Chemical Ecology
Student Projects
Students who are interested to do a project in our group within their "Projektmodul", Bachelor or Master Thesis, are welcome at any time. Most of the projects are linked to the different PhD projects and thus contribute important data, which will not disappear in a drawer but are substantial to promote our common science. Students are also welcome to bring their own ideas. If possible we try to implement these as well in respective projects.
Suggested Projects
- Early life effects in sawflies
The environment that an individual experiences during early life can heavily influence its adult phenotype and in turn the phenotype of its offspring. Using the turnip sawfly (Athalia rosae) we investigate how such effects might function in species with a complex life cycle and furthermore how they might interact with factors that influence individuals in adult life, specifically the presence or absence of specific pharmacophagous chemicals.
- Pharmacophagy in sawflies
The turnip sawfly, Athalia rosae, collects chemical compounds (‘clerodendrins’) from bugleweed plants (Ajuga reptans), that in other Athalia spp. are known to influence predation rates and mating success, a behaviour known as pharmacophagy. Furthermore, adults are also known to aggressively ‘feed’ on clerodendrins that are present on the bodies of conspecifics previously exposed to A. reptans plants. Here we aim to elucidate the different effects of clerodendrins (or metabolites thereof) on the adult phenotype, with a focus on immunity and predation risk as well as comparing the effects of clerodendrins collected from plants and those obtained from conspecifics
- Indirect effects on herbivores mediated by rhizobia
Rhizobia are bacteria associated with the roots of plants that change the nutrition of the plant. These changes in nutrition may also cause changes in plant chemical defence aboveground. Using bioassays it will be tested whether rhizobia association of the roots influences the feeding behavior of herbivores.
- Impacts of environmental change factors on plants
- Impacts of sublethal insecticide concentrations on herbivorous insects
Sublethal insecticide concentrations do not kill animals, but can affect various traits of individuals. In this project, herbivorous insects of different feeding types are kept on food treated with different insecticide concentrations and their development and other individual responses are monitored.
- Effects of light pollution on plant-insect relationships
Light pollution (also called ALAN, for artificial light at night genannt) potentially affects both plants and animals in their metabolism and behaviour. However, so far we still know very little about the consequences. Using specifically controlled LEDs, the effects of different light conditions on plant-insect interactions can be investigated in this project.
- Composition of the plant phloem sap and modifying factors
The phloem is an important transport system of the plant. With the help of aphids (aphid stylectomy), it is possible to extract and analyse phloem sap. The aim of this project is to investigate which metabolites occur in the phloem sap of plants and whether the phloem sap composition depends on external factors. Bioassays can also be developed in which the influence of different phloem sap compositions on the development of aphids is investigated