Dr. Gregor Kalinkat

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2025-12-08: We've just published the raw data from our 2016 paper Individual variation in functional response parameters is explained by body size but not by behavioural types in a poeciliid fish because we received repeated requests by colleagues interested in functional response fitting. You can find the data set on figshare. +++ 2025-10-20: Today I'm announcing something different: after a significant number of unsuccessful attempts to secure a permanent position in academia that is also compatible with (my) family life I decided to switch careers to become a science teacher for biology and chemistry. A couple of manuscripts are still in the pipeline and I will advertise them here as we go along. You can expect some small changes to the website, the information on my research will be kept in place. +++ 2025-09-01: Together with Robin Heinen, Jacqueline Degen and Franz Hölker I'm guest editing a special issue on Artificial Light at Night from a local to global scale: biological impacts and conservation challenges for the Journal Biological Conservation. Submissions are now closed and a few publications are already online. +++ 2025-07-19: We have a new preprint online on The hidden dimensions of biodiversity led by Sami Domisch and Sibylle Schroer. +++ 2025-06-12: A short opinion piece on Nocturnal pandas - Conservation umbrellas protecting nocturnal biodiversity led by myself has now been published in Trends in Ecology and Evolution. +++ For earlier publications check the respective subpage.

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Find links to my publication profiles and social media accounts on Linktree

Hello, my name is Dr. Gregor Kalinkat. I'm a biologist and zoologist by training and since September 2025 a science teacher at a secondary school in the federal state of Brandenburg in Germany. From 2008 to 2025 I used to study animals and how they interact with each other, with the environment, and last not least, with us humans (and vice versa) for a living. During my doctoral studies at the universities in Darmstadt and Göttingen I started out as an ecologist aiming to connect theoretical and empirical approaches with a particular focus on predator-prey interactions and food webs. After I completed and submitted my doctoral thesis in 2012 my interests have diversified to include a broad range of fundamental and applied topics related to biodiversity conservation. In my last academic position I used to be a research scientist in the project AuBe (Artenschutz durch umweltverträgliche Beleuchtung translated as species protection through environment-friendly illumination) in the lab of Franz Hölker at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB). Notably, while getting settled into my new role I remain a guest scientist at IGB and will continue to publish a couple of manuscripts that are, as of now, still work in progress. In the future, I also want to connect my background in conservation science and my new role as a science teacher to learn how we can improve and adjust biodiversity education for the coming decades. In a world where the interconnected biodiversity and climate crises are intensifying, there is an urgent need to make sure young people are given opportunities to be exposed to–and connect with–nature and wildlife.

If you wonder what scientists actually mean when they talk about "ecology" you should start here. If you already know about the science of ecology and wonder where I have been working on within this field, you should check out the research and publication pages.

Despite having been affiliated with freshwater focused research institutes for more than a decade (particularly Leibniz IGB Berlin, DE, and Eawag Kastanienbaum, CH) I am not bound to a particular habitat when exploring nature and studying ecology, as you can see on the pictures below:

Sampling benthic invertebrates in the Mediterranean (photo by Doro Sandmann, ca. 2004).

Sampling soil organisms in the Swabian Alb (photo by Roswitha Ehnes, ca. 2009).

Deploying a temperature logger in an artificially heated stream (photo by Juliane Lukas, ca. 2016).

DE: Hinweis für Besucher, die Texte in deutscher Sprache suchen, eine zweisprachige Webseite ist für die Zukunft geplant. Zum Einstieg gibt es hier eine Kolumne, die ich 2017 zusammen mit Susan Mücke für Krautreporter verfasst habe. Ausserdem kann ich einen Radiobeitrag über unsere Forschung zu Neozoen im Gillbach im Rheinland verlinken (ebenfalls aus 2017) sowie einen Radiobeitrag über eine Publikation zu charismatischen Neobiota (aus 2020). Hier gibt's noch ein Interview zu Insekten und Lichtverschmutzung vom Herbst 2022.

last update: 2026-01-03