Prof. Dr. Severin Irl

Personal interests

I’m Professor of Biogeography, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and Head of the Biogeography and Biodiversity Lab at the Institute of Physical Geography

My main research interests include:

  •    Island biogeography and ecology, especially focusing on the endemic plant species
  •    Global treeline patterns with a particular (but not exclusive) focus on islands
  •    Biogeography and ecology of high-elevation ecosystems on oceanic islands and other mountainous systems
  •    Invasion biology
  •    Plant-herbivore interactions with a focus on introduced herbivores and endemic plants on islands
  •    Spatial and ecological distribution of endemic and insular species and the possible effects of climate change on this distribution
  •    Primary succession on lava flows
  •    Functional island biogeography
  •    Global and macroecological patterns of all sort mainly revolving around diversity, rarity, endemism and invasion

I'm Secretary of the newly founded Society of Island Biology (SIB): www.islandbiology.com

AK Biogeographie des VGDH: http://biogeographie.org/

Associated Editor for Diversity and Distributions

orcid.org/0000-0002-1734-8607 

Google Scholar

Research Gate

Follow me on Twitter: @Severin_Irl

and Mastodon: severin_irl@ecoevo.social

Awards

Eduard-Strasburger Award 2017 donated by the German Botanical Society (DBG) and Springer Spektrum. See here (German), here (German) and here (English).

Frithjoff Voss Award for Physical Geography 2019 donated by the Frithjoff Voss Stiftung. See here and here.


Selected publications

Gallou A, Jump AS, Lynn JS, Field R, Irl SDH, Steinbauer MJ, ... & Grytnes JA (2023). Diurnal temperature range as a key predictor of plants’ elevation ranges globally. Nature Communications, 14, 7890. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-43477-8

Hanz DM, Cutts V, Barajas‐Barbosa MP, Algar A, Beierkuhnlein C, Collart F, ... & Irl SDH (2023). Effects of climate change on the distribution of plant species and plant functional strategies on the Canary Islands. Diversity and Distributions, 29, 1157-1171. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13750

Eibes PM, Schaffrath F, Oldeland J, Thormählen W, Schmiedel U, Irl SDH (2022) Testing the concept of edaphism for the quartz island flora of the Knersvlakte, South Africa. South African Journal of Botany 151, 555-564. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0254629922005427

Hanz DM, Cutts V, Barajas‐Barbosa MP, Algar AC, Beierkuhnlein C, Fernández‐Palacios JM, Field R, Kreft H, Steinbauer MJ, Weigelt P, Irl SDH (2022) Climatic and biogeographical drivers of functional diversity in the flora of the Canary Islands. Global Ecology and Biogeography 31. 1313-1331. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/geb.13507

Fernández-Palacios JM, Kreft H, Irl SDH, Norder S, Ah-Peng C, Borges PA, Burns KC, de Nascimento L, Meyer JY, Montes E & Drake DR (2021). Scientists’ Warning-The Outstanding Biodiversity of Islands is in Peril. Global Ecology and Conservation, e01847. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989421003978

Irl SDH, Schweiger AH, Steinbauer MJ, Ah-Peng C, Arévalo JR, Beierkuhnlein C, Chiarucci A, Daehler CC, Fernández-Palacios JM, Flores O, Kueffer C, Madera P, Otto R, Schweiger JMI, Strasberg D, Jentsch A (2021) Human impact, climate and dispersal strategies determine plant invasion on islands. Journal of Biogeography. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14119

Irl SDH, Obermeier A, Beierkuhnlein C, Steinbauer MJ (2020) Climate controls plant life form patterns on a high-elevation oceanic island. Journal of Biogeography, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13929

Flantua S, Payne D, Borregaard M, Beierkuhnlein C, Steinbauer MJ, Dullinger S, Essl F, Irl SDH, Kienle D, Kreft H, Lenzner B, Norder S, Rijsdijk K, Rumpf S, Weigelt P, Field R (2020) Snapshot isolation and isolation history challenge the analogy between mountains and islands used to understand endemism. Global Ecology and Biogeography, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13155

Cubas, J.*, Irl, S.D.H.*, Villafuerte, R., Bello-Rodríguez, V., Rodríguez-Luengo, J.L., del Arco, M., Martín-Esquivel, J.L., & González-Mancebo, J.M. (2019). Endemic plant species are more palatable to introduced herbivores than non-endemics. Proceedings of the Royal Society: B, 286, 20190136. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.0136
* Equal contribution