Public evening lecture by Professor Dr. Melanie Dammhahn (University of Münster, Institute of Neuro- and Behavioral Biology) as part of the lecture series "Planet Earth 3.0 - Living in a changing world"

The lecture focuses on the individual in an integrative organismic biology. Individuals of a species differ in their behavior, their reactivity to stress, their speed of life and their mutability. This individuality is directly determined by the interactions of the individual with its environment. What effects does it have on ecological interactions between species? What role do individuality and individualization play in the adaptation of organisms to ever faster changing conditions on planet Earth 3.0?

Melanie Dammhahn is Professor of Behavioral Biology at the University of Münster. She completed her doctorate at the University of Göttingen and subsequently conducted research on the behavior and ecology of various mammal species in Madagascar, Canada, France and Germany. She habilitated at the University of Potsdam, was a deputy professor of animal ecology at the University of Greifswald and head of the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology (FIWI) in Vienna. She is fascinated by individuality and individualization in behaviour, physiology and life history strategies and investigates the consequences of this individual variability for ecological interactions and for adaptation to anthropogenic change. This research combines empirical field and laboratory studies with conceptual and model-based approaches, also across disciplinary boundaries.

Moderation: Professor Dr. Gerald Kerth