China
Our research in China is mainly connected to the BECCY project.
The objective of this project is to identify physical process connections between tectonics, climate, and biodiversity in the Hengduan Mountains, southwest China. This is a trans-disciplinary, international collaboration that brings together seven professors from three departments in the ETH Domain (incl. ETH Zürich, WSL, and Eawag) as well as seven professors from four institutes across China: Nanjing University, Peking University, Zhejiang University, and the Kunming Institutes of Botany and Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The complex interactions between geological history and climate provide unique ecological opportunities for species to diversify, leading to high species diversity as well as increased rates of endemism in mountains. The Hengduan Mountains region, as one of the largest global biodiversity hotspot outside of the tropics, has fascinating geological and climate histories due to the high uplift rate caused by Indian-Eurasia plate collision and monsoon intensification.
Project leaders
Prof. Sean Willett’s lab is responsible for numerical surface process modelling as well as characterising the geology, geomorphology, and tectonic history of the Hengduan Mountains.
Prof. Loïc Pellissier's lab focuses on the biosphere in the Hengduan Mountains, mapping high resolution biodiversity patterns of plant and fishes with statistical modelling and eDNA techniques.