Young Scientists

Research interests

Synthesis of the approaches that investigate historical (geographic and palaeoclimatic changes) and contemporary (i.e., like habitat loss, fragmentation and anthropogenic climate change) processes underlying current patterns of genetic variation is key to reconstruct the evolutionary history of species and implement conservation measures promoting their long-term persistence. Resolving the evolutionary and ecological patterns and processes that underlie speciation and diversification is a central theme of my research. While the focus of my current research is on landscape genomics, plant microbiome and integrated species distribution modelling, however, I have an interdisciplinary research background ranging from plant systematics to population genetics and phylogeography.

Current projects 

I am currently working as a postdoctoral researcher on a project funded by Translation Biodiversity Genomics (TBG), wherein, I am investigating the role of micro-evolutionary processes in determining genetic and phenotypic diversity across a heterogeneous landscape, and doing genome‐wide association studies on the phyllosphere microbiome using Microthlaspi erraticum (claspleaf pennycress) as a model system. Apart from my research work, I am Young Scientist main speaker at Senckenberg, and also working with a small group of volunteers on a project “Translating the Climate Change Science to Human”- aiming to educate and empower communities, particularly children and women on Climate.
 
Google Scholar Profile 

ResearchGate Profile 

ORCID Profile 

Linkedin Profile 

RESEARCH INTERESTS

I am primarily interested in the structure and interactions of communities in different environmental contexts. Especially how different species within a community influence each other and how those relationships are mediated by their environment. In the past I have studied root competition between shrubs from mediterranean type ecosystems in South Africa, identifying how this interaction is shaped by density dependence. Currently I am expanding my skillset and work with microbial communities from various forest substrates, which are assessed by high-throughput metabarcoding. I study community interactions and model how abiotic factors, such as forest management, are changing these micro-communities. Being able to combine fieldwork with laboratory work, statistics and ecological modeling is one of the things making this research field so fascinating and I enjoy being part of the genetically informed future of community ecology.

Research interests

I am an Ecological Modeller working on the effects of global change on the stability and functioning of ecological communities. During my PhD at the University of Göttingen, I worked on the effect of climate change, nutrient enrichment and habitat fragmentation on the stability of trophic interaction systems. I then went on to do a postdoc at the Commonwealth Scientific Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Brisbane, Australia. There, I worked in an interdisciplinary project on the effectiveness and acceptance of Area-wide management strategies in a complex socio-ecological system.
At Senckenberg BiK-F, I am currently working on a project entitled “Consumption Based Accounting of Land-Use Carbon Emissions (CoBALUCE)” which is a joined project between SBiK-F and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna. In this project, we are looking at the effect of land-use change for the production of forestry and agricultural products on ecosystem carbon storage. We aim to attribute these emissions to products that are traded globally, to trace the emissions from the place they are producer to the consumer of the final product. The results can inform consumer decisions or global mitigation policies. I am also interested in effects of land-use change on biodiversity and in developing model scenarios along future socio-ecological pathways.

External links

My Twitter account @FSchwarzmueller

Profile on ResearchGate

List of publications on Google Scholar

RESEARCH INTERESTS

My research interests involve the field of climate-vegetation interactions and human influences. This matches well with the BMBF-funded SPACES project EMSAfrica (Ecosystem Management Support for Climate Change in Southern Africa). EMSAfrica focuses on the effects of natural disturbances, such as the impacts of land-use and climate change on the structure and functioning of South African terrestrial ecosystems. It also focuses on the production of information relevant to ecosystem management in the region.  Within the scope of this project I am working with the dynamic vegetation models (DVMs) aDGVM and aDGVM2 with a focus on Southern African vegetation changes. By using DVMs, I would like to detect changes in ecosystems and identify areas that require special attention in ecosystem management. Thus, I can contribute to protecting and maintaining biodiversity in vulnerable ecosystems.

CURRENT PROJECTS

EMSAfrica – Ecosystem Management Support for Climate Change in Southern Africa

RESEARCH INTERESTS

My research interest is in conservation biology and how we can use math and modeling to make better decisions regarding conservation. While studying my master’s degree I used bog turtles (Glyptemys muhlenbergii) as a case study for how we can resource-efficiently locate and survey rare and elusive species. This work combined species distribution modeling and intensive field work in close collaboration with state wildlife agencies in the United States to give me first-hand experience into what it means to conserve species at ground-level. For my Ph. D. I am changing my focus to examine how movement affects population dynamics in highly mobile animals. My study system is the Eastern Steppe of Mongolia and the nomadic Mongolian Gazelles (Procapra gutturosa). I will simulate this system by programming an herbivore-vegetation model. To do this I am combining expertise from the two working groups I am involved in. I am a part of Thomas Müller’s group, whose focus is on movement ecology and conservation, and Thomas Hickler’s group, whose focus is on vegetation modeling and effects of climate change. We hope this modeling approach will help us better understand how important mobility is to long-term population persistence of animals living in unpredictable and dynamic landscapes.

Past Projects:

B.S. Ecology, Minor Mathematics, summa cum laude,  The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA,  (Lab of Dr. John Maerz: click here)

M.S. Wildlife and Fisheries Biology,  Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA,  (Lab of Dr. Kyle Barrett: click here)

CURRENT PROJECTS

My work is part of the BMBF project MoreStep which brings together social and ecological sciences to identify societal drivers that can lead to an ecological tipping point of the Mongolian steppe ecosystem. Our role is to use the herbivore-vegetation model to examine the importance of movement in maintaining sustainable numbers of wild and domestic herbivores. The model will also be used to disentangle the effects of climate and grazing on vegetation. 

Research interests

ProteaNet: Spatiotemporal dynamics of plant-animal interaction networks

ProteaNet is the follow-up project of ProteaBird and investigates Protea communities in South African fynbos. I will extend spatial and short-term analyses of ProteaBird, conducted by Baptiste Schmid and Henning Nottebrock, and will study how plant-based resources determine long-term dynamics of animal communities. I will address fundamental ecological questions about mechanisms that underlie life-history variation, species coexistence, and the structuring of mutualistic and antagonistic plant-animal interaction networks.

I will specifically study the resource allocation for animal-mediated indirect interactions among Protea plants. I will also test how the spatiotemporal dynamics of Protea-based resources (nectar, pollen, seeds) affect the functional and interaction diversity of bird, rodent, and insect pollinators and seed predators. This will enable us to investigate how mutualistic and antagonistic plant-animal interaction networks assemble in space and time and how the spatiotemporal dynamics of these networks affect plant community dynamics.

I am working under the supervision of PD Dr. Matthias Schleuning. The project is conducted together with Prof. Dr. Frank Schurr and the PhD student Huw Cooksley from the University of Hohenheim, in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Karen Esler and with Prof. Dr. Anton C. Pauw at the University of Stellenbosch. The project is funded by the German Research Foundation.

Functional diversity of birds along land-use and elevational gradients on Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

For my Diploma thesis, I worked within the DFG-funded research unit KiLi. The aim was to test whether differences in avian ecomorphological traits depict the functional roles (dietary and foraging preferences) of bird species on Mount Kilimanjaro. I also investigated changes in the functional diversity of the bird communities along an elevational gradient and with land-cover change. This research gives insights into how anthropogenic impacts could modify ecosystem functions of birds.

Keywords
Mutualistic and antagonistic plant-animal interaction Networks, Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, Functional diversity, Pollination by animals, Observational and experimental field studies, Trait-based network Analysis

Press coverage

Citizen Science

Vögel beobachten und mitteilen  [German] SWR, 7 Feb 2017

Forschungsgebiete

Verbreitungsmodelle für die Tiefseefauna im Manganknollen-Gürtel in der Clarion Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCZ), Pazifik

Seit langem gibt es Überlegungen, in der Clarion Clipperton Bruchzone (CCZ) polymetallische Knollen, die auch als Manganknollen bekannt sind, abzubauen. Um die Tiere in diesen Gebieten zu schützen, ist es wichtig Schutzgebiete einzurichten. Allerdings ist es aufgrund der Wassertiefe von mehr als 4000 Metern und der Größe des möglichen Abbaugebiets schwierig die Tiefseefauna flächendeckend zu untersuchen. Insbesondere bei der Meiofauna ist dies wegen der geringen Größe und der hohen Individuenzahl im Sediment nur mit großem Aufwand möglich.

Deswegen verwenden wir das machine learning tool „random forest“ um Verbreitungsmodelle für verschiedene Taxa der Meiofauna zu berechnen. Gemeinsam mit der Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR) erproben wir die Anwendbarkeit dieser Modelle sowohl direkt für die Untersuchung der Verbreitung der Meiofauna, als auch für die Auswahl aussagekräftiger Positionen zur Probennahme.

Research Interests

As a molecular ecologist, I have always been amazed by the rapid-evolving fields of genomics and genetics and its underlying potential. I am mainly interested in applying genomic and genetic methods to elucidate evolutionary uncertainties and to contribute to the conservation of our biodiversity.  During my Msc thesis, I have worked on the genetics of the endangered Eurasian Black Vulture, resulting in a general interest in the (highly conserved) genome of birds. Currently, I am working on evolutionary genomics and geneticsin passerine birds. The aim is to resolve phylogenies, examine evolutionaryhistories and to link this data with varying ecological and morphologicaltraits.