Kadri Runnel (Post-Doc)

Short CV

Post-Doc: 04.2022–present; Goethe University Frankfurt

Researcher: 09.2016–02.2019; 08–2020–present; University of Tartu

Post-Doc: 03.2019–07.2020; Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

PhD; 09.2011–08.2016; University of Tartu

M.Sc. Biology; 2009–2011; University of Tartu

B.Sc. Environmental Protection; 2006–2009; Estonian University of Life Sciences

Research interests

My mission in science is to create, organize and disseminate knowledge, which the society needs to make best environmental decisions at different scales. I am particularly fond of forest ecosystems, and several of my studies have used dead wood inhabiting fungi as model organisms for testing the biodiversity responses to forest conservation and management practices.

My main mission in the group of Claus Bässler at the Goethe University Frankfurt is related to RobustNature (ww.robustnature.de) initiative. I evaluate knowledge from literature in order to establish how fungal biodiversity is related to the most important ecosystem services, such as primary production, decomposition of wood, and other materials, and how to maintain biodiversity in other groups of organisms which feed or colonize fungal tissues. I also contribute to other studies in the group, for example to the study on population genetics of a threatened wood inhabiting fungal species. 

Selected publications

Runnel, Kadri; Palo, Anneli; Reila, Artur; Rosenvald, Raul; Lõhmus, Asko (2022). External management effects on the stand structure of protected forest patches. Applied Vegetation Science, 25:e12655.

Runnel, Kadri; Miettinen, Otto; Lõhmus, Asko (2021). Polypore fungi as a flagship group to indicate changes in biodiversity – a test case from Estonia. IMA Fungus, 12 (2). DOI: 10.1186/s43008-020-00050-y.

Runnel, Kadri; Stephan, Jörg G.; Jonsell, Mats; Kutser, Kadi; Lõhmus, Asko; Strengbom, Joachim; Tamm, Heidi; Ranius, Thomas (2021). Do different growth rates of trees cause distinct habitat qualities for saproxylic assemblages? Oecologia, 197 (3), 807−816. DOI: 10.1007/s00442-021-05061-z.

Runnel, K.; Lõhmus, A. (2017). Deadwood-rich managed forests provide insights into the old-forest association of wood-inhabiting fungi. Fungal Ecology, 27, 155−167. DOI: 10.1016/j.funeco.2016.09.006.

Runnel, K.; Tamm, H.; Lõhmus, A. (2015). Surveying wood-inhabiting fungi: Most molecularly detected polypore species form fruit-bodies within short distances. Fungal Ecology, 18, 93−99. DOI: 10.1016/j.funeco.2015.08.008.