Professor Dr Bernhard Schmid
[Prof] Dr Bernhard Schmid has been working for over 40 years in Switzerland as one of the most respected scientists in the field of plant and soil ecology and biodiversity. Until recently he held the prestigious position as the Dean of the Faculty of Science and is Professor of Environmental Science at the University of Zurich, where he co-founded the Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies. He has also been a guest professor at Peking University and a visiting professor at the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China. He now works at the Department of Geography, University of Zurich and does research in Ecology, Environmental Science and Evolutionary Biology. He is an expert in understanding how and why plants behave the ways that they do, as well as how we can best control and predict what they might do when environmental conditions change in the future. His research over the years has focused on plant decision making, plant growth and competition, invasion biology, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, ecology and genetics of small populations, life-history evolution of clonal organisms, transgene x environment interactions, evolutionary plant genetics, epigenetics, mechanisms of plant competition and coexistence, plant–animal interactions, community assembly, and community genetics and evolution. You can read more about all of the discoveries that Bernhard has contributed to over the years here.
