Helge Bruelheide

Helge Bruelheide is a Professor at the University of Halle's Department of Botany. He serves as Principal Investigator (PI) for multiple large-scale ecological research projects including the BEF-China experiment, TreeDì International Research Training Group, and MultiTroph initiative. His work focuses on biodiversity-ecosystem functioning in subtropical forests, particularly examining how tree diversity influences ecosystem processes like decomposition, herbivory, and productivity. He leads efforts in data management, synthesis, and experimental design for international collaborations involving over 100 researchers.

Key projects include managing the BEF-China experiment's European subprojects, analyzing functional traits of over 100 tree species, and investigating climate change impacts on forest resilience. Bruelheide has coordinated over 30 datasets and 20+ peer-reviewed papers, emphasizing multitrophic interactions, plant-soil feedbacks, and biodiversity-driven ecosystem stability.

His research spans 15+ years with continuous funding from German Research Foundation (DFG) and Chinese partners. Ongoing work explores drought mitigation through biodiversity, ant-plant interactions, and long-term succession dynamics in subtropical forests. He supervises international PhD cohorts and maintains active labs focused on functional ecology and global change biology.