Luitgard Schwendenmann is a German–New Zealand ecosystem scientist, and is a full professor at the University of Auckland, specialising in how nutrients, carbon and water cycle through the soil, plants and atmosphere.
Schwendenmann completed a Bachelor of Engineering at Bingen Technical University of Applied Sciences, followed by a Master of Science in Resource Engineering at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and a PhD in landscape ecology at the Georg August University.
[2][3][1] Schwendemann's research focuses on how nutrients, carbon and water cycle through the soil, plants and atmosphere.
[2] In 2021, Schwendenmann received a Mercator Fellowship to spend three years studying the relationship between canopy structure and plant water uptake patterns, at the University of Jena in Germany.
[4][1] Schwendenmann is co-lead with Simon Wegner and Nick Waipara of the Ngā Rākau Taketake – Risk Assessment and Ecological Impact theme of the Biological Heritage National Science Challenge.