Lisa-Maricia Schwarz - PhD Candidate

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Current Projects

NamTip – Understanding and Managing Desertification Tipping Points in Dryland Social-Ecological Systems – A Namibian Perspective: The inter- and transdisciplinary NamTip project investigates the social-ecological impacts that occur when a semi-arid grassland ecosystem shifts towards a desertified state. My work focuses on the assessment of plant communities and plant functional traits using a comparative approach.

SeBAS – Sensing Biodiversity Across Scales. In SeBAS we investigate land-use effects on the biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) and the biodiversity-ecosystem service (BES) relationship in central European grasslands. Here, I focus on plant functional traits and functional diversity in response to land use intensity.

Research Interests

• Biodiversity and plant functional traits in grassland ecosystems
• Effects of grazing and drought on plant functional traits and plant community composition
• Tipping points in semi-arid rangelands
• Invasive plant species and their impact on plant communities
• Citizen science and machine learning in iNaturalist

Education and Experience

Since 2024 Research assistant, University of Potsdam, Biodiversity Research/ Systematic Botany

Since 2019 PhD student, University of Bonn, Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES).

2019 Scientific Assistant, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Geography and Geoecology.

2016 – 2019 MSc degree in biology, Kiel University, Germany. Thesis in plant ecology.

2017 – 2018 Student Assistant, Kiel University, Institute for Ecosystem Research / Botanical Institute.

2012 – 2016 BSc degree in biology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany. Thesis in ecotoxicology.

Publications

• Schwarz, L.-M., Männer, F. A., Zimmer, K., Shilula, K. N., Sandhage-Hofmann, A., Munyebvu-Chambara, F., Nesongano, W. C., Bilton, M. C. & Linstädter, A. (2026). Multivariate grazing pressure indices improve prediction of semi-arid rangeland dynamics. Ecological Indicators, 182, 114510. doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114510
• Meyer, S. N., Muro, J., Wöllauer, S., Schwarz, L.-M., Männer, F. A., Dubovyk, O., & Linstädter, A. (2025). Land-use intensity effects on the biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationship in semi-natural grasslands at management-relevant spatial scales. Landscape Ecology, 40(8), 170. doi.org/10.1007/s10980-025-02186-x
• Zimmer, K., Amputu, V., Schwarz, L.-M., Linstädter, A., Sandhage-Hofmann, A. (2024). Soil characteristics within vegetation patches are sensitive indicators of savanna rangeland degradation in central Namibia. Geoderma Regional, e00771. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geodrs.2024.e00771 
• Muro, J., Linstädter, A., Magdon, P., Wöllauer, S., Männer, F. A., Schwarz, L.-M., Ghazaryan, G., Schultz, J., Malenovský, Z. & Dubovyk, O. (2022). Predicting plant biomass and species richness in temperate grasslands across regions, time, and land management with remote sensing and deep learning. Remote Sensing of Environment, 282, 113262, doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2022.113262
• Huth, S., Schwarz, L.-M., & Gorb, S. N. (2022). Quantifying the Influence of Pollen Aging on the Adhesive Properties of Hypochaeris radicata Pollen. Insects, 13(9), 811, doi.org/10.3390/insects13090811
• Weiser, H., Schäfer, J., Winiwarter, L., Krašovec, N., Seitz, C., Schimka, M., Anders, K., Baete, D., Braz, A. S., Brand, J., Debroize, D., Kuss, P., Martin, L. L., Mayer, A., Schrempp, T., Schwarz, L.-M., Ulrich, V., Fassnacht, F. E. & Höfle, B. (2022): Terrestrial, UAV-borne, and airborne laser scanning point clouds of central European forest plots, Germany, with extracted individual trees and manual forest inventory measurements. PANGAEA, doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.942856