University of Salzburg
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Short Description
Experimental ecology requires experiments to be conducted under controlled conditions (e.g. temperature, humidity, light intensity and cycles). This is accomplished using 2 large climate control chambers, climate-controlled cabinets, and to climatized rooms in the aquarium house.
Experimental containers range from multiple 650 L mesocosms, to aquariums and terrariums with 5 – 20 L volumes, and to linked microcosms 50 – 200 mL in volume. Sampling gear (plankton nets, whole-water samplers, sediment corers) are utilized to obtain field samples to be used in the lab facilities. Measuring devices (light sensors, microelectrodes, multiparmeter sondes, flow meters, GPS trackers) is used to determine the conditions in the field and lab. With the use of microscopes, (inverted, epifluorescence, binocular) and their attached cameras it is possible to prepare organisms for experiments and to identify and analyze samples from the field and lab.
Contact Person
Prof. Dr. Ulrike Berninger
Research Services
Experiments in meso- and microcosms
Culturing ciliates, algae and metazoan zooplankton
Using model metacommunities to examine adaptation to environmental changes (e.g. temperature and nutrient regimes)
Climate Change research in aquatic and terrestrial habitats
Evolutionary processes in ecological time scales
Methods & Expertise for Research Infrastructure
The core facility "Collection, Cultivation, Experimental Systems is central for many of the core competencies of the department. Several of the current member of the department are oriented towards aquatic ecology, and work experimentally, as will the incoming members of the department working in the context of zoological evolutionary biology.
In order to conduct replicated, statistically robust experiments, there is a need for controlled environmental conditions and relatively large areas (2 – 20 m2). This is also true for work with model communities of micro- and mesoplantkon organisms (e.g. when working with metacommunities). Isolating and maintaining sufficiently large numbers of organisms for research and teaching (bachelor and master’s level, as well as courses in the School of Education) requires climate chambers and cabinets with finely controlled temperature and illumination. Experiments require the cultivation of the target species in sufficiently large numbers, as do experiments as part of laboratory courses in the bachelor’s and master’s programs.
University of Göttingen
University of Erlangen
German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg
University of Vienna
University of Ghent
Ludwig-Maximillian-University of Munich
University of Bayreuth
University of Ulm
University of Würzburg
University of Palermo
University of the Aegean, Greece
Institut de Biologie Moléculaire des Plantes, Straßburg, Frankreich
Botanical Garden Garten University Warschau
University of Sao Paulo
University of Belo Horizonte
University of Recife
University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu
Cornell University, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Ithaca
Virginia Tech, Department of Biological Sciences, Blacksburg
2015-2019
Stephen Wickham
Science without Borders - Brasil
Lokale Anpassungen des Aronstabs an seine Bestäuber
2017-2020
Dötterl, S; Comes, HP; Hörger, A
FWF
Functional responses of plant communities and plant-pollinator interactions to altitudinal gradients and climate change
2016-2019
Junker, R
FWF
Trait evolution in the adaptive radiation of Madagascan Bulbophyllum
2017-2020
H.P. Comes; Co-PI: A. Gamisch
FWF
Aufbau von universitären DNA-Barcoding-Pipelines für ABOL
2017-2020
Andreas Tribsch et al.
Ministry of Science and Economy
2018
Antonucci Di Carvalho, Josie; Wickham, Stephen A.
Oeologia
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-018-4319-8
Deceptive Ceropegia dolichophylla fools its kleptoparasitic fly pollinators with exceptional floral scent
2015
Heiduk, A; Kong, H; Brake, I; von Tschirnhaus, M; Tolasch, T; Tröger, AG; Wittenberg, E; Francke, W; Meve, U; Dötterl, S
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fevo.2015.00066/abstract
Diacetin, a reliable cue and private communication channel in a specialized pollination system
2015
Schäffler, I; Steiner, KE; Haid, M; van Berkel, SS; Gerlach, G; Johnson, SD; Wessjohann, L; Dötterl, S
Scientific Reports
http://www.nature.com/articles/srep12779
History or ecology? Substrate type as a major driver of spatial genetic structure in Alpine plants
2009
Alvarez, N., Thiel-Egenter, C., Tribsch, A., Manel, St., Taberlet, P., Küpfer, Ph., Holderegger, R., Brodbeck, S., Gaudeul, M., Gielly, L., Mansion, G., Negrini, R., Paun, O., Pellecchia, M., Rioux, D., Schönswetter, P., Schüpfer, F., van Loo, M., Winkler, M., Gugerli, F. & IntraBioDivdiv Consortium. 2009.
Ecology Letters 12(7), 632-640.
Allopolyploid origins of the Galeopsis tetraploids ─ revisiting Müntzing’s classical textbook example using molecular tools
2011
Bendiksby, M., Tribsch, A., Borgen, L., Trávníček, P., Brysting, A.K
New Phytologist 191, 1150-1167.
Plant speciation in continental island floras as exemplified by Nigella in the Aegean Archipelago
2008
Comes H.P., Tribsch A. & Bittkau C.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society London, Series B, Biological Sciences, 363, 3083–3096
Frequent but asymmetric niche shifts in Bulbophyllum orchids supportenvironmental and climatic instability in Madagascar over Quaternary time scales
2016
Gamisch A., Fischer G.A. & Comes H.P.
BMC Evolutionary Biology, 16, 14
Multiple independent origins of auto-pollination in tropical orchids (Bulbophyllum) in light of the hypothesis of selfing as an evolutionary dead end
2015
Gamisch A., Fischer G.A. & Comes H.P.
BMC Evolutionary Biology, 15, 192
Long-distance plant dispersal to North Atlantic islands: colonization routes and founder effect
2015
Greve Alsos, I., Ehrich, D., Bronken Eidesen, P., Solstad, H., Bakke Westergaard, K., Schönswetter, P., Tribsch, A., Birkeland, S., Reidar Elven, R., Brochmann, Ch.
AoB Plants 7
DOI: 10.1093/aobpla/plv036
Genetic consequences of climate change for northern plants
2012
Greve Alsos, I., Ehrich, D., Thuiller, W., Bronken Eidesen, P., Tribsch, A., Schönswetter, P., Lagaye, C., Taberlet, P., Brochmann, Ch.
Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 279, 2042-2051