Clydecia Spitzer

I am a root ecologist specialized in using fine root traits to answer mechanistic questions related to root-microbe-soil interactions, plant-plant interactions and ecosystem functioning in forest ecosystems. Primarily, I am interested in understanding sources of variation in plant functional traits and how root economic strategies influence the relative abundances of soil biota, and the subsequent implications for plant productivity and carbon and nitrogen cycling in boreal forest and tundra ecosystems. My work involves the use of greenhouse, climate chambers, as well as field studies.

Publications

Spitzer, C.M., Jämtgård, S., Larsson, M.J., Gundale, M. J., Aboveground and
belowground trait coordination across twelve boreal forest tree species (2025).
Scientific Reports, 15: 680.

Gundale, M. J., Axelsson, P.E., Buness, V., Callebaut, T., DeLuca, T.H., Hupperts,
S.F., Ibánez, T.S., Metcalfe, M.B., Nilsson M.C., Peichl, M., Spitzer, C.M., Stangl,
Z.S., Strengbom, J., Sundqvist, M.K., Wardle, D.A., Lindahl, B.D. The biological
controls of soil carbon accumulation following wildfire and harvest in boreal forests: A
review (2024). Global Change Biology 30, e17276.

Spitzer, C.M., & Blume-Werry, G. (2023). As a permafrost warms, plant community
traits become more acquisitive. New Phytologist, 240: 1712 – 1713.

Spitzer, C. M., Sundqvist, M.J., Wardle, D.A., Gundale, M. J., Kardol, P. (2023). Root
trait variation along a sub-arctic tundra elevational gradient. OIKOS, 1: e08903.

Spitzer, C. M., Wardle, D.A., Lindahl, B., Sundqvist, M.J., Gundale, M. J., Fanin, N.,
Kardol, P. (2022). Root traits and soil micro‐organisms as drivers of plant–soil
feedbacks within the sub‐arctic tundra meadow. Journal of Ecology, 110: 466 - 478.

Spitzer, C. M., Lindahl, B., Wardle, D.A., Sundqvist, M.J., Gundale, M. J., Fanin, N.,
Kardol, P. (2021). Root trait–microbial relationships across tundra plant species. New
Phytologist, 229: 1508 – 1520.

Kardol, P., Spitzer, C. M., Gundale, M. J., Nilsson, M.-C. , Wardle, D. A. (2016).
Trophic cascades in the bryosphere: the impact of global change factors on top-down
control of cyanobacterial N2-fixation. Ecology Letters, 19: 967–976.

Master thesis supervision

1. Kailey Tentis, Plant-soil feedbacks in boreal tree species, 2023

2. Oscar Andersson, Warming alters root trait strategies and enhances overyielding in boreal tree seedling mixtures, 2025

3. Yue Wu, Plant functional traits of P. sylvestris tee breeds, ongoing

2016-2021:

Doctoral education  at the Swedish University of Agriculture (SLU). Department of forest ecology and management. Thesis title: Linking root traits and plant-soil feedbacks to environmental change in the sub-arctic tundra.

2009-2011:

Master education at the Technical University of Dresden. Degree of Master of Science in Tropical Forestry and Management.