Doctoral candidate
Multitrophic interactions in a landscape context
Tel: +49 (0)711 / 459-23605
e-mail: sara.tassoni@uni-hohenheim.de
Research Interests
· Biodiversity conservation
· Land-use change
· Species interactions
It all started with two passions of mine: nature and food. During my undergraduate studies, I soon realized that the way we are now living is not good both for us and the environment. Our overpopulation and high demand for resources have driven other species into peril. Their natural habitats have been continuously converted into highly human-modified systems and only species that are tolerant to high levels of disturbance can survive or even thrive and outnumber others. We are already experiencing the effects of ecosystem degradation due to biodiversity loss and climate change (pollution, decreased flood control, human and wildlife health risks, altered food provision, etc.). I am interested in developing measures to decrease our pressure on land and increase the life-supporting capability of ecosystems.
This brought me to study in Hohenheim and for my Master's thesis, I investigated the effects of tree-microhabitats on bat and bird communities on 100 public squares in Munich City. Tree-microhabitats have been shown to have a positive effect on biodiversity in forests, but (at least, at the time of writing) there was no knowledge about their effects in urban contexts. I found out that microhabitats were not very good predictors for bat and bird occurrence in cities, but that larger landscape elements were more important. Large and greener squares that were distant from the city centre and surrounded by more greenery could host more bats and birds.
In my PhD project, I want to understand how landscape complexity affects the structure of ecological networks across different habitats (semi-natural and agricultural). The landscape is shaped to satisfy the needs and desires of only one species (ours) and has become very simplified. I will try to answer questions, like 'Which effects have different land-use on ecological communities?', 'How do different species and guilds interact with each other across different habitats?', 'What do communities and ecosystems need to keep thriving in land-shared landscapes, and what can we do in practice to help them?'.
