Research interests

• Functional diversity of vertebrates
• Avian canopy research
• Resource use and foraging behavior of birds

 

 

 

 

Scientific projects

Within the large-scale DFG-project of the “Exploratories for functional biodiversity research” the aim of my study is to determine the impact of land use gradients in forest and grassland ecosystems on the structure of local bird assemblages and the activity and resource use of selected species at three sites in Germany.

Birds comprise large-ranging and mobile species that actively move in the landscape and thus play an important role in linking habitat patches with different land use. Assemblage diversity and activity patterns are driven by patch attributes at the local scale and features of the landscape matrix on a regional scale. The functional impact of birds in different patches is largely determined by their activity patterns, which are assumed to be influenced by biodiversity and resource availability.

My main objectives are:

(1) Bird and bat diversity and abundance across land use gradients (monitoring & georeferencing of observational data)

(2) Resource availability and utilisation in hedge breeding birds (mist-netting, biometry, regurgitation, and diet analysis)

(3) The functional role of birds in arboreal food webs (exclusion experiments, canopy fogging, and phytometric analysis)

Publications

Jung K, Kaiser S, Böhm SM, Nieschulze J, Kalko EKV (2012) Moving in three dimensions: effects of structural complexity on occurrence and activity of insectivorous bats in managed forest stands. J Appl Ecol 49:523-531

Böhm SM, Wells K, Kalko EKV (2011) Top-down control of herbivory by birds and bats in the canopy of temperate broad-leaved oaks (Quercus robur). Plos ONE 6:e17857

Wells K, Böhm SM, Boch S, Fischer M, Kalko EKV (2011) Local and landscape-scale forest attributes differ in their impact on bird assemblages across years in forest production landscapes. Basic and Applied Ecology 12:97–106

Böhm S, Kalko EKV (2009) Patterns of resource use in an assemblage of birds in the canopy of a temperate alluvial forest. J Ornithol 150:799–814

</dir></dir>

Conference contributions

Böhm SM (2010) Vogelmonitoring entlang eines Landnutzungsgradienten. Wie beeinflussen Flächennutzung und Bewirtschaftungsintensität den Artenreichtum in drei Regionen Deutschlands? Talk presented at the 2nd Bavarian Ornithologists`Meeting (2. Bayerische Ornithologentage) of the Ornithological Society of Bavaria, Leipheim, Germany.

Böhm SM, Jung K, Kalko EKV (2009) Einfluss der Landnutzung auf die Aktivität von Fledermäusen in drei Regionen Deutschlands – ein Zwischenbericht. Poster presented at the „Albsymposium“, Bad Urach, Germany.

Böhm SM (2009) Vögel im Biodiversitäts-Exploratorium Schwäbische Alb. Talk presented at the „Albsymposium“, Bad Urach, Germany.

Böhm SM, Wells K, Kalko EKV (2009) Herbivorie im Kronendach – Vögel und Fledermäuse kontrollieren Pflanzen fressende Arthropoden und damit den Verlust an Biomasse. Poster presented at the Annual meeting of the German Ornithologist Union (DO-G), Pörtschach, Austria

Böhm SM (2009) Vögel im Fokus der Biodiverstiätsforschung (DFG-Projekt Biodiversity Exploratories) Talk presented at the annual meeting of the Ornithological Union Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart, Germany

Böhm SM, Kalko EKV (2007) Niche partitioning, resource use and foraging behaviour of birds in the canopy of a temperate alluvial forest. Talk presented at the 6^th European Ornithologists’ Union Conference (EOC), Vienna, Austria

Böhm SM, Wells K, Pfeiffer S, Kalko EKV (2007) Integrating birds in functional biodiversity research: a large-scale experiment across land use gradients in Germany. Poster presented at the 6^th European Ornithologists’ Union Conference (EOC), Vienna, Austria