Research interests

I am interested in biodiversity monitoring, ecosystem functioning, community ecology and restoration ecology. My research focuses on the effects of land use, invasive species and climate change on biodiversity patterns and ecosystem functioning. My study systems are terrestrial ecosystems, particularly temperate grasslands and tropical montane forests. As a field ecologist, I am qualified for studying ecosystems with varying degrees of anthropogenic transformation, but I also combine this with greenhouse and ecotron experiments. In the current project I focus on biodiversity monitoring and studying the effects of restorative activities on the potential improvement of the ecological condition of anthropogenized habitats at different scales.

Curriculum vitae

From 2023	Postdoctoral researcher/Lecturer, Chair of Restoration Ecology, School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Freising, Germany
2019 - 2023	Dr. rer. nat., Chair of Restoration Ecology, School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Freising, Germany. Thesis: “Ecological restoration of urban grasslands in times of global change. Towards scientifically-informed practice based on mesocosm experiments”
04/2018 – 12/2018	Visiting Master Student, Chair of Restoration Ecology, TUM, Germany
10/2016 – 12/2018	MSc Environmental Sciences, Elective Track “Wildlife, Vegetation and Biodiversity”. Freiburg University, Germany. Thesis: “Effect of extreme weather events, propagule pressure and competitive hierarchy on the invasion success of Solidago gigantea in an experimentally restored grassland community”
09/2012 – 02/2016	Research Assistant, Bogotá Botanical Garden, Restoration Ecology Research Group, Bogotá, Colombia
02/2011 – 07/2012	Junior Researcher, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Ecological Restoration Group, Biology Department, Bogotá, Colombia
07/2009 – 07/2010	Research Assistant, Bogotá Botanical Garden, Colombia
05/2008 – 12/2008	Research Assistant, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia
01/2003 – 03/2008	BSc Biology, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia. Thesis: “Characterization of a wetland soil seed bank and its potential for the regeneration of the vegetation”

Projects

GolfBiodivers – Ecological enhancement, monitoring and communication of biodiversity on golf courses (2023-2029)

The joint project GolfBiodivers is concerned with the landscape-ecological assessment and enhancement of biodiversity on golf courses with a particular focus on the protection of insects.

https://www.bfn.de/projektsteckbriefe/golfbiodivers

Blooming ribbons for our cities in times of climate change (2019-2022)

Project testing the effects of rehabilitated near-natural urban flowering areas along transport routes to promote ecological functionality and habitat and resources for urban wild bees in a climate-change context.

https://www.bluehende-baender.de/

Restoration of biodiversity and ecosystem services in urban landscapes to improve climatic resilience and invasion resistance (2019-2022)

Subproject within the framing project: Effect of climate change in the biodiversity and ecosystem services in near-natural, agricultural and urban landscapes, and strategies for the management of climate change (LandKlif)

https://www.landklif.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de/Project/Project.aspx

Supervisors:

Prof. Dr. J. Kollmann

Urban green infrastructure is relevant for the mitigation of climate change in cities because vegetation reduces temperatures and increases humidity. Further ecosystem services include stormwater retention, reduction of erosion, carbon sequestration, and maintenance of nutrient cycles and furtherance of urban biodiversity. Moreover, urban vegetation is crucial for human recreation. Notwithstanding, green infrastructure is challenged by extreme weather, invasive alien species and management constraints.

Given that ecological aspects are insufficiently considered in the planning of green infrastructure at present, this project aims at studying the effects of natural and designed plant communities on ecosystem functions under different climatic scenarios and in interaction with invasive alien plants.

The experimental plant communities are recruited from the native species pool of the region. The variables of interest are investigated in the field along a climatic and land-use gradient in Bavaria, and also through ecotron experiments under different temperature and precipitation regimes, with and without invasive alien species typically found in the region.

The results of the project contribute to an improved knowledge and more effective application of ecological theory on grassland resilience and invasion resistance in urban green infrastructure. Additionally, the project will shed light on the necessary planning and measures to reduce costs for maintenance of urban vegetation and will promote an improved adaptation of Bavarian cities to climate change.

The framing project is part of the Bavarian Research Network for Climate Research (BayKlif) funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and Arts.

Teaching

Vegetation Ecology

Advanced Restoration Ecology

Experimental Restoration Ecology

Supervision of BSc. and MSc. Thesis and Projects

Membership

IAVS (https://www.iavs.org/), GfÖ (https://www.gfoe.org/), REDCRE (https://redcre.com/)

Review activities

Review of manuscripts submitted to Restoration Ecology, Invasion Biology, Ecological indicators, Applied Vegetation Science, Land Degradation & Development

 

PUBLICATIONS

Dietzel, S.; Rojas-Botero, S.; A Dichtl, A.; Kollmann, J.; Fischer, C. Winners and losers at enhanced urban roadsides: Trait-based structuring of wild bee communities at local and landscape scale Biological Conservation 291, 110480. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2024.110480

Rojas-Botero, S.; Dietzel, S.; Kollmann, J.; Teixeira, L. H. Towards a functional understanding of rehabilitated urban road verge grasslands: Effects of planting year, site conditions, and landscape factors Flora 2023 309 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.flora.2023.152417

Dietzel, S.; Rojas-Botero, S.; Dichtl, A.; Kollmann, J.; Fischer, C. Winners and losers at enhanced urban roadsides: Trait-based structuring of wild bee communities at local and landscape scale Biological Conservation 2024 291 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2024.14.110480

Uphus, L., Uhler, J., Tobisch, C., Rojas-Botero, S., Lüpke, M. & Benjamin, C. et al. (2023) Earlier and more uniform spring green-up linked to lower insect richness and biomass in temperate forests. Communications Biology, 6(1), 1052. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-05422-9.

Rojas-Botero, S., Teixeira, L.H. & Kollmann, J. (2023) Low precipitation due to climate change consistently reduces multifunctionality of urban grasslands in mesocosms. PloS one, 18(2), e0275044. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275044

Tobisch, C., Rojas-Botero, S., Uhler, J., Kollmann, J., Müller, J. & Moning, C. et al. (2023) Conservation-relevant plant species indicate arthropod richness across trophic levels: Habitat quality is more important than habitat amount. Ecological Indicators, 148, 110039. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2023.110039

Tobisch, C., Rojas-Botero, S., Uhler, J., Müller, J., Kollmann, J. & Moning, C. et al. (2023) Plant species composition and local habitat conditions as primary determinants of terrestrial arthropod assemblages. Oecologia, 201(3), 813–825. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-023-05345-6

Rojas‐Botero, S., Teixeira, L.H., Prucker, P., Kloska, V., Kollmann, J. & Le Stradic, S. (2023) Root traits of grasslands rapidly respond to climate change, while community biomass mainly depends on functional composition. Functional Ecology, 37(7), 1841–1855. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14345.

Englmeier, J., Rieker, D., Mitesser, O., Benjamin, C., Fricke, U. & Ganuza, C. et al. (2023) Diversity and specialization responses to climate and land use differ between deadwood fungi and bacteria. Ecography, e06807. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.06807

Fricke, U., Redlich, S., Zhang, J., Benjamin, C.S., Englmeier, J. & Ganuza, C. et al. (2023) Earlier flowering of winter oilseed rape compensates for higher pest pressure in warmer climates. Journal of Applied Ecology, 60(2), 365–375. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14335

Englmeier, J., Mitesser, O., Benbow, M.E., Hothorn, T., Hoermann, C. von & Benjamin, C. et al. (2023) Diverse effects of climate, land use, and insects on dung and carrion decomposition. Ecosystems, 26(2), 397–411. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-022-00764-7

Dietzel, S., Rojas-Botero, S., Kollmann, J. & Fischer, C. (2023) Enhanced urban roadside vegetation increases pollinator abundance whereas landscape characteristics drive pollination. Ecological Indicators, 147, 109980. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2023.109980

Benjamin, C.S., Uphus, L., Lüpke, M., Rojas-Botero, S., Dhillon, M.S. & Englmeier, J. et al. (2022) Modelling the Relative Abundance of Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus L.) along a Climate and Land-Use Gradient. Animals, 12(3), 222. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12030222

Englmeier, J., Hoermann, C. von, Rieker, D., Benbow, M.E., Benjamin, C. & Fricke, U. et al. (2022) Dung-visiting beetle diversity is mainly affected by land use, while community specialization is driven by climate. Ecology and evolution, 12(10), e9386. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9386
Fricke, U., Redlich, S., Zhang, J., Tobisch, C., Rojas-Botero, S. & Benjamin, C.S. et al. (2022) Plant richness, land use and temperature differently shape invertebrate leaf-chewing herbivory on plant functional groups. Oecologia, 199(2), 407–417. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-022-05199-4

Fricke, U., Steffan-Dewenter, I., Zhang, J., Tobisch, C., Rojas-Botero, S. & Benjamin, C.S. et al. (2022) Landscape diversity and local temperature, but not climate, affect arthropod predation among habitat types. PloS one, 17(4), e0264881. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264881

Ganuza, C., Redlich, S., Uhler, J., Tobisch, C., Rojas-Botero, S. & Peters, M.K. et al. (2022) Interactive effects of climate and land use on pollinator diversity differ among taxa and scales. Science advances, 8(18), eabm9359. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abm9359

Redlich, S., Zhang, J., Benjamin, C., Dhillon, M.S., Englmeier, J. & Ewald, J. et al. (2022) Disentangling effects of climate and land use on biodiversity and ecosystem services—A multi-scale experimental design. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 13(2), 514–527. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13759

Rojas-Botero, S., Kollmann, J. & Teixeira, L.H. (2022) Competitive trait hierarchies of native communities and invasive propagule pressure consistently predict invasion success during grassland establishment. Biological Invasions, 24(1), 107–122. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-021-02630-4

Welti, E.A.R., Zajicek, P., Frenzel, M., Ayasse, M., Bornholdt, T. & Buse, J. et al. (2022) Temperature drives variation in flying insect biomass across a German malaise trap network. Insect conservation and diversity, 15(2), 168–180. https://doi.org/10.1111/icad.12555

Uhler, J., Redlich, S., Zhang, J., Hothorn, T., Tobisch, C. & Ewald, J. et al. (2021) Relationship of insect biomass and richness with land use along a climate gradient. Nature Communications, 12(1), 5946. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26181-3 

Rojas-Botero, S., Solorza-Bejarano, J., Kollmann, J. & Teixeira, L.H. (2020) Nucleation increases understory species and functional diversity in early tropical forest restoration. Ecological Engineering, 158, 106031. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2020.106031

Rojas-B., S.L. (2017). Structure and floristic composition of the vegetation undergoing ecological restoration in the eastern hills of Bogotá (Colombia). Caldasia 39(1) 124-139.  DOI: doi.org/10.15446/caldasia.v39n1.60084

Rojas-B., S.L. (2017). The seed bank of Tibanica wetland and its potential for restoring its aquatic vegteation. In: Guillot-Monroy, G.H. & Pinilla-Agudelo, G.A. (Eds.). Estudios ecológicos en humedales de Bogotá: aplicaciones para su evaluación, seguimiento y manejo. Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Facultad de Ciencias. Departamento de Biología. Editorial Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Bogotá. ISBN: 9789587830156