Thesis Topics

Available thesis topics at the Ecological Field Station Fabrikschleichach

The Ecological Field Station, the Bavarian Forest National Park (NP BW), and the Junior Professorship for Applied Biodiversity Science offer various topics in applied ecology for Bachelor's and Master's theses - based on literature research, field or laboratory approaches. Students who would like to do a project as part of their studies are always welcome! Below you will find a selection of possible projects with brief descriptions. Each topic is supervised by a staff member (supervisor abbreviations are found at the end of the respective topics and contact information is at the bottom of the page). If a topic interests you, please contact us to find out more! Students are also welcome to suggest their own ideas.

Projects at the Ecological Field Station/Uniwald/Steigerwald/Bavarian Forest National Park:

Bachelor thesis topics:

Morphological Traits of Lucanidae determined by macroclimate – How does microclimate affect the traits of stag beetles globally? Approach: Extraction of morphological data for the more than 1000 global stag beetle species using a new publication, and of climate data of their range areas. (JM)
Stability of bird communities over time – how stable are bird communities over years? Approach: Analysis of available bird community data which has been collected with audio recorders at 45 locations in the Bavarian Forest over 3 years. (JM)
Stability of mammal communities over time – how stable are mammal populations over years? Approach: Analysis of available mammal community data collected from camera traps set up over 3 years. (JM)
Development of breeding bird populations using nest boxes in Bavaria: Long term changes in nest box users in Bavarian forests. Approach: Analysis of available bird nest box data collected over 20 years across Bavaria. (JM, CF)
Comparing diversity of vertebrate scavengers at carrion sites between summer and winter – How does season affect the vertebrate community using carrion? Approach: Identification and analysis of bird and mammal scavenger data collected at carcases during summer and winter seasons. (CvH, NPBW)
Bachelor or Master: Using acoustic monitoring and AI to record frogs – Development of a CNN Model for the detection of vocalizing frogs. Approach: Use of sound recorders to record frogs in the field, species identification of recorded frog calls, development and validation of an AI model to detect frogs. Car necessary for fieldwork. (JR, WÜ)
Bachelor or Master: Forest gaps and insects: Forest gaps offer drastically different microclimates than closed forests. However, little is known about their relationships with the thermal limits of insects. Do insects in closed forests occupy more narrow temperature niches adapted to the buffered forest climate? Approach: Collection of insects at field sites with and without forest gaps, use of thermocycling. Car necessary for fieldwork. (JR, WÜ)
Bachelor or Master: Changes in vocalization behaviour of birds along a light-dark gradient in tropical and/or temperate habitats. Approach: Analysis of available acoustic bird data, collected in temperate (Bavarian Forest) and tropical (Ecuador) forest gradients. Additional possibility to assist with Sound Recorders in the field. (JR, WÜ)

Master's thesis topics:

Arthropod use of space in forests: Where do arthropods fly? Are flying arthropods using different heights of the canopy depending on the forest structure and/or canopy temperature? Where do arthropods walk? Are ground-arthropods using different vegetation structures depending on ground temperatures? Approach: You will have arthropod species data available to analyze and determine if there are community differences between canopy heights and vegetation structure. The arthropods were collected in a pilot study using window traps and pitfall traps in the Bavarian Forest. Opportunity for fieldwork in the Bavarian Forest available! (OD, NP BW)
Do beetles decide where to go depending on the temperature during hot days? Deadwood should buffer ground temperatures; therefore, we expect to find more beetles near deadwood during hot periods of the summer compared to colder days and fewer beetles in open areas without deadwood. Approach: You can identify beetles, which were collected by pitfall traps in microhabitats with and without deadwood, to measure if a) temperatures are indeed lower next to deadwood during a heatwave; b) if beetles use microhabitats near deadwood during a heatwave. Opportunity for fieldwork in the Bavarian Forest available! (OD, NP BW)

Projects at the Junior Professorship for Applied Biodiversity Science:

Bachelor thesis topics:

Project: Green space management: How do timing of mowing and refugia promote insect diversity?
- Topic 1: Annual changes in the insect community and effect of green space management practices. Approach: Investigating insect communities in urban green spaces (using nets and “insect vaccuums”), identification of insect orders and life stages (NS, KW, WÜ)
- Topic 2: Effect of mowing on grasshoppers: Do grasshoppers use unmowed areas as refugia? When are mowed areas resettled? Approach: Investigating adult grasshoppers in urban green spaces with nets and biocoenometers, additional mark and recapture experiment (NS, KW, WÜ)
Project: Walddiskurs: Synergies and conflicts between biodiversity and carbon storage in forests
- Topic 1: How do tree species composition and the health of forests affect the characteristics of beetles? Approach: Measurement of morphological traits of selected beetle species collected with pitfall traps. (NS, JL, WÜ)
- Topic 2: How do different scenarios affect above-ground carbon storage in the Darmstadt forest? Approach: Calculation of the carbon storage capability based on forest condition data, development of scenarios, modeling of the carbon storage with InVEST, use of GIS. (NS, WÜ)
Comparison of different light trap types: Diversity and species composition of captured moths. Approach: An experiment at multiple sites with different forest traps behind Biozentrum. Identification of sampled moth species. (BU, WÜ)
Multidiversity at bark beetle distubance sites in the Bavarian Forest: Does bark beetle disturbance positively affect the diveristy of different taxa? How does management of disturbed sites affect diversity? Approach: Data for different taxa (arthropods from DNA metabarcoding, fungi, moss, lichen) available to be analyzed. Additional taxa can be identified (beetles/spiders) to improve skillset. (BU)
Increasing fungus diversity through the addition of deadwood. Approach: Fungi data from experimental sites in the Bavarian Forest are available to be analyzed, together with intensive literature research. Opportunity to visit field sites available. (BU, WÜ, NP BW)
Promoting endangered mosses and lichens with different types of deadwood. Approach: Data of mosses and liches from experimental sites in the Bavarian Forest are available for analysis. Opportunity to visit field sites available. (BU, WÜ, NP BW)