As a child, I dreamed of becoming a wolf biologist – spending my days in the field, studying nature firsthand. Instead, my world now revolves around code and equations, theories and models. Not quite the adventure I pictured, yet one that fascinates me just as much.
I studied Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution at the Georg-August University Göttingen, still set on becoming a field ecologist. My bachelor’s thesis focused on the ecological and conservation implications of wolves in Germany, and for my master’s, I worked on wildlife telemetry. During my studies, I became fascinated by fundamental ecological questions – how biodiversity emerges, how ecosystems are interconnected, and how their dynamics evolve over time. At the same time, I realized that fieldwork, while exciting, wasn’t enough to answer the big questions that fascinated me. During my PhD at the University of Jena, my focus shifted toward theoretical ecology, though my interest in empirical work remained strong. I now integrate theory and data in my research, working on the premise that theory should be informed by data and its predictions tested against it.
My research
My main research focus is on understanding how global change affects ecosystem stability and functioning, and how environmental effects on individual physiology and performance cascade through ecosystems. I work with theories describing interaction networks based on energy flow, such as predator-prey systems. Additionally, I conduct experiments on animal behavioral and physiological responses to environmental changes. For example, I use image-based tracking in climate chambers to assess thermal responses in movement. I also conduct broader-scale experiments, such as those in the iDiv Ecotron. These include a heat stress experiment in 2019 and a light pollution experiment in 2020. These studies have deepened my research interest in the combined effects of light pollution and climate change – from animal movement and physiology to community dynamics. From 2022-2024, I hosted an sDiv workshop on “Synthesizing Movement Across Scales” (sMars), bringing together researchers from around the world to explore the implications of movement for species interactions and community dynamics across scales.
What comes next?
In my future research, I aim to enhance our ability to forecast community responses to global change and foster sustainable ecosystems. My ultimate goal is to inform management strategies that increase ecosystem resilience and functionality, considering cascading interaction effects. Many challenges remain, such as better integrating plants and plant-herbivore interactions in my models, and I am eager to incorporate new ideas and approaches to address them. And, of course, I’ll make sure that wolves still find their place as a node in some of the ecological networks I work with.