Deutsch
  • [Translate to Englisch:] Schaumzikade an einer krautigen Pflanze
  • [Translate to Englisch:] Versuchsaufbau mit Samenplatte und Käfig
  • [Translate to Englisch:] Eine Spinne in ihrem Netz zwischen Kräutern
  • [Translate to Englisch:] Herbstlicher Buchenwald mit Messinstrumenten
  • [Translate to Englisch:] Eine sehr kleine Spinne an einer gelben Blüte
Juniorprofessor for Applied Biodiversity Science

Britta Uhl

Research interests

My research interests focus on applied conservation biology. I work in close contact to municipalities, nature conservation and environmental agencies in order to strengthen the transfer between science and application. In order to halter the ongoing loss of species and promote biodiversity, a fundamental understanding of which local and landscape factors shape biotic communities is required. Multifactorial analyses of environmental gradients at different scales can here help us identify the relative importance of different drivers for observed biodiversity patterns. By closely examining species composition and functional diversity patterns, one can also gain particularly detailed insights into the function of ecosystems and how they are changed by environmental drivers.

In my projects I often work with insects in general and Lepidoptera in particular. However, since different taxa can respond differently to environmental change, I am also very interested in cross-taxonomic studies that include multiple species communities. Additionally, and due to my focus on forest ecosystems, I also work with deadwood communities. Harmonizing management and biodiversity conservation through integrative forest management concepts here is the main goal. In future projects, I would like to take a closer look at how protected, near-natural forest areas and their biotic communities are influenced by surrounding land use (eutrophication, pollutant drift).

Projects

  • Interreg BioDiv 316: Insects, fungi, lichen and mosses – Promoting biodiversity and developing forest conservation concepts in the Bohemian forest. https://www.nationalpark-bayerischer-wald.bayern.de/forschung/projekte/pilze_flechten_moose.htm
  • Project of the „Deutschen Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU)”: Reintroduction of critically endangered fungi in Central European forests.
  • Cooperation with the „Bayerischen Landesamt für Umwelt (LfU)“: „Insects and flower patches – Evaluating and testing actions to promote insect diversity and biotope connectivity through flowering strips”

2023 – today: Postdoc at the University of Würzburg
2021 – 2023: Postdoc at the Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity at the Goethe-University Frankfurt
2015 – 2021: PhD student at the University of Vienna
2015 – 2019: Lectureship at the University of Würzburg
2012 – 2014: Master of Science at the University of Würzburg
2009 – 2012: Bachelor of Science at the University Würzburg

Publications with Peer-Review-Process & Pre-prints

[2024]

Uhl, B., Schall, P., & Bässler, C. (2024). Achieving structural heterogeneity and high multi-taxon biodiversity in managed forest ecosystems: a European review. Biodiversity and Conservation, 1-32. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-024-02878-x

[2023]

Uhl, B., Pouska, V., Červenka, J., Karasch, P., Bässler, C. (2023). Response of moth communities (Lepidoptera) to forest management strategies after disturbance. European Journal of Entomology, 120. https://doi.org/10.14411/eje.2023.005

[2022]

Uhl, B., Wölfling, M., Bässler, C. (2022). Mediterranean moth diversity is sensitive to increasing temperatures and drought under climate change. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-18770-z

Rieker, D., Krah, F.-S., Gossner, M.M., Uhl, B., Ambarli, D., Baber, K., Buscot, F., Hofrichter, M., Hoppe, B., Kahl, T., Kellner, H., Moll, J., Purahong, W., Seibold, S., Weisser, W.W., Bässler, C. (2022). Disentangling the importance of space and host tree for the beta-diversity of beetles, fungi, and bacteria: Lessons from a large dead-wood experiment. Biological Conservation, 268, 109521. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109521

Uhl, B., Krah, F.-S., Baldrian, P., Brandl, R., Hagge, J., Müller, J., Thorn, S., Vojtech, T., Bässler, C. (2022). Snags, logs, stumps, and microclimate as tools optimizing deadwood enrichment for forest biodiversity. Biological Conservation 270:109569. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109569  

Uhl B., Wölfling, M., Fiedler K. (2022). Exploring the power of moth samples to reveal community patterns along shallow ecological gradients. Ecological Entomology, 47(3), 271-381. https://doi.org/10.1111/een.13122

[2021]

Uhl, B., Wölfling, M., Fiedler, K. (2021). Qualitative and quantitative loss of habitat at different spatial scales affects functional moth diversity. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9, 637371. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.637371

Uhl, B., Wölfling, M., Fiedler, K. (2021). From forest to fragment: compositional differences inside coastal forest moth assemblages and their environmental correlates. Oecologia, 195(2), 453-467. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-04861-7

[2020]

Uhl, B., Wölfling, M., Fiedler, K. (2020). Local, forest stand and landscape-scale correlates of plant communities in isolated coastal forest reserves. Plant Biosystems, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/11263504.2020.1762776

Uhl, B., Wölfling, M., Fiedler, K. (2020). Understanding small-scale insect diversity patterns inside two nature reserves: the role of local and landscape factors. Biodiversity and Conservation, 29(7), 2399-2418. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-020-01981-z

[2019]

Wölfling, M., Uhl, B., Fiedler, K. (2019). Multi-decadal surveys in a Mediterranean forest reserve–do succession and isolation drive moth species richness? Nature Conservation, 35, 25. https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.35.32934

[2016]

Wölfling, M., Becker, M. C., Uhl, B., Traub, A., Fiedler, K. (2016). How differences in the settling behaviour of moths (Lepidoptera) may contribute to sampling bias when using automated light traps. European Journal of Entomology, 113, 502. https://doi.org/10.14411/eje.2016.066

Uhl, B., Wölfling, M., Fiala, B., Fiedler, K. (2016). Micro-moth communities mirror environmental stress gradients within a Mediterranean nature reserve. Basic and Applied Ecology, 17(3), 273-281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2015.10.002

  • Uhl, B., Baldrian, P., Brandl, R., Hagge, J., Krah, F.-S., Müller, J., Thorn, S., Bässler, C.: Relative importance of dead wood types and microclimate on saproxylic diversity – a cross-taxonomic, experimental approach. 50th Anniversary Conference of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. (Online). 09/2021.
  • Uhl, B., Wölfling, M., Bässler, C.: Too hot to persist – Climate change effects on Mediterranean moth communities. INTECOL Congress, Frontiers in Ecology: Science and Society. Geneva (Switzerland). 08/2022.
  • Uhl, B., Wölfling, M.: There are no “winners of climate change” – increasing temperatures and their effect on Mediterranean moth communities. Entomology Congress of the DGaaE. Bolzano (Italy). 02/2023