Dr. Carsten Brühl

News

WDR 5 broadcasted recently a piece on the sustainability of palm oil in their Leonardo series where Alexandra Hostert also interviewed me in Landau. It gives you an idea about the different view points in a complex subject. (Link, in German)

Rain forest researchers also give you their impressions of work in the forest. (Link)

Enjoy!

Person

I studied Biology at the Julius-Maximilians University Würzburg and Duke University (North Carolina, USA) with a focus on Tropical Biology and Animal Ecology and received in 2001 a PhD for my thesis on forest management impacts on ant biodiversity in tropical rain forests. I then worked as a study director and team leader in Ecotoxicology in the agrochemical industry in Switzerland and England. Since 2006 I am leading the section on Community Ecology and Ecotoxicology at the Institute for Environmental Sciences of the University of Koblenz-Landau.

Teaching

• Aquatic and Terrestrial Ecology

• Terrestrial Ecotoxicology

• Methods in Ecotoxicology & Good Laboratory Practice

• Multi-variate Statistics & GIS in Applied Ecology

Research Interests

My research is concerned with multiple stressors in agricultural landscapes, with a focus on the effects of pesticides on terrestrial biodiversity. I am also working on ecological aspects and biogeographic patterns of ants in SE Asia and their use in conservation management.

Current Research Projects

• bap (biodiversity assessment of pesticides): Biodiversity protection in the regulation of environmental risks of pesticides (Research and development project funded by the Federal Environment Agency Germany). (Melanie Hahn) more Info

• Bats in the agricultural landscape – direct and indirect effects of pesticides and management practice. (Peter Stahlschmidt) more Info

• The influence of pesticides and fertiliser on the fauna and flora of a surrogate field margin. (Juliane Schmitz) more Info

• Beta diversity patterns of ants in Borneo. more Info

Supervised studies

Current studies

• Effects of different herbicides on host plant quality for phytophagous insects. (Martin Geisthardt) more Info

• Snail diversity in field margins in the agricultural landscape. (Klaus Swarowsky) more Info

• Assessment of agricultural management on leafhopper and planthopper communities in field margins. (Timo Felix)

• Mapping and extrapolating Beta diversity of ants in Borneo. (Tobias Reich) more Info

• Development of a pollen feeding design for the ecotoxicological risk assessment of the honey bee. (Jörg Staffel)

• A modelling approach for the movement of amphibians in the agricultural landscape and their exposure towards pesticides. (Patrick Lenhardt)
  

• Caterpillar diversity in field margins of different crops (Annalena Schotthöfer) more Info

Former studies

• Pesticide effects on terrestrial non-target plants (Bianca Vielhauer) more Info

• The diversity and abundance of nocturnal insects in the agricultural landscape with a focus on moths (Melanie Hahn) more Info

• The exposure of grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Saltatoria) towards the drift of pesticides (Rebecca Pierstorf) more Info

• The effects of pesticides drift on phytophagous insects with a focus on grasshoppers and butterflies – a literature review (Juliane Schmitz) more Info

• Pesticide Riskassessement for non-target arthropods: a comparison of the sensitivity of Drosophila funebris and Drosophila melanogaster against Aphidius rhopalosiphi (Stefan Kimmel)

• Food ecology of the wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) : de-husking behaviour and its impact on seed treatment risk assessment (Bernd Guckenmus) more Info

• Evaluating arthropods in bufferstrips in the agricultural landscape: Food availability for amphibians (Brigitte Weber) more Info

• Composition of the amphibian community in rain water retention ponds (Silke Bischof)

Functions

• I chaired sessions on Terrestrial Ecotoxicology, Pesticide Risk Assessment and Biodiversity at SETAC (Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry) meetings and was a board member and acting president of the German Language Branch of SETAC. I organised the SETAC GLB 2006 and the recent 2011 annual conference in Landau and run the module on landscape effects in its postgraduate course on Ecotoxicology together with Ralf Schulz.

• I am involved in EFSA (Environmental Food and Safety Agency, Europe) working groups and in the current organising committee of ESCORT3, that evaluates the risk assessment procedures of pesticides towards arthropods.

• On the ant side of things I am very proud to be part of ANeT, the International Network for the Study of Asian Ants, where I participate in the editorial board of the international journal ‘Asian Myrmecology’.

Selected publications

for a paper request please contact Dr. Carsten Brühl

• Carsten A. Brühl, Silvia Pieper and Brigitte Weber (online early) Amphibians at risk? - Susceptibility of terrestrial amphibian life stages to pesticides. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 30 (10).

• Clinton N. Jenkins, Nathan J. Sanders, Alan N. Andersen, Xavier Arnan, Carsten A. Brühl, Xim Cerda, Aaron M. Ellison, Brian L. Fisher, Matthew C. Fitzpatrick, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Aaron D. Gove, Benoit Guénard, John E. Lattke, Jean-Philippe Lessard, Terrence P. McGlynn, Sean B Menke, Catherine L. Parr, Stacy M. Philpott , Heraldo L. Vasconcelos, Michael D. Weiser & Robert R. Dunn (2011) Global diversity in light of climate change: the case of ants. Diversity and Distributions. 1-11. DOI: 10.1111/j.1472-4642.2011.00770.x

• Christin Schütz, Gert Berger, Brigitte Weber & Carsten Brühl (2011) Wirkung von Pflanzenschutzmitteln auf Amphibien, 219-230. In: Gert Berger, Holger Pfeffer & Thomas Kalettka (Eds.) Amphibienschutz in kleingewässerreichen Ackerbaugebieten. Verlag Natur und Text, Rangsdorf (384 pp).

• William F. Laurance, D. Carolina Useche, Luke P. Shoo, Sebastian K. Herzog, Michael Kessler, Federico Escobar, Gunnar Brehm, Jan C. Axmacher, I. Ching Chen, Lucrecia Arellano Gámez, Peter Hietz, Konrad Fiedler, Tomasz Pyrcz, Jan Wolf, Christopher L. Merkord, Catherine Cardelus, Andrew R. Marshall, Claudine Ah-Peng, Gregory H. Aplet, M. del Coro Arizmendi, William J. Baker, John Barone, Carsten A. Brühl, Rainer W. Bussmann, Daniele Cicuzza, Gerald Eilu, Mario E. Favila, Andreas Hempz, Claudia Hempz, Jürgen Homeier, Johanna Hurtado, Jill Jankowski, Gustavo Kattán, Jürgen Kluge, Thorsten Krömer, David C. Lees, Marcus Lehnert, John T. Longino, Jon Lovett, Patrick H. Martin, Bruce D. Patterson, Richard G. Pearson, Kelvin S.-H. Peh, Barbara Richardson, Michael Richardson, Michael Samways, Feyera Senbeta, Thomas B. Smith, Tim Utteridge, James E. Watkins, Rohan Wilson, Stephen E. Williams & Chris D. Thomas (2011) Global warming, elevational ranges and the vulnerability of tropical biota. Biological Conservation 144, 548–557. DOI 10.1016/j.biocon.2010.10.010

• Carsten A. Brühl, Bernd Guckenmus, Markus Ebeling & Ralf Barfknecht (2011) Exposure reduction of seed treatments through dehusking behaviour of the wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus). Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 18, 31-37. DOI 10.1007/s11356-010-0351-x

• Carsten A. Brühl & Thomas Eltz (2010) Fuelling the crisis: Species loss of ground-dwelling forest ants in oil palm plantations in Sabah, Malaysia (Borneo). Biodiversity & Conservation. 19:519–529. DOI 10.1007/s10531-009-9596-4

• Robert R. Dunn, Donat Agosti, Alan N. Andersen, Xavier Arnan, Carsten A. Bruhl, Xim Cerda, Aaron M. Ellison, Brian L. Fisher, Matthew C. Fitzpatrick, Heloise Gibb, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Aaron D. Gove, Benoit Guenard, Milan Janda, Michael E. Kaspari, Edward J. Laurent, Jean-Philippe Lessard, John T. Longino, Jonathan D. Majer, Sean B. Menke, Terrence P. McGlynn, Catherine L. Parr, Stacy M. Philpott, Martin Pfeiffer, Javier Retana, Andrew V. Suarez, Heraldo L. Vasconcelos, Michael D. Weiser, Nathan J. Sanders (2009) Climatic Drivers of Hemispheric Asymmetry in Global Patterns of Ant Species Richness. Ecology Letters 12, 324-333.

• Finn Danielsen, Hendrien Beukema, Neil D. Burgess, Faizal Parish, Carsten A. Brühl, Paul F. Donald, Daniel Murdiyarso, Ben Phalan, Lucas Reijnders, Matthew J. Struebig & Emily B. Fitzherbert (2009) Biofuel Plantations on Forested Lands: Double Jeopardy for Biodiversity and Climate. Conservation Biology 23 (2), 348-358.

• Emily B. Fitzherbert, Matthew J. Struebig, Alexandra Morel, Finn Danielsen, Carsten A. Brühl, Paul F. Donald & Ben Phalan (2008). How will oil palm expansion affect biodiversity? Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 23, 538-545.

• Tobias O. Bickel, Carsten A. Brühl, Jürgen R. Gadau, Bert Hölldobler & K. Eduard Linsenmair (2006) Influence of habitat fragmentation on the genetic variability in leaf litter ant populations in tropical rainforests of Sabah, Borneo. Biodiversity and Conservation, 15, 157-175.

• Carsten A. Brühl, Renja Ohliger, Agnes Sporer, Henner Hollert und Ralf Schulz (2006): 11. Jahrestagung der SETAC-GLB in Landau - Umweltwissenschaften: Umweltchemie und Ökotoxikologie im Kontext (3.–5. September 2006 in Landau, Pfalz) Umweltwissenschaften und Schadstofforschung - Zeitschrift für Umwelchemie und Ökotoxikologie 18, 289-291.

• Armin P. Moczek, Carsten A. Brühl & Frank T. Krell (2004) Linear and threshold-dependent expression of secondary sexual traits in the same individual: insights from a horned beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 83, 473-480.

• Thomas Eltz, Carsten A. Brühl, Zamri Imiyabir & K. Eduard Linsenmair (2003) Nesting and nest trees of stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) in lowland dipterocarp forests in Sabah, Malaysia, with implications for forest management. Forest Ecology and Management 172: 301-313.

• Carsten A. Brühl & Frank T. Krell (2003) Finding a rare resource: Bornean Scarabaeoidea (Coleoptera) attracted by defensive secretions of Diplopoda. The Coleopterists Bulletin, 57 (1): 51-55.

• Carsten A. Brühl, Thomas Eltz & K. Eduard Linsenmair (2003) Size does matter -Fragmentation of tropical rain forests in Sabah Malaysia and the effects on the leaf litter ant community. Biodiversity and Conservation, 12: 1371-1389.

• Thomas Eltz, Carsten A. Brühl, Sander Van der Kaars & K. Eduard Linsenmair (2002) Determinants of stingless bee nest density in lowland dipterocarp forests of Sabah, Malaysia. Oecologia, 131 (1), 27-34..

• Carsten A. Brühl (2001) Leaf litter ant communities in tropical lowland rain forests in Sabah, Malaysia: effects of forest disturbance and fragmentation. Ph. D. thesis, Julius-Maximilians-Universität, Würzburg. 160 pp.

• K. Eduard Linsenmair & Carsten A. Brühl (2001) Luxury or necessity: on some aspects of the functional significance of biodiversity. Contributions to Global Change Research, German National Committee on Global Change Research, Bonn. 67-79.

• Carsten A. Brühl, Maryati Mohamed & K. Eduard Linsenmair (1999) Altitudinal distribution of leaf litter ants along a transect in primary forests on Mount Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 15, 265-277.

• Matja Gogala, Yong Hoi-Sen & Carsten A. Brühl (1998) Maternal care in Pygoplatys bugs (Heteroptera: Tesseratomidae). European Journal of Entomology, 95, 311-315.

• Carsten A. Brühl, Gunik Gunsalam & K. Eduard Linsenmair(1998) Stratification of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in a primary rain forest in Sabah, Borneo. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 14, 285-297.

• Carsten A. Brühl (1997) Flightless insects: a test case for historical relationships of African mountains. Journal of Biogeography, 24, 233-250.

• Carsten A. Brühl (1996) Ameisenzönosen in einem Primärwaldgradienten am Mount Kinabalu, Borneo: Höhenverbreitung und Stratifizierung. Diploma thesis, Julius-Maximilians-Universität, Würzburg. 136 pp.

Contact Details

Dr. Carsten Brühl
Institute of Environmental Sciences
University of Koblenz-Landau
Fortstrasse 7, Room CI 101a
76829 Landau Germany
Phone: 0049-6341-280-31310
Fax: 0049-6341-280-31326