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Free Range Cows
Dr. Merin Reji Chacko
 Curriculum vitae        

Since 2026

Postdoctoral researcher

Biodiversity Exploratories

(Synthesis Core)

2025-2026

Postdoctoral researcher

Conservation Biology

Swiss Federal Institute WSL

2021-2024

PhD student

Ecosystems and Landscape Evolution

ETH Zurich

2020

Research assistant

Spatial Ecology and Remote Sensing University of Zurich

2016-2019

MSc

Soil Ecology and Global Change

University of Zurich

  Research interests             

My work focuses on understanding the causes and consequences of biodiversity, at various spatial scales. I am passionate about how species interact with each other, and why that changes depending on the environmental pressures they face.

 

In my current position as a synthesis postdoc, I aim to disentangle the effects of different grazing components (duration, intensity, livestock type, etc.) on multi-trophic diversity and ecosystem functioning in temperate grasslands.

Research domains: 

food web ecology

urban ecology

ecological synthesis

macroecology

computational ecology

environmental DNA

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Contact

 

merin.rejichacko@gmail.com

B1|02, Room 206 

Dr. Merin Reji Chacko

Fachbereich Biologie

TU Darmstadt

Schnittspahnstr. 3

64287 Darmstadt

Germany

​​​

Phone +49615120038

  Projects           

 

Biodiversity Exploratories

PAPPUS

Better Gardens

trophiCH

 Publications 

Peer-reviewed publications

  1. Reji Chacko, M., Frey, D., Albrecht, M., Ghazoul, J., and Moretti, M. No one-size-fits-all: trait-dependent effects of local plant diversity on pollinators and pollination services along an urban densification gradient. Journal of Applied Ecology (2026). In press.

  2. Zhang, Y., … Reji Chacko, M., … Altermatt, F. et al. Integrated reanalysis of global fish eDNA datasets shows robustness and congruence of biodiversity conclusions. Molecular Ecology (2026). https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.70340

  3. Perrelet, K., Cook, L., Reji Chacko, M., Altermatt, F., and Moretti, M. Food webs on green roofs are unique but less robust than their ground-level counterparts. Journal of Applied Ecology (2026). https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.70306

  4. Perrelet, K., Cook, L., Reji Chacko, M, Altermatt, F., and Moretti, M. Urbanisation drives the decoupling, simplification, and homogenization of aquatic and terrestrial food webs. Ecology Letters. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70212

  5. Reji Chacko, M., Moretti, M. and Frey, D. A comprehensive dataset on pollinator diversity, visitation rates, individual-based traits, and pollination success across four plant species in an urban garden experiment. Data in Brief (2025). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2025.112013

  6. Reji Chacko, M., Albouy, C., Altermatt, F., Boussange, V., Brändle, M., Farwig, N., Gossner, M. M., Ho, H.-C., Joss, A., Neff, F., and Pellissier, L. Species loss in key habitats accelerates regional food web disruption. Communications Biology 8, 988 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-08396-y

  7. Reji Chacko, M., Albouy, C., Altermatt, F., Casanelles-Abella, J., Brändle, M., Boussange, V., Campell, F., Ellis, W. N., Fopp, F., Gossner, M. M., Ho, H.-C., Joss, A., Kipf, P., Neff, F., Petrović, A., Prié, V., Tomanović, Ž., Zimmerli, N., and Pellissier, L. A species-level multi-trophic metaweb for Switzerland. Scientific Data 12, 1164 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05487-7

  8. Mayor, S., Altermatt, F., Crowther, T., Hordjik, I., Oehri, J., Reji Chacko, M., Schaepman, M., Schmid, B., and Niklaus, P. Landscape diversity promotes landscape functioning in North America. Communications Earth and Environment 6, 28 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02000-1

  9. Reji Chacko, M., Altermatt, F., Fopp, F., Guisan, A., Keggin, T., Lyet, A., Rey, P.-L., Richards, E., Valentini, A., Waldock, C., and Pellissier, L. Catchment-based sampling of river eDNA integrates terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity of alpine landscapes. Oecologia (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-023-05428-4

  10. Reji Chacko, M, M., Plekhanova, E., Oehri, J., and Schaepman-Strub, G. Will current protected areas harbour refugia for threatened Arctic vegetation types until 2050? A first assessment. Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research 55, 2203478 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2023.2203478

  11. Heim, R., Iturrate-Garcia, M., Plekhanova, E., Reji Chacko, M., and Schaepman-Strub, G. Arctic deciduous shrubs demonstrate a leaf-level shift from a resource-conservative to a resource-acquisitive strategy with increasing soil nutrient availability. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 128, e2023JG007657 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JG007657

  12. Ho, H.-C., Brodersen, J., Gossner, M., Graham, C., Kaeser, S., Reji Chacko, M., Seehausen, O., Zimmermann, N., Pellissier, L., and Altermatt, F. Blue and green food webs respond differently to elevation and land use. Nature Communications 13, 6415 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-34132-9

  13. Oehri, J., … Reji Chacko, M... Schaepman-Strub, G. Vegetation type is an important predictor of the Arctic summer land surface energy budget. Nature Communications 13, 6379 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-34049-3

  14. Krstovic, M., Brown, L., Reji Chacko, M., and Trinh, B. Grade 9 Astronomy Study: Interests of Boys and Girls Studying Astronomy at Fletcher’s Meadow Secondary School. Astronomy Education Review. 7(2), 18–24 (2009). https://doi.org/10.3847/aer2008017

Preprints

  1. Casanelles Abella, J., Frey, M., Helms, M., Moretti, M., Reji Chacko, M., Zanetta, A., and Fournier, B. Gardeners’ Contributions to Urban Biodiversity: A Multi-Taxa Assessment of α- and β-Functional and Taxonomic Diversity in a Densifying City. Research Square. (2026). https://doi.org/10.21203%2Frs.3.rs-9085796%2Fv1

  2. Zhang, Y., … Reji Chacko, M., … Altermatt, F. et al. Globally unified analyses of riverine eDNA reveals common associations of fish biodiversity with drainage characteristics. bioRxiv (2025). https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.09.16.676481.

In preparation

  1. Reji Chacko, M., Casanelles Abella, J., Casciano, G., Fournier, B., Frey, D., Perrelet, K., and Moretti, M. Local habitat quality only partially buffers multi-trophic food-web robustness along an urban density gradient.

  2. Reji Chacko, M., Albouy, C., Altermatt, F., Fopp, F., Gossner, M.M., Ho, H-C., and Pellissier, L. Elevation and land use gradients drive food web structure and trophic connectivity. In preparation. https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000628135

  3. Fopp, F., Albouy, C., Dahito, M-A., Reji Chacko, M., and Pellissier, L. Swisscatchment: mapping biodiversity at the Swiss scale and catchment resolution.

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