We reconstruct marine ecosystems using micropaleontological, ecological and biological investigations on benthic foraminifera. Foraminifera are particularly sensitive to changes in their environment, which leads to varying faunal composition, abundance, diversity and distribution. Therefore, the analysis of (fossil) foraminiferal communities can provide important information about environmental factors influencing this community such as food availability, oxygen content, water depth, temperature, or salinity.

We use classical micropaleontological approaches like the investigation of sediment cores, which includes light and scanning electron microscopy, taxonomic identification of species and their quantitative analysis. These methods are complemented by experimental studies to expand our knowledge about foraminiferal ecological demands and their response to environmental variations. One focus of our experimental work are feeding experiments using 13C and 15N-labelled food to study and estimate carbon and nitrogen fluxes under different environmental conditions.