Research

Funding: Bundesamt für Ausrüstung, Informationstechnik und Nutzung der Bundeswehr , 730.000 EUR

Project Details:
Local hospitals are generally very well supplied with sufficient quantities of erythrocytes and platelets via blood banks. However, in remote areas or war zones, the necessary infrastructure is often lacking and blood transfusions are often carried out using untested blood donations. In order to improve the storage of blood products for such situations, we are investigating the preservation of blood products through cryopreservation and lyophilization as part of the Bundeswehr's Hemoforce project.

Funding: Madagascar National Parks; Kölner Zoo, 132.620 EUR

Project Details:
The overall objective of this project is to understand the effects of forest fires on vegetation and wildlife dynamics in dry deciduous forests of western Madagascar and to model their long-term post-fire regeneration potential by applying a landscape approach. This study will build on the fire history of the last 35 years within Ankarafantsika National Park (ANP) derived from annually available remote sensing data. We aim to investigate the impact of different time spans since the last fire, fire severity and different fire intervals on forest integrity on the one hand, and on lemur population dynamics as one representative and enigmatic, forest-dependent, vertebrate group on the other hand. Lemurs are highly suitable study species in this respect, since they fulfill key ecosystem functions (e.g. pollination, seed dispersal, food-web interactions), and the presence of the complete lemur assemblage indicates intact forest habitats. This will allow a prognosis of the long-term regeneration potential of recently burnt areas. As such, this project will provide guidance for a sustainable conservation management in the region and beyond, and will help to identify preferable areas for forest restoration and therefore nature-based-solutions towards pressing environmental problems in Western Madagascar.

Results:

Rabemananjara, N.R.; Rasolozaka, M.M.; Ravolanirina, M.O.; Marivola, R.; Randriamiarantsoa, S.H.; Rakotondravony, R.; Razafindraibe, H.; Schüßler, D.; Radespiel, U. (2025): Post-fire recolonization of dry deciduous forests by lemurs in northwestern Madagascar. Biodiv. Cons. 34, 4545-4574. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-025-03167-x

 

Rasolozaka, M.; Schüßler, D.; Randriafenontsoa, J.; Andriatsitohaina, F.; Rakotomamonjy, P.; Rabarison, H.; Radespiel, U. (2025): Reconstructing the alarming fire history of Ankarafantsika National Park in northwestern Madagascar over a 35 year-period. Remote Sensing Applications: Conservation and Society, 33, 101521. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsase.2025.101521

Cooperation Partners:

Dr. Harison Rabarison, University of Antananarivo, Madagascar

Dr. Hanta Razafindraibe, University of Antananarivo, Madagascar

Dr. Romule Rakotondravony, Universitity of Mahajanga, Madagascar

Dominik Schüßler, MSc, Universität Hildesheim

Funding: EU, 267.625 EUR

Project Details:
The aim of this project is the large-scale, automated welfare monitoring of animal-based indicators at the slaughterhouse, that are related to welfare on-farm, during (un)loading, transport, and slaughter. Novel sensors will be developed and tested to measure these indicators, so data can be collected continuously and automatically.
More Informationen: https://www.awish-project.eu/

Cooperation Partners:

24 Partner aus 13 Europäischen Ländern. Koordination: ILVO, Belgien

Funding: BfN, 1.933.080 EUR

Project Details:
As top predators, marine mammals are an important component of marine ecosystems. They are under increasing pressure from anthropogenic activities such as fisheries, offshore wind energy development, shipping traffic, etc. The survey and assessment of their populations and precise knowledge of their distribution patterns, habitat requirements and population trends are prerequisites for their effective protection and sensible protected area management.
Within the framework of this project, the collection of new data along the analysis of existing data sets will contribute significantly to the knowledge required for the consideration of fundamental ecological relationships and are of high scientific value. Habitat-based models are used to investigate which abiotic, biotic and anthropogenic factors fundamentally influence the occurrence and distribution of marine mammals. Population dynamics models will provide information on the influence of various stressors on the development of harbour porpoise populations. These models will provide simulations of future population trends assuming different pressures from anthropogenic stressors and can, thus, inform the development of adequate management measures. HABITATWal will also integrate the German contribution to the international SCANS-IV survey in summer 2002, when regionally coordinated visual surveys in the shelf and offshore waters of the European Atlantic will be conducted to generate robust abundance estimates for regularly occurring cetacean species. Detailed information on the acoustic and visual occurrence and density of minke whales and other cetacean species will be collected through a dedicated shipboard survey on the Dogger Bank and an annual monitoring will be developed. In addition, the expansion of the recording methods in large-scale monitoring is to be accompanied scientifically. This also includes a feasibility study on the possible addition of a passive-acoustic monitoring (PAM) network in the German North Sea.

Funding: MWK Niedersachsen, 48.510 EUR

Project Details:
As part of this project, in addition to the regular physics lecture, a real escape room is being developed for students in the teaching building on the subject of physics, in which they can apply and test the knowledge they have learned in the lecture in a problem-oriented manner. For this purpose, the subject matter is packed into 10 small, creative puzzles that cover important topics from the fields of mechanics, electromagnetism, thermodynamics, waves and oscillations as well as optics.

Results:

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-025-05186-w

Project Details:
The aim of this work is to determine the properties of the Giese salt in order to arrive at a contemporary classification of the Giese salt in the group of Prussian blue compounds/iron(III) hexacyanidoferrate(II/III), sometimes AFe3+[Fe2+(CN) 6] xH2O, (A = K, Na, NH4). Ammonium ferric hexacyanoferrate is a veterinary-medical milestone and antidote against radiocesium, well-known as Giese-salt after the Chernobyl disaster fed to domestic and wild animals, which shows even a rich interplay of properties in nanostructural chemistry and ferromagnetism. Among the broad analytical techniques, the ambivalence of macroscopic micrometer-sized agglomerates and nanoparticle sizes, a suggested enlarged Fe(II)-CN-Fe(III) bond length by Fe K-edge XAFS results and multi-level spin relaxation in Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy are highlighted. This sets this underestimated compound in a new light, e.g., for modern biomedicine and biofunctionality, extending its essential importance in addition to hypothetical future nuclear incidents. Furthermore, the synthesis of Prussian blue nanoparticles is investigated.

Results:

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2601.03313

Cooperation Partners:

Dr. D. A. Motz, Leibniz Universität Hannover

S. Praetz, TU Berlin

Prof. Dr. B. Kanngießer, TU Berlin

K. Strecker, TU Bergakademie Freiberg

Prof. Dr. C. Vogt, TU Bergakademie Freiberg

F. Seewald, TU Dresden

Prof. H.-H. Klauss, TU Dresden

Funding: Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz, 263.131 EUR

Project Details:
The Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) is a strictly protected species whose populations in Germany are recovering in some areas (Ackermann, 2013). In the 19th century, the otter still showed a nearly area-wide distribution throughout Europe. However, habitat destruction, pollution of water bodies, and heavy hunting of the otter, which was considered a "fishery pest,"" caused a severe decline of this species until the 1970s. Thus, the otter was considered almost extinct in Germany at that time. In Lower Saxony, only isolated occurrences were known in the southern heath. It is therefore on the red list of endangered species nationwide, including in the state of Lower Saxony. By revitalization measures of its habitats the otter could already spread out again in the eastern Lower Saxony nearly area-wide. In order to get a realistic overview of the number of otters in the area of the FFH area ""Lutter, Lachte, Aschau"", a standardized survey of the local population should be carried out. It is therefore the aim to carry out a targeted monitoring in the study area in addition to precise mapping methods and to draw conclusions on the occurrence and feeding behavior of otters occurring there with the help of food and genetic analyses. The study also includes the recording of existing management measures in fisheries management as well as new developments in this area. "

Funding: Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz, 1.012.110 EUR

Project Details:
The increase in population densities of leads to conflicts of different actors in rural areas. In the future, forests in Lower Saxony will be transformed to cope with changing climatic conditions. High densities of cloven-hoofed game and especially local large pack formation can be detrimental to such regeneration of forest systems.

In this project, it will be discussed whether and for which reasons large packs are formed in cloven-hoofed game populations in Lower Saxony. For this purpose, the occurrence of wolves in different project areas will also be considered as a possible influencing factor.

In three subprojects:
The activity in space and time as well as population densities and abundances of roe deer, red deer and fallow deer will be determined.
Analyze the dietary components of wolves on the basis of loosening finds.
Trends in the occurrence of cloven-hoofed game and the opinion of hunters in the hunting grounds of Lower Saxony on possible influences will be presented with the help of wildlife surveys.

Funding: DFG, 242.660 EUR

Project Details:
Aposematism is the association between a bright warning colouration and a defence mechanism, (e.g. toxins) for avoiding predation. The genetics of colouration and toxicity in aposematic animals is still not well investigated. In this context, the diversity of alkaloids in the skin and colouration patterns linked to predator avoidance strategies in Neotropical poison frogs is an exciting opportunity to study the convergence of ecological adaptation. Poison frogs differ in colouration patterns and toxicity among populations and strong evidence exists that aposematism is adaptive, probably driven by predator selection. For the strawberry frog Oophaga pumilio, we were able to show that genes related to pigment metabolism (e.g. pteridinene) are differently expressed between color morphs. The next objective is to connect the structure of cells containing pigment (chromatophores), the chromatographic characterization of color pigments and alkaloids, expression patterns of genes that are involved in coloration and toxicity for three color-polymorphic, neotropical poison dart frogs of the genus Oophaga.

For our project, we will collect skin and liver samples from eight populations with either green or red colouration in Panama and Costa Rica. Together with collaborators from the University of Costa Rica, the TiHo, the University of Cambridge and STRI in Panama we will characterize the chromatophores in the skin by electron microscopy, analyse the colour pigments and toxins in the skin by gas chromatography, and will perform RNAseq analysis on dorsal skin-derived cDNA. We expect that expression levels of genes in pigment (e.g. carotenoid pathways) and alkaloid metabolism to vary among different colour morphs (red vs. green) but to be similar within colour morphs across species due to convergence. Our study will lead to a better understanding of the link between geno- and phenotypes of adaptive anti-predator strategies and illuminate the evolution of regulatory mechanisms of gene expression.

Results:

Kehrt LF, Vasquez V, Mora-Machado A, Mantzana-Oikonomaki V, Ibáñez R, Rodriguez A, Pröhl H, Tamayo-Castillo G. Alkaloid profiles in red and green color morphs of Neotropical poison frogs: untangling aposematic strategies in Oophaga granulifera and O. pumilio. Scientific Reports (in revision).

 

Mantzana-Oikonomaki V, Tamayo-Castillo G, Zamora Ramirez WJ, Ibáñez R, Pröhl H, Ariel Rodríguez A (2025) Gene expression and histological differences drive color divergence in the Panamanian poison frog Oophaga vicentei. Molecular Ecology 35: e70214. doi.org/10.1111/ mec.70214

 

Méndez-Rivera M, Ramírez-Morales D, Mora-Machado A, Pröhl H, Rodríguez A, Okada T, Toyooka N, Ibáñez R, Rodríguez-Rodríguez CE, Tamayo-Castillo G (2025) Acute toxicity of skin-homologues synthethic alkaloids and frog-skin extracts: miniaturized test to evaluate toxicity with Daphnia magna. Toxicon 268: 108599. doi.org/10.1016/j.toxicon.2025.108599

 

Mantzana-Oikonomaki V, Rodríguez A, Castillo-Tamayo G, Ibáñez R, Pröhl H (2024) Predator perception of aposematic and cryptic color morphs in two Oophaga species. Ecology and Evolution, 14: e70351. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70351

 

Monteiro JPC, Ibáñez R, Mantzana-Oikonomaki V, Pröhl H, Rodríguez A (2023) Genetic diversity of Oophaga vincentei (Anura: Dendrobatidae) and taxonomic position of a remarkable color morph from Panama. Salamandra 59: 347-351

Cooperation Partners:

Dr. Giselle Tamayo, UCR, Costa Rica

Dr. Beatriz Willink, UCR, Costa Rica

Dr. Nicolas Mundy, University of Cambridge, UK

Dr. Roberto Ibañéz, STRI, Panama

Funding: Fritz-Ahrberg-Stiftung, 25.000 EUR

Project Details:
The decontamination of surfaces in the food industry poses major challenges for food manufacturers. On the one hand, the decontamination method must be effective; on the other hand, it must not negatively affect the properties of the food, which usually comes into contact with the cleaned surface. Chemical disinfectants are often effective, but they carry the risk of leaving residues that can be transferred to the food. Alternative sterilization methods, such as various types of radiation, often do not reach all corners and niches. Microorganisms can then settle in these risk areas and form biofilms under certain conditions. If the microorganisms colonize in biofilms, cleaning becomes even more challenging, as the matrix formed acts as a protective film. The proposed project therefore aims to investigate the potential of cold plasma as a disinfectant for cleaning surfaces in the food industry. Cold plasma can be applied directly to surfaces as PPA (plasma processed air) or converted into PAW (plasma activated water) and applied in a similar way to a disinfectant solution. Reactive species (charged molecules, ions, free electrons, radicals, and photons) have a broad spectrum of bactericidal activity in both processes. Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus (pathogens), E. coli (hygiene parameter), and Pseudomonas aeroginosa (spoilage organism) will be used as model organisms in this research project. First, the effect of both plasma variants on the individual germs will be investigated in vitro to determine adequate exposure times and device settings. Subsequently, various food contact surfaces (stainless steel, plastic, and glass plates) will be inoculated with the model organisms and treated with plasma or plasma water to analyze corresponding matrix effects. In a further work package, the potential of both plasma variants for destroying biofilms is investigated. Pseudomonads are very persistent germs in food businesses that can colonize surfaces, corners, and niches, where they form slimy biofilms. This biofilm matrix can subsequently lead to the colonization of pathogenic germs such as Listeria monocytogenes or Staphylococcus aureus. A model for the cultivation of such biofilms on the corresponding surfaces is therefore being established. After successful cultivation, it will be investigated whether plasma treatment is capable of damaging or destroying these biofilms.

Cooperation Partners:

emeritierter Direktor des Max-Planck-Institutes für Extraterrestrische Physik und jetzigem CEO der terraplasma GmbH, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. G. Morfill, und dessen Mitarbeitern in Garching bei München, hinsichtlich der technischen Ausgestaltung des Plasmagerätes