We are always looking for motivated students to conduct a project for a research module or a bachelor or master thesis in our department. Students are free to propose their own ideas and/ or study systems in the framework of behavioural ecology or to start a project within our existing studies.
Potential projects:
- Olfaction and kin recognition in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttatta)
- Nice choice in fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra)
Field assistant:
We are offering field assistant positions, e.g. for our fire salamander research in the Kottenforst near Bonn.
Contact person
Barbara Caspers
Fire salamander females (Salamandra salamandra) typically deposit their larvae in first order streams. There, the conditions are very suitable for the larvae. However, females also use different water bodies for larval deposition such as ponds where the conditions are less suitable. With this project, we would like to investigate if larvae can conform to a changing habitat by performing a reciprocal transplant experiment under completely natural conditions in the wild.
For your thesis, we will go to the field over a period of two months (mid March to mid May). We will go to our field site, the Kottenforst near Bonn, every week from Monday to Wednesday. You will perform the transplant experiment and join the weekly larval monitoring and other tasks that might occur during the field work. Afterwards, you will process the data using the Amphibian and Reptile Wildbook software.
Requirements
-Felasa certificate or similar (if you don‘t have a certificate, you can complete it with us before starting the field work)-You are currently enrolled in a master degree
-Willingness to do long days of field work in every weather condition (especially cold and rain)
-Driving licence (optional)
If you are interested, please send an e-mail until 22.12.2023 to laura.schulte1@uni-bielefeld.de.
Read more here.
Contact person
Are you planning to start your Bachelor or Master thesis soon?
The fire salamander population in the botanical garden Bielefeld offers an excellent opportunity to collect your own data and participate in a large collaborative project. Starting in September 2023, we are looking for highly motivated students to join our long-term monitoring project on fire salamanders. You can develop your own research project or get help finding a project with us.
We offer: a stimulating group environment with likeminded students, a very large data set to build your research ideas on, the opportunity to encounter lot’s of fire salamanders!
Requirements: Willingness to work during rainy nights, flexibility in terms of work times, you either live in Bielefeld or have a car and live close by, the ability to work in groups with other students.
Contact person
Three species of plovers (Charadrius sp.) breed in sympatry in our study site in SW Madagascar. The three species have different mating systems. Madagascar plovers and white-fronted plovers are monogamous and have biparental incubation. In contrast, Kittlitz’s plovers are more complex, it is monogamous or polyandrous, and with males incubating more often than females. This is the theory, but is this the reality? That’s what we want to check! We recorded many videos of plover nests during the incubation behaviour.
The student(s) will score nest videos with Boris and conduct simple analyses in R. No specific knowledge is required.
Two students could work on this project.
Contact person
Marc Gilles
In 2021 we started a long-term monitoring of the ground beetle diversity in the Senne landscape. We are investigating the ground beetle communities in different environments with different anthropogenic impact in a nature conservation area and agricultural fields. We are aiming to see the change in the diversity within the years and with regard to the climatic change.
This project includes work in the field and in the lab and data analysis. We use pitfall traps that need to be checked regularly and the specimens need to be identified. Knowledge about ground beetle species is beneficial, but not required.
Contact person
Barbara Caspers