Community dynamics and stability

During my PhD and postdoc life at UFZ and iDiv, my research has mainly focused on the importance of species interactions, especially predator-prey interactions, and how they are shaped by the nature of perturbations. I have designed experiments with microcosms consisting of bacterial prey communities and the protozoan predator Tetrahymena. Some of the questions I have been asking were: How do population dynamics and inducible traits of species correspond to the diversity and coexistence of the communities? What are the mechanisms which affect the dynamics, resistance, and recovery of species and communities?

I also have worked with systems of different complexities. For example, we investigated the response of freshwater microbial biodiversity and functioning to nutrient elevations using semi-natural microcosms.

We also investigated the role of aboveground and below-ground biodiversity and their interactions on the mitigation of drought stress using greenhouse pot experiments.