. (2023). Dynamic interaction between climate, lakes and vegetation over North Africa. Phd Thesis, Hamburg: Universität Hamburg. Berichte zur Erdsystemforschung, 270. doi:10.17617/2.3523251 [publisher-version]
- Brönnimann, S. & Claussen, M. (2023). Zur Aktualität von Humboldts Klimaforschung: Geleitwort. In Nehrlich, T. & Strobl, M. (Eds.), Ueber die Hauptursachen der Temperatur-Verschiedenheit auf dem Erdkörper: Schriften zum Klima / Alexander von Humboldt (pp.9-28). Hannover: Werhahn Verlag.
- Jungandreas, L., Hohenegger, C. & Claussen, M. (2023). How does the explicit treatment of convection alters the precipitation-soil hydrology interaction in the mid-Holocene African humid period?. Climate of the Past, 19, 637-664. doi:10.5194/cp-19-637-2023 [publisher-version]
- Chevalier, M., Dallmeyer, A., Weitzel, N., Li, C., Baudouin, J.-P., Herzschuh, U., Cao, X. & Hense, A. (2023). Refining data-data and data-model vegetation comparisons using the Earth mover's distance (EMD). Climate of the Past, 19, 1043-1060. doi:10.5194/cp-19-1043-2023 [publisher-version]
- Jungandreas, L., Hohenegger, C. & Claussen, M. (2023). How does the explicit treatment of convection alter the precipitation-soil hydrology interaction in the mid-Holocene African humid period?. Climate of the Past, 19(3), 637-664. doi:10.5194/cp-19-637-2023 [supplementary-material]
- Herzschuh, U., Böhmer, T., Li, C., Chevalier, M., Hébert, R., Dallmeyer, A., Cao, X., Bigelow, N., Nazarova, L., Novenko, E., Park, J., Peyron, O., Rudaya, N., Schlütz, F., Shumilovskikh, L., Tarasov, P., Wang, Y., Wen, R., Xu, Q. & Zheng, Z. (2023). LegacyClimate 1.0: A dataset of pollen-based climate reconstructions from 2594 Northern Hemisphere sites covering the last 30kyr and beyond. Earth System Science Data, 15, 2235-2258. doi:10.5194/essd-15-2235-2023 [publisher-version]
- Herzschuh, U., Böhmer, T., Chevalier, M., Dallmeyer, A., Li, C., Cao, X., Hebert, R., Peyron, O., Nazarova, L., Novenko, E., Park, J., Rudaya, N., Schlütz, F., Shumilovskikh, L., Tarasov, P., Wang, Y., Wen, R., Xu, Q. & Zheng, Z. (2023). Regional pollen-based Holocene temperature and precipitation patterns depart from the Northern Hemisphere mean trends. Climate of the Past, 19, 1481-1506. doi:10.5194/cp-19-1481-2023 [publisher-version]
- Dallmeyer, A., Poska, A., Marquer, L., Seim, A. & Gaillard-Lemdahl, M.-J. (2023). The challenge of comparing pollen-based quantitative vegetation reconstruction with outputs from vegetation models - a European perspective. Climate of the Past, 19, 1531-1557. doi:10.5194/cp-19-1531-2023 [supplementary-material][publisher-version]
- Kirsten, F., Dallmeyer, A., Bernbeck, R., Böhmer, T., Busch, R., Hessari, M., Pollock, S. & Schütt, B. (2023). Were climatic forcings the main driver for Mid-Holocene changes in settlement dynamics on the Varmin Plain (Central Iranian Plateau)?. PLoS One. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0290181 [supplementary-material][publisher-version]
- Herzschuh, U., Böhmer, T., Li, C., Cao, X., Hébert, R., Dallmeyer, A., Telford, R. & Kruse, S. (2022). Reversals in temperature-precipitation correlations in the Northern Hemisphere extratropics during the Holocene. Geophysical Research Letters, 49: e2022GL099730. doi:10.1029/2022GL099730 [publisher-version]
- Schneck, R., Gayler, V., Nabel, J., Raddatz, T., Reick, C. & Schnur, R. (2022). Assessment of JSBACHv4.30 as a land component of ICON-ESM-V1 in comparison to its predecessor JSBACHv3.2 of MPI-ESM1.2. Geoscientific Model Development, 15, 8581-8611. doi:10.5194/gmd-15-8581-2022 [publisher-version]
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Martin Claussen
Group leader
Phone: +49 (0)40 41173-212
martin.claussen@mpimet.mpg.de
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