Dr. rer. nat. Felix Zitzmann

Main research areas

• Biodiversity (e.g. avifauna, ground beetles, mammals, vascular plants) in the agricultural landscape
• Novel ecosystems (e.g. short rotation plantations, paludicultures, modern agroforestry systems, solar parks, agrivoltaics) and their importance as habitats for various species groups
• Impact regulation, species protection and production-integrated nature conservation measures (PIK, AUKM, CEF and FCS measures)

I am currently working on the following issues, among others, as part of research projects or in collaboration with students (final theses and dissertations, student projects, exercises):

• How does the dragonfly fauna  of a fen paludiculture experimental site develop in the first years after its establishment?
• How do cultivated plants and accompanying vegetation  develop in paludicultures with reeds and bulrushes in the first years after establishment?
• Which habitat and landscape parameters influence the occurrence of reed breeds in reedbeds in Lower Saxony?
• Which mammals use short rotation coppice strips in modern agroforestry systems  as habitat? What habitat potential do short-rotation coppice strips have for the dwarf mouse Micromys minutus (BA Hanna Riggert) and does the wildcat Felis silvestris include these tree strips in its habitat utilisation? 
• Which wood-breeding bird species breed in different variants of such short rotation coppice strips?
• What significance do short-rotation coppice strips have for the biotope network of forest carabids?
• Which ground beetle and spider species hibernate and reproduce in different areas of solar parks?
• Which birds, grasshoppers, butterflies, ground beetles, mammals and vascular plants use solar parks as habitats?
• Which bird species breed on the technical structures of solar parks?
• What are the characteristics of solar parks in Lower Saxony and what potential effects can be expected on biodiversity and biotope networks?
• Which bird and mammal species include an agri-PV test area in their habitat utilisation (Lara Diekmann research project)?
• How has the population of long-eared owl Asio otus hibernacula in the southern Hanover region developed over the last 10 years?
• - ... 

Teaching activities

• Supervision of student projects and theses
• Coordination and implementation of the modules ‘Faunistic field methods’ and ‘Faunistic-animal-ecological methods in landscape planning’
• Lectures in the modules ‘Biodiversity and Nature Conservation’, ‘Nature Conservation and Landscape Planning: Fundamentals and Methods’ and ‘Planning-Related Ecology’
• Stands, field trips 

Peer reviewer

• AMBIO A Journal of the Human Environment
• Applied Carabidology
• Ecology and Evolution
• Journal of Sustainable Forestry
• Nature Conservation and Landscape Planning 
• Scientific Reports