Projects

1. Structure of soil animal food webs
   • Ecological and socioeconomic functions of tropical lowland rainforest transformation systems (Sumatra, Indonesia) for details see here
     Collaborative Research Centre (SFB 990), German Research Foundation; Speaker
   • Structure and functioning of the decomposer system in lowland rainforest transformation systems
     Subproject of Collaborative Research Centre “Ecological and socioeconomic functions of tropical lowland rainforest transformation systems (Sumatra, Indonesia)”, German Research Foundation
   • Changes in soil food web structure of the decomposer system with land use intensity in forest systems; for details see here
     Subproject of Thematic Program “Biodiversity Exploratories”, German Research Foundation
   • Managing soil biodiversity and ecosystem services in agroecosystems across Europe under climate change (SoilClim)
     Integrated project, European Science Foundation, coordination Klaus Birkhofer (Lund)
   • Ecosystem services driven by the diversity of soil biota - understanding and management in agriculture (SoilMan)
     Integrated project, European Science Foundation, coordination Martin Potthoff (Göttingen)
   • Carbon flux through the soil animal food web
     Subproject of Integrated Research Project “Carbon flow in belowground food webs assessed by isotope tracers”, German Research Foundation
   • The soil fauna of a tropical montane rain forest: regulatory forces and functioning in the decomposer system
     Research Unit (FOR 816) "Biodiversity and sustainable Management of a megadiverse Mountain Ecosystem in southern Ecuador", German Research Foundation


2. Links between the below- and aboveground system
   • Decomposer – interaction webs and the effect of belowground biota for ecosystem processes
     Subproject of Research Unit (FOR 1451) "The role of biodiversity for element cycling and trophic interactions: an experimental approach in a grassland community" (The Jena Experiment), German Research Foundation, with Nico Eisenhauer
   • Biodiversity and biogeochemical cycles: a search for mechanisms across (BioCycle)
     Integrated project, European Science Foundation, coordination Stephan Hättenschwiler (Montpellier)


3. Parthenogenesis vs. sexuality in soil animal species:
   • Population genetics of parthenogenetic and sexual oribatid mites
     German Research Foundation
   • Sexual reproduction in a world of structured resources
     German Research Foundation, with Barbara Drossel (Darmstadt)
   • Radiation in sexual and parthenogenetic oribatid mites
     Thematic program "Radiation - Genesis of biological diversity"; principal investigator Mark Maraun – ended 2007