Our research focusses at the interface of Evolutionary Ecology, Genetics and Functional Biodiversity research. We aim to understand the fundamental ecological, behavioral, chemical and genetic/genomic processes that drive and limit adaptive evolution to maintain ecosystem functions and wildlife health. Details on current projects, target species, methods and technologies used to achieve our goals, as well as on our team can be found here:

Prof. Dr. Simone Sommer	Conservation Genomics and EcoHealth
Prof. Dr. Manfred Ayasse	Chemical Ecology
Prof. Dr. Lena Wilfert	Functional Biodiversity
apl. Prof. Dr. Marco Tschapka	Tropical Ecology

Recently published research (2024-2025)

Doublet V, Doyle TD, Carvell C, Brown MJF, Wilfert L (2025). Host ecology and phylogeny shape the temporal dynamics of social bee viromes. Nature Communications 16: 2207. 

Melville DW, Meyer M, Risely A, Wilhelm K, Baldwin HJ, Badu EK, Nkrumah EE, Oppong SK, Schwensow N, Tschapka M, Vallo P, Corman VM, Drosten C, Sommer S (2025) Hibecovirus (genus Betacoronavirus) infection linked to gut microbial dysbiosis in bats. ISME Communications, 5(1). (https://doi.org/10.1093/ismeco/ycae154)

Meyer M, Eibner G, Heni AC, Wilhelm K, Sommer S (2025). Changes in biodiversity drive Trypanosome infections of wildlife in Panama. One Health (16.06.2025 accepted).

Müller-Klein N, Risely A, Wilhelm K, Riegel V, Manser M, Clutton-Brock T, Silver L, Santos PSC, Melville DW, Sommer S (2025) Twenty-years of Tuberculosis-driven selection on meerkat MHC. Nature Ecology & Evolution (04.06.2025 accepted).

 

 prevalence. Nature Communications.

 

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