As an aquatic ecologist I have specialized on microscopic organisms in any type of freshwater and inland saline habitats. My favorites are rotifers, a highly diverse and attractive group of bizarre animals, and my particular research focus is on their biogeography and taxonomy. My collecting trips took me to remote corners on our planet, including Hawaii, Mongolia, and East Africa, but most of my research was in the Austrian Alps, where I have been born and raised and where I live with my family.
I am currently affiliated with two scientific institutions: the University of Salzburg, Austria, as a research associate and teacher, and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia, USA, where I am an adjunct curator of the world’s most comprehensive collection of rotifers. Most of my work, however, is as a freelance biologist and consulting engineer for ecology.
The 2012 Rubenstein Fellowship will serve to supplement my longstanding work on a ‘World Catalog of Rotifers’ and to provide EOL with content rich and illustrated taxon pages featuring hundreds of species records from my expeditions to several continents.