PhD project

Aboveground plant-insect interaction webs and associated processes along a plant diversity gradient

I am lucky enough to be part of an international collaboration of researchers that study the effects of plant species diversity on ecosystem processes in one of the largest and longest running biodiversity experiments, the Jena Experiment.
My project addresses aboveground species interactions across multiple trophic levels. More specifically, I study how plant species richness and composition affect the food choice of omnivorous ground beetles (Carabidae). I analyze the dietary range of the beetles by detecting DNA of food remains in their regurgitate with next generation sequencing. Conversely, an altered feeding behavior of consumers can also change the reproductive success of plant species and substantially affect the plant community structure. In exclusion experiments, I will assess how much different groups of consumers contribute to post seed removal, and how this contribution is affected by plant biodiversity.
This project is supervised by PD Dr. Christoph Scherber and Prof. Dr. Teja Tschantke in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Rolf Daniel (Institute of Microbiology Genetics, University of Göttingen) and PD Dr. Michael Traugott (Applied and Trophic Ecology, University of Innsbruck).






Research interests


I am broadly interested in understanding species interactions and their importance for ecosystem functioning in natural and managed ecosystems. Further, I?m interested how species are affected by the characteristics of the environment in which they live. Before starting my doctoral project, I studied the effects of habitat and landscape characteristics on the diet, physiological condition and gut microbial community of lady beetles in Prof. Dr. Claudio Grattons Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.