1. What do you study related to biodiversity (what are your research questions, what organisms do you work on)?
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 My project is a taxonomic revision of predominantly tropical crustose lichens, in the family Thelotremataceae, in Australia. This group is currently poorly known. The Australian Checklist for lichens lists ca. 96 taxa, whereas there is evidence of at least twice as many taxa on the Australian continent.
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2. How do you study biodiversity (for example, what technological tools and methodologies do you use in your research)?
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I use comparative morphology (mainly microscopic studies of cross-sections) and chemotaxonomy (Thin Layer Chromatography—TLC). Field studies are very important to develop a lichen flora, and a field trip to Queensland is planned for September this year. Finally, additional molecular studies are planned to illuminate taxonomic problems.
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3. Where do you study biodiversity?
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Australia.
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4. How might your research have implications for biological conservation?
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Lichens are important bio-indicators, which can "react" to and are very sensitive to pollutants in the air and rain of the habitat. To gather knowledge about the existence and distribution of any species it is important to monitor disturbances or influences to ecological systems.
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5. How did you become interested in science? What made you want to be a scientist, and how did you get to The Field Museum?
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From childhood on I was fascinated by and very interested in nature. I used to play a lot in the woods, help my grandfather in the garden, and go on mushroom excursions with my dad. I became an activist in an environmental conservation organization and began to study fungi and birds as a hobby.
I also took intensive classes in biology in the "Gymnasium" (sort of a German High school), and I studied biology at university. There, I worked as a technical assistant in the lichenological working-group of Thorsten Lumbsch, who is now my Ph.D. supervisor and with whom I moved to The Field Museum.
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