Sting Bug (Antheminia varicornis)
Image: Holger SchielzethOur group covers three main lines of research, all united by the interest in understanding population-level biodiversity and its consequences for intra- und inter-species population dynamics. (i) trophic interactions and community dynamisc are the focus of Community Population Ecology line of research. (ii) Local adaptation, temporal population dynamics and behavioural ecology are the focus of Evolutionary Population Ecology line of resaerch. (iii) And the genomic architecture of genetic polymorphisms, speciation and hybridization are the focus of Molecular Population Ecology line of resarch. Furthermore, we are interested in (iv) ecological, evolutionary and startistical methods and therefore also cover the field that we call Population Ecology Methods.
Jena Experiment aerial photograph
Image: Jena-ExperimentContemporary scientific work is often very collaborative. We are therefore involved in several large collaborative research project. This includes the long-running Jena ExperimentExternal link that was established in 2002 and has been DFG-funded since then. More recently, we got engaged in a NC3 Collaborative Research CenterExternal link that is also funded by the DFG and studies the evolutionary ecology of individualized niches. Furthermore, we are participating in the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv)External link in Halle-Jena-Leipzig, the Michael Stifel Center Jena (MSCJ)External link for Data-Driven & Simulation Science and the Interantional Max Planck Research School (IMPRS)External link run by Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena. Additionally, we are involved in more grass-roots projects such as the Nutrient Network (NutNet)External link and the team for the Statistical Quantification of Individual Differences (SQuID). And finally, there are always ongoing individually funded projects that are also important.
Population Ecology Group 2016
Image: Holger SchielzethWe are a team of currently six postdoctal researchers, three PhD students, five technical assistants, and four gardeners. We will occasionally solicit applications for funded PhD student positions. Furthermore, if you are interested in joining the group with external funding or as part of your studies, you may contact us at popecol@uni-jena.de.
Fieldwork with students
Image: Günter KöhlerWe offer a variety of classes for the BSc level in Biology and the MSc level in Ecology, Evolution and Systematics. The topics range from introduction to faunistic field methods, evolutionary, community and conservation ecology, via population genetics to scientific writing and presentations. We also continously offer a selection of topics for Bachelor or Master projects. The list of ongoing and completed projects gives an impression about the range of topcis that we offer. Please to not hesitate to contact us if you are interested and movitated to work in the field of evolutiony, molecular or community ecology.
McDonough-Goldstein, C., Jeffries, D., Palacios-Gimenez, O.M., Benvenuto, C., Huylmans, A.K., Mongue, A., Larson, E., Metzer, R. & Ruiz-Herrera, A. (2026). Navigating the semantic labyrinth of “sex” in the study of reproductive trait evolution. Integrative and Comparative Biology doi: 10.1093/icb/icag093External link
Prchalová, M., Arlinghaus, R., Westrelin, S., Jarić, I., Bertram, M.G., Alós, J., Baktoft, H., Brand, J.A., Brodin, T., Cordero-Rivera, A., Brose, U., Feldmann, C., Futamura, R., Karban, R., Hont, S., Klamser, P.P., Nilsen, C.I., Mourier, J., Gjelland, K.Ø., Olsen, E.M., Pengal, P., Rabaneda-Bueno, R., Říha, M., Rueger, T., Schielzeth, H., Signaroli, M., Smederevac-Lalic, M. & Monk, C.T. (2026). Behavioural diversity of fishes: concepts, drivers, and its role in conservation and management. Fish and Fisheries (accepted).
Körnig, J., Ortizo, K., Woehle, C., Greenhalgh, R., Schielzeth, H., Huettel, B., Heckel, D.G., Dearing, M.D., Kaltenpoth, M. & Beran, F. (2026). Genetic variation in chemical defence affects protection of an herbivorous insect against predation. Molecular Ecology 35: e70363. doi: 10.1111/mec.70363External link
Krüger, O., Anaya-Rojas, J., Back, M., Caspers, B., Chakarov, N., Dammhahn, M., Elliot-Graves, A., Fricke, C., Gadau, J., Hoffman, J.I., Kaiser, M.I., Kaiser, S., Korsten, P., Krohs, U., Kurtz, J., Langrock, R., Müller, C., Peuß, R., Reinhold, K., Richter, H., Sachser, N., Schielzeth, H., Schmoll, T., Stanewsky, R., Szekely, T., Weissing, F., Wittmann, M. & Xu, S. (2026). Individualised niches: an integrative conceptual framework across behaviour, ecology, and evolution. Biological Reviews doi: 10.1002/brv.70147External link
Jayaprasad, S., Schielzeth, H. & Palacios-Gimenez, O.M. (2026). Evolutionary dynamics of dosage compensation and sex-biased gene expression in morabine grasshopper Vandiemenella viatica. Genome Biology and Evolution doi: 10.1093/gbe/evag026External link
Cabon, L. & Schielzeth, H. (2026). Matching habitat choice could be brightness-based instead of hue-based in green-brown polymorphic grasshoppers. Oikos doi: 10.1002/oik.11990External link
Radchuk, V., Jones, C.V., McLean, N., Charmantier, A., Teplitsky, C., Alisauskas, R., Ancona, S., Anker-Nilssen, T., Arcese, P., Arlt, D., Aubry, L.M., Bailey, L., Barbraud, C., Berg, K.S., Berteaux, D., Blumstein, D.T., Bouwhuis, S., Brose, U., Brouwer, L., Catry, P., Chero, G., Chiaradia, A., Courtiol, A., Daunt, F., Delord, K., Dobson, F.S., Drummond, H., Eeva, T., Fauteux, D., Gauthier, G., Genovart, M., Granadeiro, J.P., Hentati-Sundberg, J., Harris, M., Igual, J.M., Janzen, F., Keogan, K., Korpimäki, E., Kramer-Schadt, S., Kruuk, L., Lewis, S., Mallory, M., Martin, J., Massot, M., Matthysen, E., Mihoub, J.-B., Møller, A.P., Nater, C.R., Newell, M., Oppel, S., Oro, D., Ortega, S., Parejo, D., Pärt, T., Payo-Payo, A., Pemberton, J., Phillips, R.A., Pillay, N., Avilés, J.M., Rödel, H.G., Sanz-Aguilar, A., Saraux, C., Schielzeth, H., Schradin, C., Schroeder, J., Sheldon, B.C., Tavecchia, G., Tarwater, C.E., Veiberg, V., Viblanc, V.A., von Holst, D., Vriend, S.J.G., Wanless, S., Wheelwright, N., Wood, A.G., Sæther, B.-E., Jenouvrier, S., Clobert, J., Beissinger, S.R., Visser, M.E., Reed, T.E. & van de Pol, M. (2026). Changes in phenology mediate vertebrate population responses to temperature globally. Nature Communications 17: 479. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-68172-8External link
Wildermuth, B., Bröcher, M., Ladouceur, E., Meyer, S.T., Schielzeth, H., Staab, M., Achury, R., Blüthgen, N., Hertzog, L., Hines, J., Roscher, C., Schweiger, O., Weisser, W.W. & Ebeling, A. (2025). Arthropod species loss underpins biomass declines. Nature Ecology & Evolution doi: 10.1038/s41559-025-02909-yExternal link
Réale, D., Allegue, H., Araya-Ajoy , Y., Dochtermann, N., Nakagawa, S., Pick, J., Schielzeth, H., Westneat, D. & Dingemanse, N. (2025). Avoiding misleading estimates of among-individual variance caused by non-random sampling of individuals in a changeable environment. Methods in Ecology and Evolution doi: 10.1111/2041-210x.70202External link
Nakagawa, S., Westneat, D.F., Mizuno, A., Araya Ajoy, Y.G., Class, B., Dingemanse, N.J., Dochtermann, N.A., Lagisz, M., Laskowski, K., Pick, J.L., Réale, D., Williams, C., Wright, J. & Schielzeth, H. (2025). Understanding different types of repeatability and intra-class correlation for an analysis of biological variation. Journal of the Royal Society Interface doi: 10.1098/rsif.2025.0545External link
Lutgen, D., Peona, V., Chase, M.A., Alaei Kakhki, N., Lammers, F., de Souza, S.G., Ducrest, A.-L., Burri, M., Andriopoulos, P., Lukhele, S.M., Moysi, M., Yohannes, E., Abbasov, A., Albayrak, T., Aliabadian, M., Auchli, N., Bontzorlos, V., Christoforou, I., Copete, J.L., Fulco, E., Garcia, J.T., Javakhishvili, Z., Kazazou, A., Lei, F., Liu, Y., Paposhvili, N., Patchett, R., Péter, Á., Ritter, R., Sándor, A.D., Schneider, F., Shurulinkov, P., Sklyarenko, S., Stumberger, B., Tagiyev, A., Uboldi, A., Vogiatzis, N., Taborsak-Lines, F., Gruselius, J., Yao, L., Peichel, C.L., Suh, A., Gagnaire, P.-A., Kirschel, A.N.G., Schweizer, M., Schielzeth, H. & Burri, R. (2025). A mosaic of modular variation at a single gene underpins convergent plumage coloration. Science 390: eado8005. doi: 10.1126/science.ado8005External link
Bachmann, D., Buchmann, N., Ebeling, A. & Roscher, C. (2025). Traits of the leaf economics spectrum do not always relate to species biomass proportions in grassland communities of varying diversity. Ecology and Evolution 15: e72013. doi: 10.1002/ece3.72013External link
Kempel, A., Adamidis, G.C., Anadon, J.D., Atkinson, J., Auge, H., Avtzis, D., Bachelot, B., Bashirzadeh, M., Bota, J.L., Classen, A., Constantinou, I., Crawley, M., de Bellis, T., Dostal, P., Ebeling, A., Eisenhauer, N., Eldridge, D.J., Encina, G., Estrada, C., Everingham, S., Fanin, N., Feng, Y., Gaspar, M., Gooriah, L., Graff, P., Montalvan, E.G., Montalvan, P.G., Hartke, T.R., Huang, L., Jochum, M., Kaljund, K., Karmiris, I., Koorem, K., Korell, L., Laine, A.L., le Provost, G., Lessard, J.P., Liu, M., Liu, X., Liu, Y., Llancabure, J., Loiez, S., Loydi, A., Marrero, H., Gockel, S., Montoya, A., Munzbergova, Z., Niu, Y., Ott, D., Oyarzabal, M., Panitsa, M., Papatheodorou, E., Piper, F.I., Pussa, K., Rand, K., Saiz, H., Sanders, N.J., Schadler, M., Scherber, C., Semchenko, M., Sepp, S.K., Shah, M.A., Shaheen, I., Stein, C., Stewart, J., Tang, Z., Tschan, G., van Nouhuys, S., Vandegehuchte, M.L., Vernon, M., V, R.S., Wang, J., Xiao, Y., Xystrakis, F., Yang, J., Yang, S., Zografou, K. & Allan, E. (2025). The Bug-Network (BugNet): A global experimental network testing the effects of invertebrate herbivores and fungal pathogens on plant communities and ecosystem function in open ecosystems. Ecology and Evolution 15: e72111. doi: 10.1002/ece3.72111External link
Jiang, C., Varma, M., Shah, A., Palacios-Gimenez, O.M. & Schielzeth, H. (2025). Replicated differential expression analysis in a green-brown polymorphic grasshopper reveals role of beta-carotene-binding protein in body coloration. Molecular Ecology doi: 10.1111/mec.70142External link
Palacios-Gimenez, O.M., Varma, M., Cheng, X., Mosbech, M.-B., Suh, A. & Schielzeth, H. (2025). Chromosome-level assembly of the club-legged grasshopper (Gomphocerus sibiricus) genome. G3 - Genes Genomes Genetics doi: 10.1093/g3journal/jkaf231External link
Dornburger Str. 159
07743 Jena
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