We Welcome Professor Alice Claßen to the Faculty of Biology / Chemistry

Changes in climate and land use are leading to major shifts in the Earth's biodiversity. Claßen's work focuses on the key questions of which factors determine the diversity of insect species, how their species communities and ecosystem-functions respond to climate and land-use changes, and where the limits of an organism's ability to adapt lie.

Comparing Tropical and Temperate Ecosystems

Claßen finds the comparison between tropical and temperate ecosystems particularly revealing. While some temperate insects benefit from rising temperatures, tropical organisms often already live close to their thermal limits. In the Animal Ecology research group, Alice Claßen and her team are investigating how tropical and temperate insect communities and their functions change when temperatures continue to rise and refuges are progressively lost due to the intensification of agriculture.

To do this, they usually record insect communities and their functions along mountain slopes in tropical regions such as East Africa and Peru, as well as in temperate climates. They use modern genetic analysis, measure the physical characteristics of the insects, and conduct targeted experiments in the laboratory. “The aim is to better understand the effects of global environmental changes on biodiversity and to develop approaches for the preservation of diverse and functional ecosystems,” explains Claßen.

Almost Half of All Documented Species Are Insects

Alice Claßen completed her biology degree at the Freie Universität Berlin and discovered her fascination for the complex interactions between insects early on. “Almost half of all documented species on our planet are insects. However, their diversity and biomass is steadily declining, which has massive consequences for our ecosystems.”

During her doctorate at the University of Würzburg's Chair of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, she developed a great passion for community ecology, the high mountains, and tropical ecosystems. She spent almost two years conducting research on Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, studying how climate change and land use affect pollinator communities and their ecosystem functions. For the past five years, she has led the ADAPT junior research group as part of the Bavarian Climate Research Network (bayklif), which revealed the rapid change of alpine insect communities in response to climate change in Berchtesgaden National Park.