My research focuses on understanding multitrophic (cross-kingdom) interactions among plants, insects, and microbes in forest ecosystems, and on how this knowledge can be harnessed for pest management and plant protection. I use the Eurasian spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus), which feeds and reproduces on conifers (Norway spruce, Picea abies), as a model system to study the benefits and costs of multitrophic interactions. Bark beetles carry a remarkable variety of microbes, including filamentous fungi, yeasts, and bacteria. Many of these microbes are considered beneficial (mutualists) for bark beetles. At the same time, the feeding substrates of these beetles are often colonised by parasitic or antagonistic microbes that are detrimental to bark beetles. Thus, bark beetles offer an opportunity to address several key questions in insect ecology, such as how specialist insects are able to kill large trees and how beneficial interactions with microbes are maintained while antagonistic interactions are suppressed.  

My research addresses a fundamental question in bark beetle biology—why bark beetles need microbes to colonise and reproduce in conifers. My overarching research topics include

1. How do microbes modulate mass attacks of bark beetles and contribute to the successful colonisation of trees?
2. What anatomical, sensory, and behavioural adaptations enable bark beetles to distinguish beneficial from harmful microbes?
3. Why do bark beetles carry highly diverse microbial communities, and what services do these microbes offer to benefit bark beetles?

To answer these questions, I use multi disciplinary approaches including molecular methods, microscopy, analytical chemistry (GC-MS/LC-MS), electrophysiology, various insect behaviour and fitness experiments.