PEOPLEJulia Seeber

de en it

Julia Seeber

Senior Researcher
Institute for Alpine Environment

T +39 0471 055 318

julia.seeber@eurac.edu

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0189-7377

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About

Main interests

soil invertebrate communities in different habitats and along elevation gradients
mountain soils
(soil) biodiversity

I'm a soil ecologist working on soil invertebrate communities, especially in (high) mountain soils. I'm interested in understanding which abiotic factors influence community composition and how this interplay changes with elevation. Interactions between soil invertebrates and microbes form an additional subject area in my research.

Scientific Publications

Journal article2025

Biodiversity in mountain soils above the treeline

Praeg N, Steinwandter M, Urbach D, Snethlage MA, Alves RP, Apple ME, Bilovitz P, Britton AJ,

Julia Seeber, Michael Steinwandter, Elia Guariento

Projekt: Ökologie und trophische Struktur der alpinen Bodenfauna

Biological diversity in mountain ecosystems has been increasingly studied over the last decade. This is also the case for mountain soils, but no study to date has provided an overall synthesis of the current state of knowledge. Here we fill this gap with a first global analysis of published research on cryptogams, microorganisms, and fauna in mountain soils above the treeline, and a structured synthesis of current knowledge. Based on a corpus of almost 1400 publications and the expertise of 37 mountain soil scientists worldwide, we summarise what is known about the diversity and distribution patterns of each of these organismal groups, specifically along elevation, and provide an overview of available knowledge on the drivers explaining these patterns and their changes. In particular, we document an elevation-dependent decrease in faunal diversity above the treeline, while for cryptogams there is an initial increase above the treeline, followed by a decrease towards the nival belt. Thus, our data confirm the key role that elevation plays in shaping the biodiversity and distribution of these organisms in mountain soils. The response of prokaryote diversity to elevation, in turn, was more diverse, whereas fungal diversity appeared to be substantially influenced by plants. As far as available, we describe key characteristics, adaptations, and functions of mountain soil species, and despite a lack of ecological information about the uncultivated majority of prokaryotes, fungi, and protists, we illustrate the remarkable and unique diversity of life forms and life histories encountered in alpine mountain soils. By applying rule- as well as pattern-based literature-mining approaches and semi-quantitative analyses, we identified hotspots of mountain soil research in the European Alps and Central Asia and revealed significant gaps in taxonomic coverage, particularly among biocrusts, soil protists, and soil fauna. We further report thematic priorities for research on mountain soil biodiversity above the treeline and identify unanswered research questions. Building upon the outcomes of this synthesis, we conclude with a set of research opportunities for mountain soil biodiversity research worldwide. Soils in mountain ecosystems above the treeline fulfil critical functions and make essential contributions to life on land. Accordingly, seizing these opportunities and closing knowledge gaps appears crucial to enable science-based decision making in mountain regions and formulating laws and guidelines in support of mountain soil biodiversity conservation targets.

DOI Quelle

DOI: 10.1111/brv.70028

Journal article2025

Molecular and morphological identification methods show contrasting trends in soil fauna diversity along land-use intensity gradients

Köninger J, Beule L, Tsiafouli M, Seeber J, Blasbichler H, Sousa JP, Da Silva PM, Frouz J,

Julia Seeber, Helene Blasbichler

Projekt: Biodiversa+ Pilotstudien und weitere Aktivitäten, Ökologie und trophische Struktur der alpinen Bodenfauna

Current advancements in molecular techniques for identifying multiple species from bulked soil samples have expanded our capacity for large-scale soil biodiversity assessments. However, these methods often lack validation and contextualization. Recent cross-European studies based on environmental DNA (eDNA) have reported unexpectedly high biodiversity in intensively managed agricultural soils compared to woodlands and grasslands, challenging previous findings based on morphological assessments. Here, we analyze these discrepancies by comparing standardized soil faunal diversity data from the LUCAS Soil 2018 survey (eDNA) with morphological assessments from the EU-funded projects EcoFINDERS (2012) and SOILSERVICE (2015). We found that molecular methods indicate higher soil biodiversity in croplands, whereas morphological methods suggest the opposite trend. A significant variability in diversity metrics across ecosystem types emphasizes the need to compare and validate molecular results with complementary morphological approaches. The increasing need for biodiversity indicators and thresholds in monitoring frameworks demands robust methods, yet widely used molecular techniques remain insufficiently standardized. We call for more systematic assessments to clarify the interpretation of eDNA signals (e.g., primer bias, relict DNA), and to enable a better integration of molecular and morphological data in conservation policies and large-scale monitoring efforts.

DOI Quelle

DOI: 10.1016/j.apsoil.2025.106499

Journal article2025

Norway spruce dominates natural regeneration five years after a large-scale wind disturbance in the higher montane and lower subalpine belts in the eastern Alps

Condotti A, Ennemoser M, Seeber J, Tomelleri E

Julia Seeber

Projekt: Ökologie und trophische Struktur der alpinen Bodenfauna

Natural forest regeneration following disturbances is highly variable and often slow in high-altitude mountain forests. Among disturbance types, windstorms have emerged as major drivers of forest dynamics in Europe over recent decades. Post-disturbance forest regeneration is influenced by multiple factors, including salvage logging intensity, browsing pressure, climatic conditions and topography. In 2018, the Vaia storm damaged 1.7 % of the forest area in South Tyrol, providing a unique opportunity to study regeneration dynamics. Here, we assessed natural regeneration five years after the event by analyzing tree species composition, height distribution, and density across windthrow areas. The influence of site factors such as deadwood presence and elevation was evaluated, and terminal shoot browsing was quantified to identify potential deviations from stocking targets. In addition to field measurements, the use of Earth Observation data was tested to distinguish between poorly and well-regenerated sites. The regeneration was dominated by Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst) (65 %), followed by pioneer species including rowan (Sorbus aucuparia), willow (Salixs spp.), and birch (Betula pendula) (27 % combined). Seventy-four percent of individuals were ≤ 25 cm tall, and regeneration was concentrated at forest edges, with only 34 % of plots reaching the standard target of 3.500 undamaged individuals per hectare. Deadwood presence negatively affected both tree density and species richness, while lower elevations favored regeneration. Terminal shoot browsing affected 25 % of all small trees, with highest damage observed for Silver fir (Abies alba Mill) (53 %) and willow (60 %). The Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) showed a moderate positive correlation with regeneration success (R= 0.58). Our findings highlight critical factors shaping early post-disturbance regeneration and suggest that integrating field data with Earth Observation data can support targeted forest restoration measures.

DOI Quelle

DOI: 10.1016/j.foreco.2025.123053

Journal article2025

StoichLife: A Global Dataset of Plant and Animal Elemental Content

Gonzáles AL, Merder J, Andraczek K, Brose U, Filipiak M, Harpole S, Hillebrand H, Jackson M,

Julia Seeber, Michael Steinwandter

Projekt: Ökologie und trophische Struktur der alpinen Bodenfauna

The elemental content of life is a key trait shaping ecology and evolution, yet organismal stoichiometry has largely been studied on a case-by-case basis. This limitation has hindered our ability to identify broad patterns and mechanisms across taxa and ecosystems. To address this, we present StoichLife, a global dataset of 28,049 records from 5,876 species spanning terrestrial, freshwater, and marine realms. Compiled from published and unpublished sources, StoichLife documents elemental content and stoichiometric ratios (%C, %N, %P, C:N, C:P, and N:P) for individual plants and animals. The dataset is standardized and, where available, includes information on taxonomy, habitat, body mass (for animals), geography, and environmental conditions such as temperature, solar radiation, and nutrient availability. By providing an unprecedented breadth of organismal stoichiometry, StoichLife enables the exploration of global patterns, ecological and evolutionary drivers, and context-dependent variations. This resource advances our understanding of the chemical makeup of life and its responses to environmental change, supporting progress in ecological stoichiometry and related fields.

DOI Quelle

DOI: 10.1038/s41597-025-04852-w

Journal article2024

Comparison of commonly used software pipelines for analyzing fungal metabarcoding data

Rzehak T, Praeg N, Galla G, Seeber J, Hauffe HC, Illmer P

Julia Seeber

Projekt: Bewertung der Mikrobiodiversität auf Almen

Metabarcoding targeting the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region is commonly used to characterize fungal communities of various environments. Given their size and complexity, raw ITS sequences are necessarily processed and quality-filtered with bioinformatic pipelines. However, such pipelines are not yet standardized, especially for fungal communities, and those available may produce contrasting results. While some pipelines cluster sequences based on a specified percentage of base pair similarity into operational taxonomic units (OTUs), others utilize denoising techniques to infer amplicon sequencing variants (ASVs). While ASVs are now considered a more accurate representation of taxonomic diversity for prokaryote communities based on 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, the applicability of this method for fungal ITS sequences is still debated.

DOI Quelle

DOI: 10.1186/s12864-024-11001-x

Journal article2024

Comparison of DNA extraction methods on different sample matrices within the same terrestrial ecosystem

Galla G, Praeg N, Rzehak T, Sprecher E, Colla F, Seeber J, Illmer P, Hauffe H C

Julia Seeber

Projekt: Bewertung der Mikrobiodiversität auf Almen

Metataxonomic studies of ecosystem microbiotas require the simultaneous processing of samples with contrasting physical and biochemical traits. However, there are no published studies of comparisons of different DNA extraction kits to characterize the microbiotas of the main components of terrestrial ecosystems. Here, and to our knowledge for the first time, five DNA extraction kits were used to investigate the composition and diversity of the microbiota of a subset of samples typically studied in terrestrial ecosystems such as bulk soil, rhizosphere soil, invertebrate taxa and mammalian feces. DNA extraction kit was associated with changes in the relative abundance of hundreds of ASVs, in the same samples, resulting in significant differences in alpha and beta diversity estimates of their microbiotas. Importantly, the impact of DNA extraction kit on sample diversity varies according to sample type, with mammalian feces and soil samples showing the most and least consistent diversity estimates across DNA extraction kits, respectively. We show that the MACHEREY–NAGEL NucleoSpin® Soil kit was associated with the highest alpha diversity estimates, providing the highest contribution to the overall sample diversity, as indicated by comparisons with computationally assembled reference communities, and is recommended to be used for any large-scale microbiota study of terrestrial ecosystems.

DOI Quelle

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-59086-4

Journal article2024

Efficiency of birds as bioindicators for other taxa in mountain farmlands

Anderle M, Brambilla M, Angelini L, Guariento E, Paniccia C, Plunger J, Seeber J, Stifter S,

Julia Seeber, Andreas Hilpold, Erich Tasser, Julia Plunger, Ulrike Tappeiner, Matteo Anderle, Chiara Paniccia, Elia Guariento

Projekt: Biodiversitätsmonitoring Südtirol

Biodiversity loss is a global issue, particularly in mountain regions, where land-use/land-cover and climate change dramatically impact on species and communities. Sound ecological research and up-to-date information on biodiversity are needed to support conservation efforts. However, this information is often difficult and costly to obtain. Therefore, bioindicators serve as surrogates to provide information on the entire biocenosis. Birds are considered excellent bioindicators as they occupy different ecological niches and trait spaces.

We present a study about the efficiency of birds as bioindicators for the diversity of other taxa in a mountain region in the Central Alps. We surveyed bird communities at 115 sites across a gradient of different grasslands and crops and compared them with the diversity of other taxa (bats, butterflies, grasshoppers, arachnids, and vascular plants). We aimed to identify indicator bird species for grasslands and crops, to assess cross-community concordance between birds and other taxa, and to model the efficiency of bird indices and indicator species as bioindicators of the diversity across habitat types and taxa.

We identified indicator bird species for different grassland and crop types and found that efficiency of bird indices and single species varied for habitat types and taxa. We highlight the importance of using carefully selected bioindicators in biodiversity monitoring and conservation planning, and the need for an integrated and interdisciplinary approach for biodiversity research. Moreover, by looking at a combination of different indices we can gain a more comprehensive understanding of ecosystem functioning. We also provide a framework for the use of bird-based monitoring programs and bird-derived indices to guide biodiversity conservation, and emphasise the importance of incorporating different bioindicators into biodiversity research and monitoring to provide a more comprehensive understanding of ecological biodiversity patterns and trends.

DOI Quelle

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2024.111569

Journal article2024

Global change experiments in mountain ecosystems: A systematic review

Dainese M, Crepaz H, Bottarin R, Fontana V, Guariento E, Hilpold A, Obojes N, Paniccia C,

Georg Niedrist, Veronika Fontana, Julia Seeber, Andreas Hilpold, Ulrike Tappeiner, Roberta Bottarin, Nikolaus Obojes, Michael Steinwandter, Chiara Paniccia, Harald Crepaz, Elia Guariento

Mountain ecosystems play an important role globally as centers of biodiversity and in providing ecosystem services to lowland populations, but are influenced by multiple global change drivers such as climate change, nitrogen deposition, or altered disturbance regimes. As global change is accelerating and the consequences for humans and nature are intensifying, there is an increasing demand for understanding and predicting the impacts and implications of global change on mountain ecosystems. Manipulation experiments are one of the major tools for testing the causal impacts of global change and establishing a mechanistic understanding of how these changes may transform the global biota from single organisms to entire ecosystems. Over the past three decades, hundreds of such experiments have been conducted in mountainous regions worldwide. To strengthen the experimental evidence for the possible ecological consequences of global change, we systematically reviewed the literature on global change experiments in mountains. We first investigated the spread of manipulation experiments to test the effects of different global change drivers on key biological and ecological processes from the organism to the ecosystem level. We then examined and discussed the balance of evidence regarding the impact of these global change drivers on biological and ecological processes, and outlined the possible consequences for mountain ecosystems. Finally, we identified research gaps and proposed future directions for global change research in mountain environments. Among the major drivers, temperature was manipulated most frequently, generally showing consistent strong impacts between biological and ecosystem processes, functional groups, and habitat types. There is also strong evidence suggesting that changes in water and nutrient availability have a direct impact on the life history and functioning of mountain organisms. Despite these important findings, there are several gaps that require urgent attention. These include experiments testing adult trees in tropical and boreal regions, assessing animal responses and biotic interactions, and investigating aquatic environments and soil systems more extensively. A broader approach that integrates experimental data with field observations and relies on international collaboration through coordinated experiments could help address these gaps and provide a more consistent and robust picture of the impacts of global change on mountain ecosystems.

DOI Quelle

DOI: 10.1002/ecm.1632

Journal article2023

From diverse to simple: butterfly communities in South Tyrol erode from extensive grasslands to intensively used farmland and urban areas

Guariento E, Rüdisser J, Fiedler K, Paniccia C, Stifter S, Tappeiner U, Seeber J, Hilpold A

Julia Seeber, Andreas Hilpold, Ulrike Tappeiner, Chiara Paniccia, Elia Guariento

Projekt: Biodiversitätsmonitoring Südtirol

The severe biodiversity decline in European agricultural landscapes demands a specific evaluation of the various land-use practices. Many butterflies in Europe, as an important ecological indicator and pollinator taxon, require human interventions to sustain their populations in cultivated landscapes. However, land-use changes and management intensification are currently responsible for their decline. In this study, we compare butterfly communities occurring on 93 sites in seven widely distributed land-use types, viz. extensive meadows and pastures, semi-intensive meadows, vineyards, arable land, settlements and apple orchards. We recorded a high butterfly diversity in supposedly high nature-conservation value (HNV) grasslands (extensive meadows and pastures). All other land-use types showed significantly lower diversity, with decreasing diversity from semi-intensive meadows to apple orchards. Moreover, functional traits uncovered a general trend: extensive grasslands supported communities of more specialized and sedentary species whilst all other non-HNV land-use types showed communities characterized by mobile generalists. Community composition was driven by the land-use type and explained by plant-based indicator values for nutrients and light and temperature variables. Important life-history traits further correlated with site variables confirming the shift from specialists to generalists along increasing land-use intensity gradients and the effect of the thermal environment on phenological traits. We found supporting evidence for the effectiveness of regional Agri-Environmental Measures for butterfly conservation in European cultural landscapes and for the European conservation schemes to focus at least partly on the preservation of HNV grasslands with extensive management. Furthermore, we clearly show the poor ecological state of butterfly communities in more disturbed land-use types (including urban areas) and propose adopting measures to improve butterflies’ conservation in these environments.

DOI Quelle

DOI: 10.1007/s10531-022-02498-3

Journal article2023

Ground-dwelling invertebrates of the high alpine: Changes in diversity and community composition along elevation (1500–3000 m)

Steinwandter M, Seeber J

Julia Seeber, Michael Steinwandter

Projekt: Ökologie und trophische Struktur der alpinen Bodenfauna

Although the number of studies on soil and ground-dwelling fauna is constantly increasing, only few focus on high alpine areas. We conducted a comprehensive survey of ground-dwelling invertebrates in (high) alpine dry pastures along three elevational gradients (1500 to 3000 m a.s.l.) in the LT(S)ER area ‘Val Mazia/Matschertal’, South Tyrol, Italy. The objectives were (i) to assess the composition of mobile, surface-active invertebrate communities and their diversity patterns along the elevation, and (ii) to analyse the influence of selected environmental factors (soil parameters and vegetation composition) on their composition.

On 12 plots (three at each elevation step), we installed three pitfall traps per sampling period covering most of the growing season from May to September: three times for two weeks on the lower (1500 and 2000 m) and twice for three weeks on the higher plots (2500 and 3000 m). Taxa were mostly identified to family level and changes in activity densities, diversity indices and beta diversity were evaluated.

Overall, activity density decreased gradually but not significantly from about 21 individuals per day and trap at 1500 m to just over 9 individuals at 3000 m. This indicates a highly active ground-dwelling community along the entire mountain ridge throughout the growing season. Alpha diversity differed significantly but inconsistently between elevations, while beta diversity remained constant along the gradient (Sörensen index around 0.60). Community composition differed for each elevation and turnover rates (i.e. the exchange of taxa) increased with elevation from 70 to 87 %. Elevation as a proxy for climate warming, rather than soil and vegetation related factors, was found to be the main driver of differences in community composition. At the current rate of global warming and with different communities at each elevation, ecosystem services and processes could be strongly affected by the expected changes in invertebrate community compositions.

DOI Quelle

DOI: 10.1016/j.apsoil.2023.104988

Journal article2023

Habitat heterogeneity promotes bird diversity in agricultural landscapes: Insights from remote sensing data

Anderle M, Brambilla M, Hilpold A, Matabishi JG, Paniccia C, Rocchini D, Rossin J, Tasser E,

Julia Seeber, Andreas Hilpold, Erich Tasser, Ulrike Tappeiner, Matteo Anderle, Chiara Paniccia

Projekt: Biodiversitätsmonitoring Südtirol

Understanding the main drivers of biodiversity loss in Europe's agricultural landscapes has been a research priority in the last decades. One of the most important factors promoting biodiversity in farmed landscapes is habitat heterogeneity, which has often proved crucial for avian species and communities. Birds are highly sensitive to environmental changes and make use of a broad range of ecological niches, thus being exceptionally sensitive to the loss of habitat heterogeneity. Remote sensing data are particularly suited to quantify habitat heterogeneity at fine scales over relatively large extents, allowing to consider how different measures of heterogeneity may affect biotic communities at a regional scale. Here, we used airborne LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) and satellite multispectral data to derive vegetation canopy height and primary productivity for 118 sites in complex agricultural landscapes in a region in the Central Alps. We computed different bird diversity indices and classified bird species into guilds according to specific traits to analyse the relationship between avian communities and different facets of habitat heterogeneity. Results confirmed that habitat heterogeneity is essential in shaping rich and diverse bird communities, and it is particularly important for several farmland birds. By comparing the effects of canopy height, primary productivity, and specific vegetation features (e.g., cover of grassland, shrub, and tree layers), we showed how different habitat characteristics as well as landscape heterogeneity affected bird richness, diversity, functional entropy, and trait patterns. Landscape and height heterogeneity, estimated by NDVI and LiDAR Rao's Q indices, strongly influenced all response variables, for example, high NDVI values promoted species diversity and ground-understory nesters, and shrub layer was important for ground-understory nesters and forest specialists. Finally, we provide recommendations for conservation practices and mitigation measures to improve bird diversity in agricultural landscapes.

DOI Quelle

DOI: 10.1016/j.baae.2023.04.006

Journal article2023

Mock community as an in situ positive control for amplicon sequencing of microbiotas from the same ecosystem

Galla G, Präg N, Colla F, Rzegak T, Illmer P, Seeber J, Hauffe HC

Julia Seeber

Projekt: Bewertung der Mikrobiodiversität auf Almen

Metataxonomy has become the standard for characterizing the diversity and composition of microbial communities associated with multicellular organisms and their environment. Currently available protocols for metataxonomy assume a uniform DNA extraction, amplification and sequencing efficiency for all sample types and taxa. It has been suggested that the addition of a mock community (MC) to biological samples before the DNA extraction step could aid identification of technical biases during processing and support direct comparisons of microbiota composition, but the impact of MC on diversity estimates of samples is unknown. Here, large and small aliquots of pulverized bovine fecal samples were extracted with no, low or high doses of MC, characterized using standard Illumina technology for metataxonomics, and analysed with custom bioinformatic pipelines. We demonstrated that sample diversity estimates were distorted only if MC dose was high compared to sample mass (i.e. when MC > 10% of sample reads). We also showed that MC was an informative in situ positive control, permitting an estimation of the sample 16S copy number, and detecting sample outliers. We tested this approach on a range of sample types from a terrestrial ecosystem, including rhizosphere soil, whole invertebrates, and wild vertebrate fecal samples, and discuss possible clinical applications.

DOI Quelle

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-30916-1

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Journal article2025

Biodiversity in mountain soils above the treeline

Praeg N, Steinwandter M, Urbach D, Snethlage MA, Alves RP, Apple ME, Bilovitz P, Britton AJ,

Julia Seeber, Michael Steinwandter, Elia Guariento

Projekt: Ökologie und trophische Struktur der alpinen Bodenfauna

DOI Quelle

DOI: 10.1111/brv.70028

Julia Seeber

About

Scientific Publications

Biodiversity in mountain soils above the treeline

Molecular and morphological identification methods show contrasting trends in soil fauna diversity along land-use intensity gradients

Norway spruce dominates natural regeneration five years after a large-scale wind disturbance in the higher montane and lower subalpine belts in the eastern Alps

StoichLife: A Global Dataset of Plant and Animal Elemental Content

Comparison of commonly used software pipelines for analyzing fungal metabarcoding data

Comparison of DNA extraction methods on different sample matrices within the same terrestrial ecosystem

Efficiency of birds as bioindicators for other taxa in mountain farmlands

Global change experiments in mountain ecosystems: A systematic review

From diverse to simple: butterfly communities in South Tyrol erode from extensive grasslands to intensively used farmland and urban areas

Ground-dwelling invertebrates of the high alpine: Changes in diversity and community composition along elevation (1500–3000 m)

Habitat heterogeneity promotes bird diversity in agricultural landscapes: Insights from remote sensing data

Mock community as an in situ positive control for amplicon sequencing of microbiotas from the same ecosystem

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Externe Inhalte

Scientific Publications

Biodiversity in mountain soils above the treeline

Molecular and morphological identification methods show contrasting trends in soil fauna diversity along land-use intensity gradients

Norway spruce dominates natural regeneration five years after a large-scale wind disturbance in the higher montane and lower subalpine belts in the eastern Alps

StoichLife: A Global Dataset of Plant and Animal Elemental Content

Comparison of commonly used software pipelines for analyzing fungal metabarcoding data

Comparison of DNA extraction methods on different sample matrices within the same terrestrial ecosystem

Efficiency of birds as bioindicators for other taxa in mountain farmlands

Global change experiments in mountain ecosystems: A systematic review

From diverse to simple: butterfly communities in South Tyrol erode from extensive grasslands to intensively used farmland and urban areas

Ground-dwelling invertebrates of the high alpine: Changes in diversity and community composition along elevation (1500–3000 m)

Habitat heterogeneity promotes bird diversity in agricultural landscapes: Insights from remote sensing data

Mock community as an in situ positive control for amplicon sequencing of microbiotas from the same ecosystem