Conservation Biology of Amphibians

Our research interests focus on animal conservation biology. We are particularly interested in research that is of direct relevance for conservation practitioners. We work on the demography, population dynamics and distribution of amphibians because we believe that a better understanding of the natural and anthropogenic factors that determine distribution and abundance is the key to successful conservation. Our main goal is to better understand the long-term dynamics of amphibian populations and distributions. We use mark-recapture analysis methods to estimate vital rates, time series analysis to identify the drivers of population dynamics and site occupancy models to analyze distributions. We are also interested in methods that can be used to survey and monitor animal populations. Recently, we started to work on the emerging amphibian disease chytridiomycosis.

Head of group: Dr. Benedikt Schmidt

Research themes

• Demography, dynamics and distribution of amphibian populations: How do amphibian populations function? What are the spatial and temporal dynamics?
• Methods for surveying and monitoring animal populations: How can we reliably survey and monitor animal populations?
• The ecology of the emerging amphibian disease chytridiomycosis: How does this disease affect individual amphibians and amphibian populations? How can we mitigate the effects of the disease?