Dorothee Sandmann

Summary

My work focuses on the diversity, community structure and functioning of microarthropods in decomposer food webs in tropical ecosystems. In particular, I am interested in oribatid mites (Acari: Oribatida) commonly known as moss or beetle mites, the most abundant and divers arthropod group in many decomposer systems.
Especially in tropical ecosystems, species might not have scientific names yet but they have species specific special and trophic niches within an ecosystem. Assessing this biodiversity therefore is essential to answer ecological questions. This a big task in tropical ecosystems because the role of many species is not known yet.

Biodiversity Ecology Taxonomy