Welcome!

On this site you can experience more about Marvin Kiene (Maki) and some of his projects. Additionally, I will present you some exciting life-hacks and fascinating facts with scientific background of the categories nature, household, health and diet.


Here are my latest posts:

Food quantity and quality effects on the expression of inducible defences in Daphnia

21.Mar.2020


This is my PhD-project to achieve a doctoral degree of science (Dr. rer. nat.).

Trophic interactions are a key element to understand food web processes and ecosystem functioning. Nutrients are transferred from primary producers to higher trophic levels, while at the same time predation is one of the main drivers for natural selection. In response to predation, many aquatic prey species have evolved defences that reduce the predation impact. However, defence against one predator could render the prey more vulnerable to other predators. Hence, phenotypic plasticity in defensive traits in prey is a widespread mechanism to cope with a frequently changing predator spectrum. This plasticity may imply changing demands in resources, e.g. for changes in morphology or life history (e.g. number and size of offspring). Therefore, the composition of the phytoplankton community, and thereby the nutrient availability for grazers, may lead to nutrient limitations that potentially also constrain the expression of defences. To get a more comprehensive understanding of how prey suffers from insufficient nutrient supply, we will study the impact of nutrient availability on the expression of defences in cladocerans of the genus Daphnia. Daphnia are unselective filter-feeders, which play a crucial role for the nutrient transfer from primary producers to higher trophic level in lentic freshwater ecosystems and provide a well-established model system in research on predator-prey interactions and nutritional ecology. This project, combining adaptive plasticity and trophic interactions under nutritional constraints, will advance our understanding of food web processes in freshwater ecosystems.
Click here to see the complete content.

Create an Ecological Garden

01.Aug.2019


Provide variable habitats
I already mentioned earlier, that you can benefit by an ecological garden. A high biodiversity is a key factor to maintain ecosystems and their functions, as well as protecting them from invasion by foreign species. A high biodiversity also helps in growing crop plants, as well as helping to keep pests under control.
Now, I would like to present you some ideas, what you can do to create variable structure to provide habitat to a lot of diverse organisms (animals, plants and even fungi).
Click here to see the complete content.

Patreon

25.May.2019


Now I have a Patreon-webpage. If you like the information and the way I provide them, you can now support me also by being a patreon. Additionally, you can receive some little extras!


Click here to see the complete content.