Katharina Stonig, MSc BSc

Room 513
katharina.stonig@uibk.ac.at

Growing up in Tyrol, I spent a big part of my life outdoors exploring my surroundings. Now that I am doing my Master in Ecology and Biodiversity at the University of Innsbruck, I can focus on organisms that have been fascinating me my whole life.

Newts. To be more precise, the alpine newt (Ichthyosaura alpestris) and the smooth newt (Lissotriton vulgaris). Since caudates are no exception when it comes to declining populations, I am particularly interested in the overall genetic (health) status and distribution of these amphibians.

As part of my master thesis, I analyze noninvasively gathered dermal DNA samples of multiple alpine- and smooth-newt populations from the Inn valley, using microsatellite markers. With these molecular ecological methods, I am hoping to gain a better understanding of the current status of these two newt species.

Research topics
Conservation biology
Herpetology
Population genetics and genomics
Speciation and gene flow