During my PostDoc with Bibiana Rojas, I had the opportunity to delve into the intriguing realm of poison frogs, with a particular focus on the Dyeing poison frog (Dendrobates tinctorius). My research encompassed a range of topics, including their parental care strategies, variations in colouration and sexual selection across different populations, and their vulnerabilities to the chytridfungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis). 

In addition, we were assembling the genome of the species led by Aaron Comeault and testing a new method to produce a reduced representation library for genotyping individuals in close collaboration with Franz Hoelzl and Steve Smith. 

I've been studying fire salamanders (Salamandra salamandra) for nearly 10 years now. It all started when I set up a citizen science project at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. The project was meant to be an early warning system against the spread of the chytridfungus (Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans) which infects mostly salamanders and newts. It was thanks to the project and getting the population involved that Bsal was detected during the outbreak. This meant we could get advanced monitoring going, and put in place in situ measures. 

We were curious about whether colouration is important for keeping predators away in the Vienna Woods. We used clay models to check out how colour pattern distribution and environmental pressures in different habitats might be involved. Keep an eye out for more info here. 

In a collaborative project we investigated multiple paternity in the smooth fronted caiman, Paleosuchus trigonatus. Smooth fronted caimans were one of the last crocodilian species to be studied for multiple paternity. We fill this gap in knowledge and found multiple paternity! Teamwork of Jérémy Lemaire, Rosanna Mangione, Eva Ringler, Olivier Marquis and myself  PDF