Research My reserch focusses mainly on the biology of oribatid mites. This diverse and abundant group of chelicerates presents an interesting model system for studying the evolution and maintenance of parthenogenesis, predator-prey interactions in soil food-webs, food processing of low-quality decomposing matter, functional morphology and biomechanics of miniaturized organisms, just to name some... I'm particularly interested in the developmental and evolutionary biology of ancient parthenogenetic oribatid mite lineages, their evolutionary age, their  diversification, their reproductive biology, their chemical ecology, their ecological role in soil food-webs and their functional morphology. I use molecular techniques, histological techniques with light microscopy, transmission and scanning electron microscopy, X-ray synchrotron micro-tomography and micro-holotomography, (high-speed)-videography, micro-force-transducers, gas chromatography / mass spectrometry and bioassays to address most of my scientific questions. But I'm not exlusively dedicated to oribatid mites, there are also projects on the functional morphology of camel spiders (Solifugae), evolutionary biology of (parthenogenetic) earthworms, evolution and phylogeny of rove beetles, models of molecular evolution, paternity in birds, and there is space for your own ideas. Find here a list of ongoing and completed theses and here a list of my publications. If you have any questions or like to participate, feel free to contact me by E-Mail