Spatial & Landscape Ecology

BIOGRAPHY

I am interested in the interplay between landscapes, environmental change and biodiversity. To understand the general principles that control biodiversity over multiple spatial and temporal scales is one of the main challenges in ecological research and conservation biology. In particular, I am interested in the diversity, community assembly and interactions of the "little things that run the world" (i.e. arthropods) and the landscape and habitat factors controlling these. To gain knowledge of these relationships is of increasing importance considering the extensive and rapid changes in landscapes and biodiversity due to land-use and climate changes. Therefore, the main lines of research I follow are within the fields of Community Ecology, Landscape Ecology, Soil Ecology und Applied Entomology. I use experimental and field approaches to answer the fundamental questions: (i) Which are the most important drivers of local and regional community assembly? (ii) On which spatial and temporal scales do these drivers operate and how do they interact? (iii) How do environmental changes affect populations, communities and metacommunities, species interactions and ecosystem services? The spatial scales of my studies range from European landscapes to single ant mounds. In particular, my research programme comprises studies on:

•Biodiversity in agricultural landscapes
- (Agro-)Biodiversity monitoring
- Relationship between land use / landscape structure and species richness, community structure and genetic population structure of arthropods
- Landscape effects on annual recolonisation of crop fields by biocontrol agents
- Effects of habitat fragmentation and loss
- Effects of energy crop production on biodiversity and ecosystem services
•Importance of historical landscape development on current biodiversity patterns
•Interactions of climate, disturbance and species invasions: Plants and ants in climatic microsites of varying disturbance within a European latitudinal gradient
•Plant-pollinator interactions and pollination services in fragmented landscapes
•Soil Engineering – Effects of soil living ants on vegetation, physical and chemical soil characteristics, soil microflora and mycorrhiza
•Invasive species – Effects of the invasive ant Lasius neglectus on Mediterranean forest ecosystems
•Disturbance ecology; Ants in riparian ecosystems – Effects of groundwater level and flooding on ant communities and myrmecochory
•Ecology of Central European ant species