Field Ecology

Michael Mühlenberg received his doctorate and habilitation in 1977 from the University of Heidelberg. He was then appointed as professor to the University of Würzburg and founded the Ecological Station Fabrikschleichach. In 1994, he was called to the University of Göttingen, where he established the international Conservation Biology Program. For many years he conducted wildlife surveys in West Africa, researched and taught in Mongolia, Papua Indonesia, and New Zealand, focusing equally on biodiversity and the conservation of invertebrates and vertebrates. He supervised more than 40 Ph.D. theses. He has been awarded honorary professorships in Mongolia and Indonesia. The study area around his research site (Khonin Nuga) in northern Mongolia has been integrated into the existing Khan Khentey Strictly Protected Area.

Thomas Wassmer (in German: Waßmer) received his Diplom-Biologe degree from the University of Freiburg in 1991, and his Dr. rer. nat. from the University in Konstanz in 1998. He currently works at Siena Heights University in Adrian, Michigan, and holds the rank of a Professor of Biology. He teaches courses in Terrestrial Ecology and Freshwater Ecology, Vertebrate Physiology, Evolution, Human Anatomy and Physiology, and a Liberal Arts class on Environmental and Earth Justice and Activism. His research centers on the population, community, and landscape ecology of dung-inhabiting beetles, the ecophysiology and chronoecology of tree squirrels and hamsters, and using drones, camera traps, and acoustic recording devices for biodiversity conservation.