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Our tasks
The Applied and Experimental Ecology Section was founded in 2021. In addition to its own research, the section is responsible for coordinating ecological research and managing the research infrastructure of the Ecology Lab, as well as training and advising LIB researchers and student research projects.
Research within the section contributes to the assessment of biodiversity change through innovative approaches in laboratory and field experiments. The aim is to go beyond pure biodiversity monitoring to identify the causes and interactions with the drivers of climate and biodiversity change in the Anthropocene and to derive consequences for species and entire communities.
Goals
- Experimental research on drivers of biodiversity change
- Standardisation of methods for integration into monitoring programmes
- Development and application of innovative technologies and monitoring approaches
- Investigating the impact of climate & biodiversity change under auto- & synecological aspects
- Integration of research on functional traits, multitrophic interactions and movement ecology
- Establish hypothesis networks based on ecological theory and predict future scenarios
- Training of ecologists & taxonomists
- Function as an integrative ecological laboratory at the LIB
Approaches
- Monitoring at landscape level under land use aspects & inclusion of environmental gradients
- Field experiments with treatments & replicated design
- Controlled experiments in climate chambers and greenhouses
- Technology development
- Testing & use of semi-automated image recognition methods - for identification and pre-sorting of monitoring composite samples
- Method comparisons and verification
- Theory-based experiments on species interactions
In order to achieve these goals, the section is closely networked within the zbm with the Conservation Ecology, Metabarcoding, Geo-Palaeontology and Mineralogy sections, and LIB-wide with the zmb and ztm centres and the central research infrastructures (e.g. biobank, biodiversity informatics, morphology laboratory).
Ecological laboratory infrastructure
- Invertebrate monitoring systems: Bottom funnel traps, window/wing traps, landing nets, audio detectors (Audiomoth), light traps*(Nature Conservation Ecology Section), Malaise traps*(Nature Conservation Ecology Section), AMMOD system*(Metabarcoding Section)
- Vertebrate monitoring systems: Wildlife cameras, audio detectors (Audiomoth), field optics (binoculars, spotting scopes)
- In the process of being established: Climatic cabinets for insect breeding & other laboratories
- In the process of being established: experimental areas at the LIB and experimental farm / field station
Contact person
- Head of Section Experimental & Applied Ecology
- Ecological laboratory (zbm facilities, field sites, upcoming station)
Phone: +49 228 9122 452
E-Mail: d.ott@leibniz-lib.de
Projects
NaPA - Nature-friendly agriculture
Management: Dr. Tamara Hartke
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Bug-Network (BugNet) - local partner
Management: Dr. David Ott
GIBBS (Holistic Biodiversity Management in the Building Materials Industry)
Management: Prof. Dr. Christoph Scherber
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SPRINT
Management: Dr. David Ott
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KennArt
Management: Albia Consul
Publications
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2025/1
FOGS: A SNPSTR Marker Database to Combat Wildlife Trafficking and a Cell Culture Bank for Ex‐Situ Conservation
Molecular Ecology resources
2025/1
The clockwork of insect activity: Advancing ecological understanding through automation
Journal of Animal Ecology
2024/9
You are what you eat – The influence of polyphagic and monophagic diet on the flight performance of bees
Ecology and Evolution, 9, 14
2024/6
Joint detection of microsatellites and flanking sequences–SNPSTR markers for Athene noctua to fight illegal wildlife trade
Forensic Science International Animals and Environments, 5
2024/4
Standardized nuclear markers improve and homogenize species delimitation in Metazoa (vol 14, pg 543, 2023)
Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 4, 15
2024/3
Optimising high-throughput sequencing data analysis, from gene database selection to the analysis of compositional data: a case study on tropical soil nematodes
Frontiers in ecology and evolution, 12
2023/2
Standardized nuclear markers improve and homogenize species delimitation in Metazoa
Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 2, 14
2023/1
Rainforest conversion to smallholder cash crops leads to varying declines of beetles (Coleoptera) on Sumatra
Biotropica, 1, 55
2022/12
Response of arboreal Collembola communities to the conversion of lowland rainforest into rubber and oil palm plantations
BMC ecology and evolution, 1, 22
2022/8
Rainforest conversion to rubber and oil palm reduces abundance, biomass and diversity of canopy spiders
PeerJ, 10
2020/4
Direct and indirect effects of plant diversity and phenoxy herbicide application on the development and reproduction of a polyphagous herbivore
Scientific reports, 10
2020/4
Diet composition and social environment determine food consumption, phenotype and fecundity in an omnivorous insect
Royal Society open science, 4, 7
2020/0
Plant-pollinator interactions along an urbanization gradient from cities and villages to farmland landscapes
Ecosphere, 2, 11
2019/9
Influence of temporal diversification on aboveground arthropods
First European Conference on Crop Diversification
2019/8
Insect diversity and ecological processes in agricultural and forest landscapes.
6/7, 94
2019/5
Crop identity and memory effects on aboveground arthropods in a long-term crop rotation experiment
Ecology and Evolution
2019/5
Insektenvielfalt und ökologische Prozesse in Agrar- und Waldlandschaften
Natur und Landschaft, 6/7, 94
2018/7
X-ray computed tomography and its potential in ecological research: A review of studies and optimization of specimen preparation
Ecology and Evolution
2025
2024
2023
2022
2020
2019
2018
Employees
Claudia Bohacz
zbm Applied & Experimental Ecology Doctoral candidatePhone: +49 228 9122 412
E-mail: c.bohacz@leibniz-lib.de
Albia Consul
zbm Applied & Experimental Ecology ScientistPhone: +49 228 9122 359
E-mail: a.consul@leibniz-lib.de
MSc Kathleen Dittrich
zbm Applied & Experimental Ecology ScientistPhone: +49 228 9122 460
E-mail: k.dittrich@leibniz-lib.de
Ingo Glock
zbm Applied & Experimental Ecology Doctoral candidatePhone: +49 228 9122 461
E-mail: i.glock@leibniz-lib.de
MSc Carmen Ludreschl
zbm Applied & Experimental Ecology Doctoral candidatePhone: +49 228 9122 351
E-mail: c.ludreschl@leibniz-lib.de
Dr. David Ott
zbm Applied & Experimental Ecology ScientistPhone: +49 228 9122 452
E-mail: d.ott@leibniz-lib.de
Dr. Vera Prenzel
zbm Applied & Experimental Ecology ScientistPhone: +49 228 9122 462
E-mail: v.prenzel@leibniz-lib.deDr. Hannah Reininghaus
zbm Applied & Experimental Ecology ScientistPhone: +49 228 9122 451
E-mail: h.reininghaus@leibniz-lib.de
Kerstin Marie Sodtke
zbm Applied & Experimental EcologyPhone: +49 228 9122 461
E-mail: k.sodtke@leibniz-lib.deLea Theile
zbm Applied & Experimental EcologyPhone: +49 228 9122 462
E-mail: l.theile@leibniz-lib.de