Kathi started her PhD within Isodrones in January 2019. Her main interest is in following water moving along the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. In her PhD she is collecting data sets to resolve short-term dynamics of plant water uptake in response to varying environmental conditions and plant parameters. Herein, water stable isotopes are an important tool and novel field methods that enable their in situ measurement have already been further developed and applied. During the first year she collected data in two intensive experiments: One in the beginning of 2019 at a tropical dry forest in Costa Rica and one later that year as part of a large international and interdisciplinary group of scientists in the B2 WALD campaign at the Biosphere II rainforest biome in Arizona.

What excites her most about the Isodrones project is the possibility to combine multiple ecohydrological methods to gain insights into the mechanisms behind plant water uptake and transport as well as the strong interdisciplinary approach and the opportunity to test new ideas and methods.

Kathi did her MSc degree in Hydrology at the University of Freiburg but has been interested in soil sciences and ecosystem physiology throughout her studies. During both her bachelor and master thesis she gained experience in monitoring plant water uptake using water stable isotopes and innovative in-situ methods.

In her free time Kathi likes drawing, swimming, going to concerts (preferably punk) and experiencing adventures while travelling the world.