Matthias Meyer

Research interests

• Forest genetics, forest tree improvement and breeding
• Physiology and genomics of trees’ water relations
• Adaptation of trees’ xylem architecture to climate change
• Inter- and intra-annual variability of wood anatomy and foliage
• Forest crops for future bio-economy, short rotation forestry
• Major focus on the model organism Populus
• Forest genetics and tree breeding in the Russian Federation and Central Asia
• Introduced vs. indigenous woody species in urban green

Competences and methods

• Phenotyping in forest trees
• Wood anatomy (cross-sections, mosaic fluorescence microscopy)
• Wood characteristics (utilization; e.g. fiber traits, hydraulic xylem architecture, heating value, ash content, specific gravity)
• Dendro-Isotopes (δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O) – partner:  GFZ Potsdam (Section Climate Dynamics and Landscape Evolution)
• Dendrometers
• Field and greenhouse test with Populus spp., Salix spp., Pinus spp.
• Field sampling of germplasm
• DNA-marker technologies / fingerprinting (SSR, AFLP, SNP)
• QTL mapping
• Applied bio-statistics for research on the topics mentioned above

Projects
Dendromass4Europe
FastWOOD I, FastWOOD II, FastWOOD III
ISOWOOD-breeding

Teaching (current single or dual lectures contributing to BSc or MSc lecture series)

• (BSc course, German) Fundamentals of forest genetics
• (BSc course, German) Hands-on training in forest botany (basic microscopy, cytology, water relations)
• (BSc course, German, and MSc course, English) Fundamentals in scientific text edition
• (MSc course, English) Native vs. introduced species, invasiveness of species

Topics for degree theses
Topics for degree theses are provided in the field of plantation forestry (especially poplar and willow research) with a focus on wood anatomy (microscopy), water relations and the characterization of cultivars or tree collectives. For investigations of heating value and other utilization characteristics or for DNA based genetic approaches, topics can be compiled as well.
Please, do not hesitate to contact me for retrieving current open topics, embedded in ongoing research projects.

Selected Publications

MEYER, M.; GEBAUER, K.; JANSSEN, A.; KRABEL, D. (2018): The importance of fuel characterstics of poplars and aspen (Populus spp.) from German short rotation plantations and Russian forests. Thünen Report 62, 61-66.

MEYER, M.; KRABEL, D.; KNIESEL, B.; HELLE, G. (2018): Inter-annual variation of tree-ring width, δ13C and δ18O in juvenile trees of five plantation poplar cultivars (Populus spp.). Dendrochronologia, 2018 – Elsevier; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1125786517301832

MEYER, M.; ZACHARIAS, M.; MORGENSTERN, K.;  KRABEL, D.; LIESEBACH, H. (2018): Variable genotypes at the cpDNA marker locus trnDT in spontaneous rejuvenation of the species complex around the European black poplar (Populus nigra L.) and its relatives collected in Germany. Landbauforsch Appl Agric Forestry Res. 2018  online first  17.12.18,  1-10, DOI:10.3220/LBF1544605045000

MEYER M (2016) Invasive species, indigenous vs. alien dendroflora. In: ROLOFF A (ed) Urban Tree Management: For the Sustainable Development of Green Cities. Wiley-Blackwell, New York, pp 185-195

MEYER M, SOLGER A, PANITZ L, JANßEN A, KRABEL D (2015) Auswirkungen der Züchtung auf einen optimierten nachwachsenden Rohstoff Holz – Beispiel Pappelzüchtung. In: LIESEBACH M (ed) FastWOOD II: Züchtung schnellwachsender Baumarten für die Produktion nachwachsender Rohstoffe im Kurzumtrieb – Erkenntnisse aus 6 Jahren FastWOOD Thünen Report 26. Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut, Braunschweig, Germany, pp 111-122

MEYER M (2015) Bedeutung und Optimierung der Wasserdefizit-Toleranz von Pappeln (Populus spp.) in Kurzumtriebsplantagen - Важность и повышение устойчивости к водному дефициту в быстрорастущих плантациях тополей (Populus spp.). Vortrag und Abstract. Deutsch-Russische Forstwissenschaftliche Konferenz des BMEL und der Russischen Föderalen Agentur für Forstwirtschaft (Федеральное агентство лесного хозяйства (Рослесхоз)). Universität der Republik Mari-El, Йошкар-Ола / Yoshkar-Ola, Russische Föderation

KRABEL D, MEYER M, SOLGER A, MÜLLER R, CARVALHO P, FOULKES J (2015) Early root and aboveground biomass development of hybrid poplars (Populus spp.) under drought conditions. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 45:1289-1298

KRABEL D, SOLGER A, MEYER M (2015) Einfluss des Steckholzes auf die frühe Sprossentwicklung von Pappeln / Influence of the constitution of hardwood cuttings on early shoot development of poplar plants. Forstarchiv 86:159-165

MEYER M, SOLGER A, KRABEL D (2013) Xylem cell length under drought and its value for predicting radial growth of SRF poplar cultivars (Populus spp.). Trees 27(5):1353-1363

MEYER M, SOLGER A, KRABEL D (2012) Holzanatomie, Physiologie und Verwendbarkeits-eigenschaften - „Moderne“ Züchtungsziele für den Agrarholzmarkt? In: BORSCHEL M, FEY-WAGNER C, JANSSEN A (eds) Züchtung und Ertragsleistung schnellwachsender Baumarten im Kurzumtrieb Erkenntnisse aus drei Jahren FastWOOD, ProLoc und Weidenzüchtung Beiträge aus der NW-FVA. Universitätsverlag Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany, pp 195-218

MEYER M (2010) Trockenheitsreaktionen und holzanatomische Eigenschaften der Zitter-Pappel (Populus tremula L.) - Physiologie und QTL-Mapping / Water Deficit Reaction and Wood Anatomical Characteristics of European Aspen (Populus tremula L.) - Physiology and QTL-Mapping. [doctoral dissertation in German with English abstract and captions] Eugen Ulmer GmbH & Co., Stuttgart, 174 p