Tobias Schneider

Currently (2021-2022), Tobias is hosted by Prof. Dr. William D'Andrea to conduct his Swiss NSF Postdoc.Mobility fellowship project entitled "Holocene climate variability from Kerguelen Islands and NE Greenland: combining sedimentary lipid biomarkers with hyperspectral imaging techniques". He investigates lipid biomarkers such as Alkenones (temperature) and Deuterium-isotopes measured on leaf waxes (hydroclimate) extracted from lake sediments from NE Greenland and Kerguelen Islands, to obtain climate reconstructions over the Holocene (~12 ka BP). He further applies non-destructive scanning techniques such as computed tomography (CT), hyperspectral imaging and X-Ray fluorescence scans to explore the study lakes' paleo productivity and anoxia histories.

Before joining LDEO, Tobias conducted an SNSF early Postdoc.Mobility fellowship hosted at the Geoscience Department at Univesity of Massachusetts, Amherst (2019-2021). He was co-hosted by Prof. Dr. Isla S. Castañeda and Prof. Dr. Raymond S. Bradley. He applied a combination of brGDGTs analyses (lipid biomarker) and hyperspectral imaging to infer local Holocene-length temperature-, eutrophication-, and anoxia variability based on lake sediments from Lakes 578 and Igaliku in S Greenland. 

He dedicated his PhD (2014-2018, supervised by Prof. Dr. Martin Grosjean) to the investigation of lake sediments from Cajas National Park, Ecuador (Climate reconstruction, tephrochronology, and pollution history), and Lake Lugano, Switzerland (high-resolution Eutrophication reconstruction based on hyperspectral imaging).

Alongside his research, he co-founded the SNSF Global Fellows Network that connects over 300 SNSF Postdocs from all research fields around the Globe in which he serves as a board member. He further is a regional representative for North America of PAGES early career network (ECN). 

Fields of Interest

  • Paleolimnology
  • Lake sediments
  • Climate of the past
  • Human-Climate interactions
  • Hyperspectral imaging of lake sediments
  • Lipid biomarkers
  • Chronostratigraphical techniques

Education

  • 06.2018 PhD of Science in Climate Sciences, Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research and Institute of Geography, University of Bern, Switzerland

  • 03.2014 MSc in Geography, Institute of Geography, University of Bern, Switzerland

  • 10.2011 BSc in Geography, Minor in Biology, Institute of Geography, University of Bern, Switzerland

Honors & Awards

  • 06.2021 SNSF-Postdoc.Mobility-fellowship grant number P400P2_199323
  • 05.2019 SNSF-Early Postdoc.Mobility-fellowship grant number P2BEP2_184428

Peer-reviewed articles

  • Zhao, B., Castañeda, I.S., Salacup, J.M., Thomas, E.K., Daniels, W.C., Schneider, T., de Wet, G.A., Bradley, R.S. (2022). Prolonged Drying Trend Coincident with the Demise of Norse Settlement, Southern Greenland. Science Advances. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abm4346

  • Benito, X., Benito, B., Vélez, M., Salgado, J., Schneider, T., Giosan, L., Nascimiento, M. (2022). Human practices behind the aquatic and terrestrial ecological decoupling to climate change in the tropical Andes. Science of the Total Environment. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154115

  • Han, Y., Zhisheng, A., Waters, C. C., Arimoto, R., Schneider, T., Yao, P., Sarli, E., Zhou, W., Li, L., Dusek, U. (2022). Soot in Chinese lake sediments record rapid increase in fossil fuel usage since 1950. Environmental Science and Technology. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.1c05424

  • Schneider, T., Bandowe, B.A.M., Bigalke, M., Mestrot, A., Hampel, H., Mosquera, P.V., Fraenkl, L., Wienhues, G., Vogel, H., Tylmann, W., Grosjean, M. (2021). 250-year records of mercury and trace element deposition in two lakes from Cajas National Park, SW Ecuadorian Andes. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. doi: 10.1007/s11356-020-11437-0

  • Zhao, B., Castañeda, I.S., Bradley, R.S., Salacup, J.M., de Wet, G.A., Daniels, W.C., Schneider, T. (2021). Development of an in-situ branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether (brGDGT) calibration in Lake 578, southern Greenland. Organic Geochemistry. doi: 10.1016/j.orggeochem.2020.104168

  • Han, Y., Bandowe, B.A.M., Schneider, T., Pongpiachan, S., Sai Hang Ho, S., Wei, Chong, Wang, Q., Xing, L., Wilcke, W. (2021). A 150-year record of black carbon (soot and char) and polycyclic aromatic compounds deposition in Lake Phayao, north Thailand. Environmental Pollution. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.116148

  • Benito, X., Feitl, M., Schneider, T., Fritz, S.C., Baker, P.A., Pedersen, E.J., Gaüzère, P., de Novaes Nascimento, M., Bush, M., Ruhi, A. (2021). Ecological resilience in tropical Andean lakes: a paleolimnological perspective. Limnology and Oceanography. doi: 10.1002/lno.11747

  • Arcusa, S. H., Schneider, T., Mosquera, P.V., Vogel, H., Kaufman, D., Szidat, S., Grosjean, M. (2020). Late Holocene tephrostratigraphy from Cajas National Park, southern Ecuador. Andean Geology 47(3), doi: 10.5027/andgeoV47n3-3301

  • Chiaia-Hernandez, A.C., Zander, P.D., Schneider, T., Szidat, S., Lloren, R., Grosjean, M. (2020). High-Resolution Historical Record of Plant Protection Product Deposition Documented by Target and Nontarget Trend Analysis in a Swiss Lake under Anthropogenic Pressure. Environmental Science and Technology 54 (20), p. 13090-13100, doi: 10.1021/acs.est.0c04842

  • Tu, L., Jarosch, K. A., Schneider, T., Grosjean, M. (2019). Phosphorus fractions in sediments and their relevance for historical lake eutrophication in the Ponte Tresa basin (Lake Lugano, Switzerland) since 1959. Science of the Total Environment 685, p. 806-817, doi: j.scitotenv.2019.06.243

  • Benito, X., Feitl, M., Fritz, S.C., Mosquera, P.V., Schneider, T., Hampel, H., Quevedo, L., Steinitz-Kannan, M. (2019). Identifying temporal and spatial patterns of diatom community change in the tropical Andes over the last c. 150 years. Journal of Biogeography 46, P. 1889-1900, doi: 10.1111/jbi.13561

  • Schneider, T., Hampel, H., Mosquera, P.V., Tylmann, T., Grosjean, M. (2018). Paleo-ENSO revisited: Ecuadorian Lake Pallcacocha does not reveal a conclusive El Niño signal. Global and Planetary Change 168, p. 54-66, doi: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2018.06.004

  • Schneider, T., Rimer, D., Butz, C., Grosjean, M. (2018). A high-resolution pigment and productivity record from the varved Ponte Tresa basin (Lake Lugano, Switzerland) since 1919: insight from an approach that combines hyperspectral imaging and high-performance liquid chromatography. Journal of Paleolimnology 60, p. 381-398, doi: 10.1007/s10933-018-0028-x

  • Bandowe, B. A. M., Fränkl, L., Grosjean, M., Tylmann, W., Mosquera, P. V., Hampel, H., Schneider, T. (2018). A 150-year record of polycyclic aromatic compound (PAC) deposition from high Andean Cajas National Park, southern Ecuador. Science of the Total Environment 621, p. 1652-1663, doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.10.060

  • De Jong, R., Schneider, T., Hernández-Almeida, I., Grosjean, M. (2016). Recent temperature trends in the South Central Andes reconstructed from sedimentary chrysophyte stomatocysts in Laguna Escondida (1742 m a.s.l., 38°28 S, Chile). Global and Planetary Change 137, p. 24-34, doi: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2015.12.006

Book contributions

  • Schneider, T., Weber, H., Franke, J., Brönnimann, S. (2013). The Storm Surge Event of the Netherlands in 1953. In: Brönnimann, S. and Martius, O. (Eds.). Weather extremes during the past 140 years. Geographica Bernensia G89, p. 35-43, doi: 10.4480/GB2013.G89.04

Media (selection)

  • Public press release in "CNN" (2022/03/24): "The surprising reason why Vikings abandoned a successful settlement" (cnn.com)
  • Public press release in "nau.ch" (2022/03/26): "Haben Wikinger Grönland wegen Dürre verlassen?" (nau.ch)
  • Public press release in "CNN" (2020/08/27): "Greenland expedition discover 'world's northernmost island" (cnn.com)

  • Public press release in "Der Bund" (2020/10/20): "Tests im Berner Moossee – Pflanzenschutzmittel belasten auch die Seeböden" (derbund.ch)

  • Portrait-interview in the magazine of University of Bern "uniaktuell" (2020/06/28): "Die Idee entstand bei einem spontanen Glas Wein via zoom" (unibe.ch)