Research unit Fauna

Major research areas

• Conceptual models for the enhancement of regional biodiversity: Island biogeography, mosaic concept and metacommunity dynamics in cultivated landscapes. Effects of habitat fragmentation.
• Dispersal and migration capacities of insect species which are of importance in agriculture, forestry or nature conservation. Orientation cues and habitat choice.
• Development of standardized methods for inventories to measure, compare and evaluate invertebrate biodiversity. Rapid biodiversity assessment (RBA) for longterm monitoring.
• Conservation biology and compilation of Red Data Books for the Swiss fauna.

Staff

Peter Duelli (Teamleader, head of the biodiversity section)

Martin Obrist (research scientist)

Peter Wirz (technical staff)

Matthias Albrecht (PhD student EASY)

Present research projects

• Faunenaustausch zwischen naturnahen Biotopen und Intensivkulturen (english)
• Faunistische Inventurmethoden für Wirbellose (english)
• Entwicklung der Insektenfauna in Sturmschadenflächen (english)
• Der Beitrag von Waldrandstrukturen zur regionalen Biodiversität (english)
• Der Einfluss von Waldbränden auf die Biodiversität von wirbellosen Tieren in Laubwäldern der Alpensüdseite (english)
• Assessing the distribution and habitat requirements of bat species assemblages by means of bioacoustic, synergetic pattern recognition

Terminated research projects

• Rote Listen der gefährdeten Tierarten der Schweiz
• Acoustic bat species recognition by synergetic pattern recognition (english)