Student Opportunities
Our group studies the links between insects, landscapes, and their conservation in agricultural systems, and we encourage students to get involved with our research!
Specific project opportunities are listed in the drop-down menu below, though students may potentially work across multiple projects. Some projects may require fieldwork in agricultural farms around Giessen. Most of the projects require no experience in entomology, just an interest in doing insect ecology research. However, please check specific requirements noted in the project descriptions as some projects may require prior experience with R, GIS, or other tools.
If you are interested in a specific project or have further questions, please contact the project lead. We look forward to hearing from you!
Field and Lab Work
How does the microbiome of plants influence tri-trophic plant-herbivore-enemy interactions? (Master's thesis or teacher training)
Project Description: Greenhouse experiment testing the impact of plant growth promoting bacteria on cereal-aphid-enemy interactions, in collaboration with the microbiology institute (Prof Sylvia Schnell).
Project Lead: Professor Emily Poppenborg Martin, Emily.Poppenborg
Timeframe: Flexible
Project Category: Master's thesis or teacher training
Project Type: Greenhouse and Lab
What are the benefits of collective measures for enhancing biodiversity in orchards and grasslands?
Project Description: Field work in Lahn-Dill-Kreis area in cooperation with Landschaftspflegeverband
Project Lead: Professor Emily Poppenborg Martin, Emily.Poppenborg
Timeframe: Flexible
Project Category: NA
Project Type: Fieldwork
Requirements: Car required
Einfluss artenreicher Wildpflanzenansaaten auf Insekten und andere Taxa
Project Description: Kooperation mit dem Verband deutscher Wildsamen- und Wildpflanzenproduzenten in Langgöns und Wetzlar
Project Lead: Professor Emily Poppenborg Martin, Emily.Poppenborg
Timeframe: Flexible (spring would be best for fieldwork)
Project Category: NA
Project Type: Fieldwork, no prior experience required
BeeContour: Strip cropping systems for more arthropod biodiversity (Bachelor's or Master's thesis, or teacher training)
Project Description: Fieldwork 2024 and species determination or lab work on specimens from 2023.
More Information: https://www.uni-giessen.de/en/faculties/f09/institutes/agronomy2/farming/researchprojects/beecontour?set_language=en
Project Lead: Dr. Dennis Baulechner, dennis.baulechner
Timeframe: Flexible
Project Category: Bachelor's or Master's thesis, or teacher training
Project Type: Fieldwork
Resoilience: Resilience of soil mesofauna after extensification of grasslands (Bachelor's or Master's thesis, or teacher training)
Project Description: Morphological identification and molecular work for metabarcoding of soil communities
More Information: https://www.biodiversity-exploratories.de/en/projects/resilience-of-invertebrate-communities-in-grassland-soils/
Project Lead: Dr. Dennis Baulechner, dennis.baulechner
Timeframe: Flexible
Project Category: Bachelor's or Master's thesis, or teacher training
Project Type: Lab work
Data Analysis
Assessing the effects of Apis mellifera in plant-pollinator meta-networks
Project Description: Calculate the centrality of interactions performed by Apis mellifera in a plant-pollinator meta-network of fragmented calcareous grasslands and its effects on the structure of the whole meta-network.
Project Lead: Dr. Felipe Librán Embid, Felipe.Libran-Embid
Timeframe: Flexible
Project Category: NA
Project Type: Data analysis
Requirements: No field or lab work. Data is already collected. R knowledge required. Familiarity with plant-pollinator interactions would be an advantage.
Size matters: what is the role of body size for spatiotemporal diversity patterns of carabid communities in farmland?
Project Description: Analysis of an existing data set
Project Lead: Professor Emily Poppenborg Martin, Emily.Poppenborg
Timeframe: Flexible
Project Category: NA
Project Type: Data analysis
Requirements: No field or lab work. Data is already collected. Interest in developing and answering questions with data would be an advantage.
Literature Reviews
Quantifying the actual contributions of butterflies to plant pollination
Project Description: Investigate studies analyzing flower visitation, pollen transport, and pollen transfer of butterflies in wild and crop plants to distentangle their actual contribution to plant pollination.
Project Lead: Dr. Felipe Librán Embid, Felipe.Libran-Embid
Timeframe: Flexible
Project Category: NA
Project Type: Literature review
Requirements: Familiarity with literature reviews would be an advantage.
Animal pollination in native and exotic crops
Project Description: Review studies analyzing fruit set in native and exotic crops after open pollination, hand-cross pollination, and pollinator exclusion.
Project Lead: Dr. Felipe Librán Embid, Felipe.Libran-Embid
Timeframe: Flexible
Project Category: NA
Project Type: Literature review