Community Ecology Research Group

Research Projects

My lab focuses on food web and community ecology research. Food webs provide a framework to integrate a variety of methods at the community level.

Food web research:

We study the topological position and ecological function of organisms in food webs using a combination of methods: network analysis, multivariate methods, functional traits, stable isotopes, and time series data.

We are interested in how food web communities change across temporal and spatial scales, and in identifying the key nodes in the system and their ecological importance.

• Eutrophication triggered changes in network structure and fluxes of the Comacchio Lagoon (Italy)
• The Atlantification of the Barents Sea

Mesocosm experiments:

We focus on exploring the community-level impacts of abiotic stressors (e.g., nutrients) and biotic stressors (e.g., invasive species), as well as their interaction as multiple stressors. Mesocosms are large tanks with aquatic organisms that simulate natural communities under controlled conditions, enabling manipulative experiments with replication. My work predominantly involves plankton and aquatic invertebrates.

• Trophic impact of an invasive mysid shrimp depends on zooplankton community composition: A mesocosm experiment

Laboratory experiments:

We quantify individual-level responses such as feeding rates, respiration, and mobility in various aquatic invertebrate species. This helps us understand species-level variation within communities, especially in omnivores and invasive species.

• Functional responses correspond to stable isotope-based trophic positions among four invasive Ponto-Caspian mysid species (Crustacea, Mysida)