Arthropod ecology with a focus on spiders

While retaining deadwood to promote saproxylic biodiversity is well-established, far less is known about how and why non-saproxylic invertebrates respond to deadwood and different deadwood management types (lying deadwood, standing deadwood/high stumps vs. intact stands). This PoToMa associated subproject uses spiders, as generalist predators and one of the first arthropod groups to colonize disturbed forest habitat, as a window into these indirect pathways.

The aim is to disentangle whether and how deadwood influences spider communities via microclimate changes, forest floor structural complexity, or bottom-up effects on available prey communities.

Open theses:

Bachelor’s thesis: Impacts of deadwood management on epigeic arthropod communities, iDiv (in Leipzig)External link

Master’s thesis: How does deadwood management affect spider communities in disturbance-driven spruce forests? University of Hamburg (in Hamburg)External link

Collaborators: Dr. Dragan Matevski (Universität Hamburg)External link, Dr. Benjamin Wildermuth (iDiv, FSU Jena)External link