This week, as defenses and state exams are in full swing, I’m reminded to highlight the impressive achievements and next career steps of the students who have completed or are finishing their studies in our laboratory. Now, as they prepare to embark on new journeys, it’s time to celebrate their successes and share the exciting paths they are taking.

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First of all, big congratulations go to Yogita Karpate, who defended an excellent Master thesis focusing on the multitrophic interactions related to Cyrsium arvense.

Xue Xiao, who worked on tropical plant-insect interactions under drought stress during her Ph.D. study within our laboratory was offered a Postdoc position at Bielefeld University, with Dr. Caroline Muller. She will keep studying the plant-insect interaction under drought stress on common tansey plants. Despite Xue still waits for defense, which will happen on 9th of July, she already moved to her postdoctoral position.

Jan Lenc, who conducted both his bachelor’s and master’s degree research projects in our lab, focusing on ant-feeding ecology and its variations with vertical stratification and habitat degradation. During his bachelor’s degree, Jan studied changes in dietary preferences of vertically stratified ant communities in the temperate forests of the Czech Republic and northern Japan (Hokkaido). Later, for his master’s degree research project, he moved to Papua New Guinea to examine differences in diel foraging activity of ant communities between primary and secondary tropical lowland forests. Recently, Jan has been awarded the prestigious Dean’s Research Award Fellowship at the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Florida, where he will continue his Ph.D. studies. Under the supervision of Dr. Brett Scheffers, he will combine field-based research, laboratory experiments, and big data ecology to investigate how micro-geographical processes (i.e., vertical stratification) influence community assembly and distribution of tropical ectotherm species across different temporal and spatial scales.

Karthik Thrikkadeeri, who studied the habitat selection of birds after the breeding season during his MSc thesis in our laboratory, will be joining Louisiana State University as a Ph.D. student under the supervision of Flavia Montaño-Centellas. He will be exploring macroecological questions relating to mountains especially in the tropics.