A growing body of research reveals individuals exhibiting a continuous behavior. For example, foraging strategies at different levels of predation risk vary between individuals. Such behavioral patterns fit the term „personality“. Personalities affect evolutionary fitness. Bold individuals may be lucky and yield the most valuable forage or they may become prey. Risk-avoiding individuals may seldom become prey but, potentially, they may not be able to nourish all their offspring. Given varying environmental conditions and populations, both personalities may be valuable or disadvantageous regarding fitness and may drive population dynamics. Hence, in the context of communities, ITV may proof as a stabilizing mechanism for species coexistence as populations can adapt to changing external conditions more rapidly than populations of uniform organisms.

The project focuses on the interactions between movement decisions, disease dynamics and dynamic landscapes. It aims to shed light on host-pathogen coexistence patterns under the effect of (1) dynamic resource landscapes, (2) the role of dispersal in the evolution of pathogenic virulence as well as the feedbacks of disease evolution on the evolution of movement strategies, and (3) the role of life-history trade-offs between movement strategies and infectivity as equalizing mechanism allowing for coexistence of host and pathogen types.

Agricultural landscapes underlie the annual rhythm of anthropogenic use while they also provide habitats for diverse organisms of all domains of life. Mobile links connect different kinds of habitat patches,thereby affecting biodiversity. This project analyses, how specific animal-landscape-conditions affect the amount and frequency of mobile links critical for biodiversity. I will GPS-collar European brown hares (Lepus europaeus), a typical species found in agricultural landscapes that provides genetic (seed dispersal) and process links (foraging on potentially rare plant species). Remote sensing and network based tools will be applied for mobile link analysis.

In predator-prey systems many indirect effects of predation have evolved and prey individuals may reduce predation risk by avoiding movement at dangerous times or in dangerous habitats. This in turn creates specific exploitation patterns in prey assemblies, which may affect the local as well as landscape-wide biodiversity of prey. In this project we investigate a tri-trophic interaction of a predator potentially preying on a consumer, a consumer’s resulting movement processes while foraging, and the biodiversity of plant seeds, that are the consumer’s prey. The consumer in this constellation functions both as prey for the predator and as a predator (by foraging) on its own prey, the plant seeds. In a series of experiments we will manipulate the consumer’s landscape of fear (LoF), consisting of levels and spatial distribution of perceived predation risk. We will monitor LoF effects on two cascading variables, the movement processes of the consumer, and the alpha- and beta-diversity of the plant seed community. The project will shed light on movement mediated biodiversity patterns across multiple trophic levels, with consumers as movement process links and as equalizing and stabilizing agents.

Animals adjust their foraging movements according to the presence or absence of conspecific or heterospecific competitors, yet it is poorly understood what the criteria are for animals to seek, tolerate or avoid potential food competitors. Using high resolution spatial tracking of bats in combination with meta-barcoding of fecal samples to determine their diet, we aim at understanding the principles that rule the three dimensional movements of bats in an agricultural landscape, with the ultimate goal to understand which factors influence the coexistence of species and how and to what extent top consumers such as bats affect local insect abundances/assemblages.

In this project the role of kettle-holes potentially maintaining metapopulations by providing important natural stepping-stone habitats within an intensively farmed matrix will be assessed to identify mechanisms affecting gene flow. The model system AgroScapeLab-Quillow will therefore be used to determine potential migration barriers such as landscape elements hindering gene flow within four plant metapopulations. I will perform population-genetic analyses using next generation sequencing methods (SNPs) to infer gene-flow and connectivity. Movement data of water fowl and adhered dispersal units as well as seed traps will provide further information on long-distance seed dispersal. Additionally, seed transplant experiments and concomitant habitat analyses (ephemeral vs. permanent kettle-holes) will give insight into community-level effects revealing, inter alia, establishment bottlenecks and facilitation.

In combination with the common garden experiments of project P08, we will look for spatio-temporally locally adapted strains/clones of zooplankton across ponds (including sediments) in the agricultural landscape of the Uckermark (AgroScapeLab-Quillow). From these clones, we aim at identifying genes responsible for local adaptation. We will utilize already available transcriptomic resources to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and gene expression patterns in candidate genes for adaptation to environmental perturbations. Furthermore, the project trying to clarify the possible role of different water bird species as mobile links for long distance dispersal of zooplankton species.

In combination with common garden experiment with Project P07, the role of sediment on the colonization of mesocosms will be investigated. Therefore, a number of mesocosms with and without sediment will be set-up and filled with pond water and, then, sampled for several weeks to determine the community dynamics. Results from this experiment will reveal the relative importance of the egg bank in dry sediments to the community dynamics. Sediments from different sites will be collected and used to mimic wind dispersal by adding sediments from different ponds to one selected model pond sediment. The subsequent analysis of the community dynamics will reveal the role of wind dispersal compared to the local founder egg bank. The role of mobile links in dispersal will also be investigated.

We aim to design experiments for applying the BioMove concepts (i.e. link between the movement ecology framework and species coexistence theory) to the research and life history of filamentous fungi. In nature, filamentous fungi live in the environment which is highly complex and heterogeneous both on the macro-scale of the mycelium and micro-scale of the individual hyphae. Yet, a large part of our knowledge about them still depends on cultivation studies on media which are homogenous and do not have structural differences across scales. Further, the view of filamentous fungi as typical sessile organisms has been already challenged. Through the informed and directed hyphal extension and mycelium growth, accompanied by the dynamic redistribution of the cytoplasmic content across the mycelial network and the ability to retract parts of the mycelium, fungi interact with the environment in ways analogous to motile unitary organisms. This PhD research project takes place in the AG Rillig (Freie Universität, Berlin) in the context of the BioMove Research Training Group at The University of Potsdam. This interdisciplinary collaboration brings together the research in filamentous fungi, soil ecology, movement ecology and species coexistence theory. Therefore – on the one hand – the doctoral project allows to address the aforementioned challenges and opportunities in filamentous fungi biology. On the other hand, research on filamentous fungi embedded in the BioMove framework will help to further develop the movement ecology framework and its links with the theory of species coexistence.

The aim of this project will focus on the distribution of phytopathogenic fungi in space and time with the focus on wind dispersal and how this is influenced by the interactions between bacteria and fungi in the phyllosphere of wheat plants in the habitat of origin and immigration. Importance is given to the testing of general ecological theories such as modern coexistence theory and the effect of different spatially spreading barriers in landscape.

This project will develop and apply a novel approach to dynamically model vertebrate community changes in heterogeneous dynamic landscapes. Based on an allometric approach home range dynamics of a large number of competing individuals are simulated under different scenarios of habitat loss, fragmentation changes, and resource dynamics. The new model will allow exploring the role of (i) individual movement and space use during foraging, and (ii) juvenile dispersal for biodiversity dynamics under changing environmental conditions.

Animal movement can affect biodiversity along many routes. Fine-scale movement behaviour allows spatio-temporal segregation of competitors and may thus facilitate coexistence. Dispersing individuals connect populations and maintain genetic diversity. Differences in mobility can give species an edge over otherwise superior competitors. Futhermore, moving animals provide important sevices within ecosystems as 'mobile links', transporting nutrients and genetic material (e.g. seeds, pollen) and providing important processes (e.g. disturbance via grazing). These mechanisms are threatenend by environmental changes, such as human-induced changes in landscape structure and habitat, climate change or the introduction of invasive species. My objective is to develop a theoretical concept that will allow us to study the various links between movement processes and biodiversity within one framework and to identify links that are particularly vulnerable to environmental changes or have a high potential for buffering against negative impacts.

The project aims at investigating the inter-individual differences in movement-related behaviours of two small mammals, how they influence the spatial behaviour of individuals and the resulting impact on individual and ecological fitness. Therefore in a first step the natural variation in behavioural types in both coexisting species will be quantified using already established personality tests, as well as their spatial distribution within and space use of a heterogeneous habitat assessed using capture-mark-recapture and automatic radio-tracking. Furthermore fitness proxies will be measured. In a second step, an experimental approach will be taken in which the variation in behavioural types will be manipulated to assess its influence on the coexistence of the study species.

My PhD project deals with the interplay of movement decisions, landscape heterogeneity and disease dynamics. The project aims to understand how spatio-temporal host-pathogen coexistence patterns (e.g. rabies in foxes, classical swine fever in wild boars) are affected by combined effects of (1) spatial and temporal land-use change, and (2) host individual’s movement decisions and life-history traits. By combining existing spatially explicit epidemiological approaches with more accurate habitat-dependent movement models we hope to gain new insights on landscape effects on movement patterns and disease persistence. We will assess whether stabilizing mechanisms play a role in host-pathogen systems when both pathogen (upon its arrival) and host (after being suppressed to low numbers by a pathogen) are at low densities.

Using advanced telemetry and statistics for the European hare as model species, we aim at shedding light on the following research questions: What are the impacts of transient matrix areas, i.e. temporary structures that facilitate/prevent movements between habitat patches, on connectivity and potential links affecting biodiversity patterns? What are the effects of sudden changes in resources and landscape structure (e.g. harvesting or ploughing) on movement behaviour and movement paths of individual mobile linkers? How do land use induced changes in movements on a small scale affect biodiversity patterns at larger scales?

The project’s aim is to investigate the requirements of permanent landscape structures to function as animal-defined corridors. Therefore, there will be two basic approaches. First, corridors at road sites and hedge rows in an agricultural landscape will be tested for suitability as an animal-defined corridor and in the second experimental approach; different corridors will be designed in large grassland enclosures to test how small mammals behave in a fragmented environment.

We will repeatedly equip common noctule bats with miniaturized GPS loggers and microphones for short periods throughout the whole activity season. The records will show how the movement decisions and space use of individual bats depends on season (non-migratory vs. migratory), sex, and age of the bats. Furthermore, the combination of GPS positions and on-board ultrasound recordings will enable us to link the movement of bats to encounter rates of con- and heterospecifics. Furthermore, we will simulate different competitive environments by broadcasting bat calls in different habitats in different seasons to investigate whether interactions of bats are context depended. Variability in these interactions might help stabilizing the diversity of bat communities, for example when competitors influence movement decisions leading to temporal or seasonal resource partitioning.

The project tackles the following key questions: (1) Does land-use change, e.g. the increased cultivation of energy crops, increase landscape resistance to plant gene flow and therefore alters the functioning of mobile links for biodiversity emergence and maintenance?
(2) Can observations of contemporary gene flow be related to population genetic patterns?
(3) Does contemporary gene flow act as an equalizing or stabilizing mechanism influencing local plant species richness?
(4) Are patterns of plant gene flow and genetic diversity correlated with variability in plant-species diversity at habitat islands such as permanent and ephemeral kettle holes within the agricultural matrix?

The project uses the unique system of kettle holes (infield ponds) of the study region as a model system to assess the significance of dispersal processes for the structure of natural communities. It focuses on landscape-scale patterns and consists of the following steps: (1) Characterising local environmental factors and zooplankton communities in selected ponds across the landscape and analysing spatial signals likely representing dispersal processes. (2) Comparing the current and historical genetic diversity and species composition at landscape-scale from sediment samples and inferring the contribution of dispersal to local populations. (3) Setting up clonal populations originating from resting eggs to examine morphological and physiological trait compositions through space and time.

Nearly all nectar-containing flowers are colonized by yeasts soon after flower maturation. This colonization is linked to pollinator visitation. The yeasts have been argued to affect nutritional quality of nectar, might produce volatiles or fermentation by-products that can attract or repulse pollinators and slightly increase flower temperature of winter blooming plants, which was argued to also affect pollinator behaviour. The main questions of the project are (1) How do differences in between-flower versus within-flower community dynamics interlink to affect yeast species coexistence? (2) Can trade-offs between yeast adaptations towards dispersal vectors and local competitiveness stabilize yeast metacommunities?

How do phytopathogenic fungi distribute themselves in a cultivated field? How is the distribution related to the microbial community composition? How do the interspecific relationships among different microorganisms influence their dispersal? Are differences in the bacterial community acting as stabilizing or equalizing mechanisms for the coexistence of different phytopathogenic fungi? These are the key points analysed in this project, which takes, as a study system, the microbial communities living on the wheat ears and their in-field distribution patterns.

In my PhD-project I aim to understand the consequences of non-consumptive predator effects on mammalian prey communities. Therefore, I use a computer model that scales up from individual home range formation based on food availability and perceived predation risk to community structure and composition. In a first step I identify key mechanisms shaping prey community patterns under fear. Additionally, I explore the effect of fear for animal communities facing environmental changes such as fragmentation and habitat loss. The mechanistic basis of the model allows to link mechanisms and processes at the individual level with patterns occurring on the community level.

My analyses focus on crop production, nutrient supply and pest control along transects from natural landscape elements (in-field ponds and hedgerows) into winter wheat fields in the Quillow catchment (Brandenburg). I established phytometer plots of a winter wheat variety at all transect points to compare for crop and vegetation traits, soil physical, chemical and biological traits as well as potential crop pests and their biological controllers. I am working on agricultural weeds, soil mesofauna (Collembola, Acari), earthworms, ground-dwelling arthropods (beetles and spiders) and leaf and seed pathogens of winter wheat. The diversity and distribution of those communities will be evaluated in the context of measured rates, i.e. decomposition rates, predation rates of seeds, herbivory rates among others to gain more insights on the importance of landscape heterogeneity for the presented ecosystem services.

The project aims to improve our mechanistic understanding of the impacts of global change on migratory birds as one prerequisite to comprehend ongoing global biodiversity loss. It focuses on the following key questions: (1) How do short- and long-term changes in food supply as expected under global change affect the population dynamics and behavioural patterns of migratory birds? (2) What carry-over effects do altered fine-scale temporal patterns in resource supply induce in migratory birds? To tackle these questions, I implement and utilize a generic open-source computer model for investigating the behaviour and population dynamics of animals in cyclic environments. The model considers ecological and evolutionary time-scales, biological constraints and individual trade-offs, which ultimately shape response dynamics at the population level.

The main aim of this project is to examine movement behaviour of mesopredators (e.g. foraging, daily activity, dispersal) as a key process of biodiversity dynamics in anthropogenic landscapes. Therefore, ecological processes, the land use dynamics and the landscape structure will be investigated with regard to their influence on movement patterns of mesopredators, especially the red fox (Vulpes vulpes), on a spatial and temporal scale. Accordingly, the key questions are: (1) How do the structural diversity and dynamics of agricultural landscapes influence the space use and the movement behaviour of red foxes? (2) Are there hot spots of connectivity or temporally exclusive areas of habitat selection? (3) How is the spatio-temporal utilization of the landscape of predator and potential prey, e.g. the European brown hare (Lepus europaeus; see dissertation of Wiebke Ullmann) structured? How does the landscape structure and resource availability of an anthropogenic landscape influence the distribution and genetic structure of the red fox population?

My research has three main foci: (1) Understanding stability. How can we measure stability and to what extent can we unify the measures of stability across studies? Further, what are the mechanisms rendering a system stable? (2) Population and community dynamics under disturbance and stress, especially considering the spatial aspect (i.e. meta-populations and meta-communities). (3) Mechanisms allowing populations and communities to cope with the effects of environmental factors (understanding trait changes via phenotypic plasticity and microevolution).