The growing human population imposes increasing resource demands on ecosystems and the many resources and processes they supply through ecosystem services. The team aims at characterizing, measuring, monitoring and enhancing ecosystem services with a primary emphasis on regulating and supporting mechanisms. These are of particular importance to agricultural production and to the environmental quality of cultivated, urban, and natural habitats.
Currently, a key area of interest to the team is biological control of pests, diseases, and weeds. Our research focuses on quantifying the impact of natural enemies on pests, identifying new potential biological control agents, and investigating aspects of their biology in the laboratory and in semi field tests as well as in the field.