The Wolfgang Wilcke Lab

Wolfgang Wilcke’s lab investigates the biogeochemistry and long-term cycling of nutrients and contaminants in soils, ecosystems, and the broader environment, with a strong focus on tropical and temperate montane forests, wetlands, and lake-sediment archives. The group studies how elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, chlorine, and toxic polycyclic aromatic compounds behave along soil-plant-water pathways and over centuries of human influence, using field experiments, long-term monitoring, and stable isotope and geochemical techniques. Current projects include tracking element budgets and weathering kinetics in tropical Andean forests, quantifying changes in ecosystem nitrogen and carbon cycles along glacial-retreat chronosequences, evaluating the response of montane ecosystems to nutrient additions, and reconstructing historical pollution and socio-economic impacts from lake-sediment records in China. A distinctive feature of the lab is the integration of ecosystem-scale nutrient budgets, biogeochemical mass balance, and geochemical fingerprinting to link small-scale soil processes with large-scale environmental change. Students joining the group can expect hands-on experience in field sampling, soil and solution chemistry, isotope analysis, and data interpretation for questions around ecosystem services, pollution history, and climate-change impacts, preparing them for careers in environmental science, geoecology, and soil-function research.