Environmental and Organismic Interactions

The environment and organismic interactions

Which species live where, and why? How is this influenced by human land use? Or to use a specific example, how does the change in the ecosystem of Kilimanjaro affect the species living there? How are nature conservation areas managed? Which environmental risks are caused by genetically modified plants, pollination or pest control in agro-ecological systems? We are concerned with these and many other questions.

We are investigating the fundamental mechanisms of ecology and evolutionary biology which shape the characteristics of species, the diversity of biotic communities, and cohabitation and interactions of species within ecosystems. Another area of interest is the effects of climate change, habitat fragmentation and land use. We are also concerned with the impact of migrant species on biodiversity. A further focus of our work is on the impact of migrant species on the functioning of the whole ecosystem. Here we are using experimental, empirical and theoretical approaches.

Further information can be found on websites of the respective working groups (in the right-hand box).