The Department of Ecology was established in 1993 and is part of the Institute of Environmental Sciences and Environmental Technology in Faculty 2 Environment and Natural Sciences at BTU.

Research in the Department focuses on the effects of anthropogenic (e.g. climate and land use change) and natural disturbances (e.g. wildfire) on biodiversity, biotic interactions and ecosystem processes in natural, forest and agricultural ecosystems. Major research areas include the provision of ecosystem services, predator-prey interactions, litter decomposition by soil fauna, and biodiversity conservation with a focus on terrestrial invertebrates.

Teaching at the Department focuses on Bachelor's, Master's and PhD courses in the international programme "Environmental and Resource Management" and the German-language programmes "Umweltingenieurwesen" and "Landnutzung und Wasserbewirtschaftung". Courses focus on basic knowledge in ecology and biology (ecology: ecosystems, biotic interactions & nature conservation; biology: soil biology, forensics & parasitology).

Latest publications

• Agunbiade, M. B., Mawdo, J., Camara, F., Fotang, C., Tangwa, E., Oladosu, O. A., ... & Birkhofer, K. (2025). Mapping suitable habitat for Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus in one of the last West African strongholds for the species, The Gambia. Ostrich, 1-12
• Menares-Barraza, E., Markova-Nenova, N., Sturm, A., Wätzold, F., & Birkhofer, K. (2025) Cost-Effective Conservation of Multiple Goals in Grasslands: Synergies and Trade-Offs. SSRN 5206712.
• Melcher, A. C., Krehenwinkel, H., Harms, D., & Birkhofer, K. (2025). Estimating Required Sample Sizes for Gut Content Metabarcoding Studies of Dietary Diversity in Spiders. Journal of Applied Entomology.
• Bapfubusa Niyibizi, Ingrid & Addison, Pia & Birkhofer, Klaus. (2025). Effect of Pest Control Strategies on Arthropod Pests of Apple in Europe: A Meta‐Analysis. Journal of Applied Entomology 
• Saito, R., Yamanobe, H., Yabuki, K., Suzuki, T., Saito, T., Hakozaki, S., Wanner, M. ... & Sogame, Y. (2025). Salinity tolerance in resting cysts of colpodid ciliates: Comparative transcriptomics analysis and chemical analysis of cyst walls to investigate their tolerance capability. Current Research in Microbial Sciences, 8, 100371. 
• Kinga H, Damptey FG, Harms D, Jocqué R, Henrard A, Birkhofer K (2025) Active restoration of post-mining forest benefits the activity density, but not the diversity of spider communities across the seasons in Ghana. African Invertebrates 66(1): 1-18. https://doi.org/10.3897/afrinvertebr.66.138662
• Feng L, Arvidsson F, Djoudi EA, Birkhofer K (2025) Isotopic niches and diets of ground-active arthropod predators differ between a post-mining and a natural lakeshore. Food Webs 41 (2024): e00368.
• Alfeus, M., Irish, J., & Birkhofer, K. (2024). Recognition and completeness metrics from iNaturalist and GBIF can inform future citizen science and research projects: a case study on arthropods in Namibia. Research Square
• Cardoso, P., Pekar, S., Birkhofer, K., Chuang, A., Fukushima, C. S., Hebets, E. A., ... & Mammola, S. (2024). Ecosystem services provided by spiders. Authorea Preprints.
• Melcher, A. C., Weber, S., Birkhofer, K., Harms, D., & Krehenwinkel, H. (2024). To pool or not to pool: Pooled metabarcoding does not affect estimates of prey diversity in spider gut content analysis. Ecological Entomology.
• Michalko, R., Birkhofer, K., Traugott, M., & Jonsson, M. (2024). Negative intraguild interactions drive niche variation in arthropod predators. Entomologia Generalis 44: 525-534
• Menares, E., Saíz, H., Schenk, N., de la Riva, E., Krauss, J. and Birkhofer, K. (2024), Co-Occurrence Patterns Do Not Predict Mutualistic Interactions Between Plant and Butterfly Species. Ecology and Evolution 14: e70498. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70498
• Bucher, R., Batáry, P., Baudry, J., Beaumelle, L., Čerevková, A., de la Riva, E. G., ... & Birkhofer, K. (2024). Functional diversity of ground beetles improved aphid control but did not increase crop yields on European farms. Ecological Application e3035.
• Kober, K., Birkhofer, K., & Glemnitz, M. (2024). High soil moisture promotes the emergence of ground beetles and spiders from soils in wheat fields. Basic and Applied Ecology, 80, 72-80.
• Gavín-Centol, M. P., Serrano-Carnero, D., Montserrat, M., Balanzategui, I., Scheu, S., Truu, J., Birkhofer, K., ...& Moya-Laraño, J. (2024). Drought impairs detritivore feeding activity more strongly in northern than in southern European latitudes. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 199, 109594.
• Heinken, T., Blumröder, J. S., Adhikari, Y., Balthasar, C., Binder, A., Birkhofer, K., ... & Ibisch, P. L. (2024). PYROPHOB–a post-fire ecosystem research project to inform management for resilient forest development. Tuexenia 44
• Aigbedion‐Atalor, P.O., Upfold, J., Coombes, C., Moore, S., & Hill, M. (2024). Sexual selection in Thaumatotibia leucotreta (Meyrick) is shaped by contrasting geographic adaptations, but does it matter for area‐wide sex pheromone control tools?. Annals of Applied Biology.
• Aigbedion-Atalor, P. O., Fening, K. O., Adeyemi, A. O., Idemudia, I., Ojukwu, K. C., Nwobodo, M. A., ... & Oke, A. O. (2024). Regenerative edible insects for food, feed, and sustainable livelihoods in Nigeria: Consumption, potential and prospects. Future Foods, 9, 100309.
• Idemudia, I., Fening, K. O., Agboyi, L. K., Wilson, D., Clottey, V. A., Beseh, P., & Aigbedion-Atalor, P. O. (2024). First report of the predatory potential and functional response of the red flower assassin bug Rhynocoris segmentarius (Germar), a natural enemy of Spodoptera frugiperda (JE Smith). Biological Control, 191, 105465.
• Neyret, M., Le Provost, G., Boesing, A.L., Birkhofer, K.et al.A slow-fast trait continuum at the whole community level in relation to land-use intensification. Nature Communications15, 1251 (2024). doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45113-5
• Preußer, D., Fischer, T. & Juretzek, T. Effects of antibiotics ceftriaxone and levofloxacin on the growth of Protophormia terraenovae (Diptera: Calliphoridae). Forensic Sci Med Pathol (2024). doi.org/10.1007/s12024-024-00804-9
• Birkhofer, K,...Alfeus, M,...Arvidssson, F,...Djoudi, EA et al. (2024) Smallholder agriculture in African dryland agroecosystems has limited impact on trophic group composition, but affects arthropod provision of ecosystem services. Agriculture, Ecosystem and Environment 363
• Bötzl F,...Birkhofer, K,... et al. (2024) Distance functions of carabids in crop fields depend on functional traits, crop type and adjacent habitat: a synthesis. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 291