In biodiversity research, a fundamental understanding of the influence of multiple stressors on organisms and communities plays an essential role.
These include biotic stressors such as predators and parasites, as well as anthropogenic factors.
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Using terrestrial model organisms, we investigate in laboratory and field experiments how stressors of global change affect their fitness and how these effects are mechanistically mediated.
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In the interplay of climate change and further anthropogenic and biotic influences, the structure of the reef community will change dramatically. Individual aspects of coral reef ecology are investigated in field studies and at the seawater aquarium.
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Microplastics are an intensively documented environmental problem with high public attention. Nevertheless, plastics are important and valuable materials. For the development of modern and sustainable plastics, intensive research on transport, behavior and environmental impact is necessary.
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We investigate factors of global change on populations and communities of terrestrial invertebrates and their biotic interactions as well as on the evolutionary ecology of insects - bacteria - symbioses.
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In the interplay of climate change and further anthropogenic and biotic influences, the structure of the reef community will change dramatically. Individual aspects of coral reef ecology are investigated in field studies and at the seawater aquarium.
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The most important model organism at the working group Animal Ecology under Prof. Laforsch are water fleas. Their way of life and clonal reproduction make them ideal for the study of biotic and abiotic systems such as predator-prey systems.
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These include Inducible Defenses. These allow for the best possible defense protection with different predators and minimization of the costs associated with the defense if the protection is not needed. Water fleas are ideal for this study because they are extremely plastic.
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