Team

• 2020 Appointment to the Advisory Council for Nature Conservation of the Ministry of Environment, Energy, Food and Forestry Rhineland-Palatinate

• 2019 Call to the University of Kassel (not accepted)

• 2017 Habilitation and conferment of teaching authorization at the University of Essen, Faculty of Biology
• since 2017 Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Protection, University of Applied Science Trier, Environmental Campus Birkenfeld
• 2016 - 2017 Scientific head, research on ecosystems "Anlage Eußerthal" and team leader of fish ecology group University of Koblenz-Landau
• 2009 - 2016 Researcher at Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt
• 2005 - 2009 PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) University of Konstanz
• 1999-2005 Study of biology (diploma)  University of Freiburg and University Center on Svalbard (Spitzbergen, Norway)

List of publications before starting work at the Umwelt-Campus

As a scientific assistant, my work primarily involves collecting, analyzing, and identifying macrozoobenthic samples. I also assist with projects such as the monitoring project on the Ahr River (MonAHR), the long-term ecological monitoring in the national park and at the Steinbach Dam in Kempfeld, as well as the collaborative project with the Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, and Mobility (MKUEM). Together with my colleague Maria Gockel, I also supervise and coordinate the crayfish project, which focuses on the occurrence of both noble crayfish and stone crayfish.

In addition, I lead the “WasserWissensExkursion” at the WasserWissensWerk. Here, I help interested citizens learn more about the stream habitat and the importance of the creatures living there.

I also enjoy helping out with various ecological projects within my research group.

Projects: Crayfish Project, National Park Monitoring, Reservoir Monitoring

Mail: i.janke[@]umwelt-campus[.]dePhone: +49 (0)678217-1940

For my PhD, I am exploring ways of to increase the efficiency of insect monitoring and insect conservation. My research focuses on butterflies, that are currently facing a decline in Europe.

Ecologists can choose from various types of insect trap when conducting their field studies. My studies investigate differences in the butterfly catch of these trap types (Publication). My research will help ecologists to interpret their data using a particular trap type, and compare insect data generated using different traps across studies. Further, I am conducting research into combining different insect trap types, e.g. traps for aerial and ground-dwelling insects, to avoid duplicates in the catch, reduce costs and enhance the validity of the data (Publication). DNA metabarcoding also enables ecologists to accelerate the insect identification process by automatically identifying the insect DNA in the samples. However, a validation of the method is needed to better interpret the data generated by this new method. Thus, I compare DNA metabarcoding taxa lists and expert taxa lists to identify differences between the methods.

Given the various applications of AI in research, I am involved in developing an AI-based insect monitoring station. This station enables new analyses of the interactions between insect activity and weather as it documents the insect flight at high resolution and identifies insect photos using a self-trained AI model.

Having studied renewable energies, one of my main interests is researching synergies between biomass cultivation and insect conservation. Therefore, I am investigating insects in different life stages of poplar plantations (Short rotation coppices) to explore whether insect populations differ between the life stages. If so, I can develop new strategies for optimising the cultivation of these plantations, for example by stating that having different life stages in an agricultural landscape can help maximise insect diversity.

Contact: l.hoffmann[@]umwelt-campus[.]de, telephone: 06782 17-​1934

I am a project manager in the "Eel Monitoring" research project, which is investigating the feasibility and economic viability of an AI-supported system for automatic eel detection in flowing waters. In cooperation with the hydropower plant operator and sponsor RWE Generation SE, sonar systems will be installed at selected locations on the Moselle to make various objects and structures - including fish - visible underwater. An AI can then analyze the video material and differentiate between flotsam and fish (e.g. eel). Even though hydropower is considered green energy, the impact on the surrounding ecosystem is enormous. For river creatures in particular, such as the endangered European eel, such structures often represent obstacles that are difficult to overcome and lead to a high mortality rate. Initially, the system developed will be used to validate current eel migration forecasting models; in the future, AI-supported control of the hydropower plants is conceivable. This would allow the turbines to be switched off at the peak of the eel migration in autumn to ensure the safe transit of the eels.

I am currently completing my Master's degree in Applied Computer Science at the Environmental Campus.

My master's thesis will also deal with the topic of AI-supported fish detection using sonar systems, in line with the research project.

I am particularly interested in the use of modern technologies such as AI for the purposes of environmental and species protection, which is why I decided to work at the intersection of computer science and biology. I am also a very nature-loving person in my private life and enjoy every field assignment as a change from office work.

Project: Eel-Monitoring

Email: l.seemann[@]umwelt-campus[.]de

Phone number: +49 6782 17-1531

As a scientific assistant, I support various projects, mainly on the River Ahr (MonAHR), the crayfish monitoring, long-term monitoring within the Hunsrück-Hochwald National Park and regular water ecology studies at the Steinbach Reservoir. I am involved in sampling and subsequently analysing and identifying macrozoobenthos species.

As a research assistant, I work on the MonAhr project.

We are monitoring the restoration of the Ahr river from an ecological perspective following the extreme floods in 2021.

In this context, my doctoral thesis focuses on the recolonisation of the Ahr by macrozoobenthos (MZB) and fish.
I aim to identify refugial areas from which the species spread again after a population collapse.

I am also interested in the role of mesohabitats in the recolonisation process.
Based on the diversity of the species community and the number of individuals of MZB and fish, I plan to draw conclusions about the water quality.

In a final step, the mesohabitat composition will be scrutinised and the effects of changes to this on the species communities and the ecological assessment will be discussed.

As a scientific assistant in the ecology lab I work on a diverse set of topics and projects in science and education. The focus of my work lies on the analysis of ecological data from streams in and around the Nationalpark Hunsrück Hochwald and determination of aquatic invertebrates.
At the moment I am involved with the following topics and projects: long term ecological monitoring of streams in the national park, ecological monitoring of the Steinbach Reservoir, ecological assessment of stream restorations and “BlauPlus” projects, the school project “Our Common Future” of the Robert Bosch Foundation as well as the creation of information panels at a restoration site.
For my Phd at the University of Koblenz-Landau I investigate distribution patterns of the killer shrimp (Dikerogammarus villosus). I am particularly interested in the effect of environmental factors on biotic interactions and the formation of stable distribution barriers for D. villosus.
Projects: NATIONAL PARK MONITORING Monitoring Steinbach reservoir Our Common Future 

Contact: w.remmers[@]umwelt-campus[.]de  Phone: +49 (0)6782 17 1958