简介
Education and specialisation
1973-1981
Studies in sociology and biology at the universities in Marburg and Gießen
1978
Diploma (MSc) in Sociology, University of Marburg
1981
Diploma (MSc) in Biology, University of Marburg
1986
PhD in Biology, University of Hamburg
1992
Habilitation (venia legendi) in Zoology, University of Karlsruhe
Academic appointments
1985-1992
Postdoc and Assistant Professor, Dept. of Zoology, University of Karlsruhe
1992
Offer of three tenure professor positions: C4 ecology (Hamburg), C3 zoology (Gießen), C4 agroecology (Göttingen)
since 1993
Head of the Agroecology Research Group at the University of Göttingen, Faculty member in Agriculture and Biology
Professional/academic positions
1996-2022
Member of the Editorial Boards of Oecologia (1996-2002), Journal of Applied Ecology (2000-2006), Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata (since 2002), Agriculture (2014-2019), Biology (2014-2019) and Current Opinion in Insect Science (2016-2022)
2000-2023
Editor-in-Chief of Basic and Applied Ecology (the official journal of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, GfOe)
2000-2020
Speaker and coordinator of the study branch “Resource Management” of the Faculty of Agriculture (Göttingen)
2000-2011
Member of the Management Board (“Strukturkommission”) of the Faculty of Agriculture (Göttingen)
2002-2010
Member of the federal scientific board for biodiversity and genetic resources (Federal Ministry of Agriculture, BMELV)
2005-2009
Speaker of the Collaborative Research Centre STORMA (“Stability of Rainforest Margins in Indonesia”) of the German Science Foundation (DFG SFB 552; www.storma.uni-goettingen.de)
2007-2009
Member of the Managing Board of the Göttingen Centre for Biodiversity and Ecology
2008-2020
Member of the Science Committee of the agroBIODIVERSITY network of DIVERSITAS
2010-2020
Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the SAFE (Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystem) project in Malaysia
since 2012
Advisory Board of the Dorothea-Schlözer Mentoring Program (female scientific career counseling at Göttingen University)
since 2020
Member of the Scientific Board of the WWF (World Wide Fund For Nature) Germany
since 2024
Member of the scientific board of the national action plan plant protection at the federal Ministriy of Agriculture and nutrition
https://www.bmel.de/DE/ministerium/organisation/beiraete/nap-organisation.html
Awards
2008
Internationally most cited ecologist from Germany, Austria & Switzerland (according to the ranking in Laborjournal 10/2008: 55-57)
2009
One-year sabbatical (Excellency program of Göttingen University)
2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
Highly Cited Researcher, ranking among the top 1% most cited scientists for the fields "Environment/Ecology" and "Plant&Animal Science"
(according to the Web of Science, ISI Thomson Reuters/Clarivate Analytics)
2017
Internationally most cited ecologist from Germany, Austria & Switzerland (according to the ranking in Laborjournal 01/2017: 36-39)
2018
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) President’s International Fellowship for Distinguished Scientists
2020
Award for Insect Conservation 2020 by the Royal Entomological Society in recognition of "outstanding and exemplary lifetime contribution in Insect Conservation"
2020
Marsh Award for Ecology of the British Ecological Society. The prize is awarded for an outstanding current research record which is having a significant impact on the development of the science of ecology or its application.
2021
Award of the Honorary Medal of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (Gesellschaft für Ökologie, GfÖ) "to honour an active senior ecologist for an outstanding contribution to ecological sciences", including life-long free GfÖ membership.
2022, 2023
Ranking of the top scientists in "Ecology and Evolution" by Research.com: Ranked #7 in the world and #1 in Germany, based on a D-index of 149.
Key research expertise
Landscape perspectives on biodiversity patterns and associated ecosystem services in managed and natural systems of temperate and tropical regions
Biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships, in particular herbivory, predation, parasitism and pollination, as well as multitrophic interactions and quantitative food webs
Multidisciplinary studies linking socioeconomic with ecological approaches
