News

Zoologische Exkursion: Birds in urban landscapes

This semester, zoologist Marion Chatelain took biology students on an excursion to the UIBK Technology Campus and Botanical Garden to look for birds and their nests. As assessment, students had to write an article for the general public. The excellent article by Friederike Glauch and Katharina Mantl has been published in the UIBK newsroom! 

26th of June 2023

How do ground beetles help against pests?

Our native ground beetle species are considered to be benefeical insects. We are researching their potential to find out how they support farmers and food suppliers in the fight against pests in a natural way.

Check the Video posts on ServusTV.

22th of June 2023

Welcome Philippe and Lauren

We welcome our new PhD studnets to our Applied Animal Ecology research group. Our team is looking forward to work with you in fascinating projects and your innovative ideas to contribute to the advancement of knowledge in important areas. We wish you a successful and fulfilling experience in Innsbruck and at our institute.

1st of June 2023

Welcome to Sabrina Achhorner, who just started her master's project!

Sabrina is looking at selective disappearance in great tits and blue tits. She is testing whether some phenotypes (e.g. longer beaks) are selected in more urbanised environments.    

27th of March 2023

New scientific paper in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution!

"Urbanization disfavors wingless groups, particularly so on trees. Indeed, web spiders and springtails are less likely to be found in the city, where, on the contrary, aphids, woodlice and flies are common.” Interested? Read more on Frontiers Science News!

7th of March 2023

New citizen science project for the study of whale diet and population structure!

The eWHALE project, coordinated by Bettina Thalinger, is an international collaboration project bridging the gap between science, industry, and the public. It aims at exemplifying a novel strategy for marine biomonitoring, and boosting public support for marine conservation efforts.

7th of February 2023

A newspaper article by our working group was published in "Die Presse"!

The ground beelte is a hungry enrichment for ecosystems and a beacon of hope for Austrian biodiversity improvement. It is a few centimeter long and could replace sprays in agriculture in the long term.
Here you find the whole newspaper article.

4th of February 2023

We organize a symposium at Behaviour 2023 this summer in Bielefeld!

The behaviour of citizens is often shaped by preconceived beliefs of what defines an “eco-friendly environment” and what is beneficial for wildlife. Such misconceptions can be a result of scientists failing to reach the public, or findings being scattered across scientific disciplines. In this symposium we therefore aim to bring together researchers working in this emerging field. Our speakers will showcase recent work on the "Consequences of citizens' behaviour on wild animals' behaviour". 

1st of February 2023

Congratulation to Riccardo Favaro and Michael Brunner for their new project! 

The Early-Stage-Funding of the University of Innsbruck has been granted to the project AttractClicks: Identification of plants and their volatiles for attracting female click beetles to improve wireworm control. The project aims to investigate the role of plant volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for the oviposition choice of female Agriotes sputator click beetles. Therefore electroantennography, behavioral experiments and mesocosm experiments will be performed in 2023.

10st of January 2023

Welcome to Celina Dabernig , Stefan Famler and Nathalie Pirgstaller, who are conducting their bachelor's project with Marion Chatelain and Corinna Wallinger

• Celina is investigating how bird catching success with mist-net varies over the year and across the urban landscape.
• Stefan is looking at whether arthropod pests are common prey of great tits and blue tits.
• Nathalie is testing whether the consumption of food from bird feeders is linked to great tit and blue tit nutritional status

1st of December 2022