Signe Normand is studying the spread and dynamics of plants in time and place to find out how climate and environmental improvements affect many different plant species. She is doing this by creating, processing and integrating data from very different layers of air (literally), and by linking methods together.

She is one of the few researchers in the world -- and the only researcher in Denmark -- who combines special drone and satellite images, known as remote sensing, with the ecological study of growth rings in trees and shrubs. She has led several field expeditions to Greenland and collected unique datasets using this new methodology.

Signe Normand’s research provides an insight into how vegetation and biodiversity change -- from the past to the future, from the tropics to the Arctic -- seen both through the microscope and from the air. Signe Normand has contributed to demonstrating the complex way in which the annual growth and height of Artic shrubs is changing in line with climate change. She has also developed a model for understanding changes in the distribution of species since the last Ice Age – and has examined the riddle that, despite spreading for thousands of years, species have still not made their way to all areas with suitable climates.

Most recently, together with research colleagues at AU, she has worked on creating easily accessible maps of the Danish vegetation structure. Signe’s team have translated the massive amounts of data from an airborne laser scanning of all of Denmark, carried out in 2014/15, into ecologically relevant information. This information has been made easily accessible to everyone.

Experienced award winner

Signe Normand has an impressive academic publication list and has received the Elite Research Prize and several other national and international awards and grants. Her work is multidisciplinary, building bridges across disciplines and attitudes. 
Most recently, together with research colleagues at AU, she has worked on creating easily accessible maps of the Danish vegetation structure. Signe’s team have translated the massive amounts of data from an airborne laser scanning of all of Denmark, carried out in 2014/15, into ecologically relevant information. This information has been made easily accessible to everyone.

In 2020, she became head of the new research centre, SustainScapes (Centre for Sustainable Landscapes under Global Change), which will provide insight into how changes in land use and climate conditions have historically impacted biodiversity across Denmark. The new knowledge will be used to develop tools that can predict how, and in what agricultural areas, it is possible to restore nature and biodiversity most effectively in the future.

In 2021, she was appointed chair of Denmark’s first Council for Biodiversity and a member of the board of the Climate Forest Foundation.

Read more about Signe Nordmand's research here:

https://bio.au.dk/forskning/forskningscentre/sustainscapes

http://www.signenormand.net/