Dr. Maria Stockenreiter

Research Interests

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I am a freshwater and marine plankton ecologist, with a focus on the experimental analysis of pelagic food-web and community dynamics. I study the relationships between biodiversity, trait diversity, and ecological processes in plankton communities to understand how these factors influence the functioning of aquatic systems. Another focus of my work lies in experimental laboratory and field studies, including large-scale mesocosm experiments such as those conducted within the AQUACOSM network, to investigate ecological responses to environmental changes. Additionally, I explore interactions among food-web components, the biochemical composition of plankton, and biodiversity effects, integrating these into projects examining stressors such as temperature, nutrient inputs, and invasions in aquatic systems.

Research Projects:

• Flexibility matters: Interplay between trait diversity and ecological dynamics using aquatic communities as model systems (DFG SPP DynaTrait)
• Trait-related feedback dynamics in natural plankton communities (DFG SPP DynaTrait)
• Regime shifts in freshwater ecosystems exposed to multiple stressors by increasing temperature, fertilizers, and pesticides (CLIMSHIFT-DFG)
• AQUACOSM: Network of leading European aquatic mesocosm facilities connecting Mountains to Oceans from the Arctic to the Mediterranean (EU H2020 INFRAIA-project No. 731065)
• H2020-EU Project – AQUACOSMplus: An EU network of leading mesocosm research sites in limnic and marine ecosystems, connecting mountain regions to oceans, from the Arctic to the Mediterranean
• BLIC: Phytoplankton blooms “like it colorful” – the relative influence of biodiversity and biotic interactions on early stages of phytoplankton blooms
• TREND: Trait-based direction of density-dependent effects in freshwater host–endosymbiont systems (DFG Forschergruppe DynaSym)

SIL Ambassador Germany

SIL

Teaching

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Bachelor’s programme in biology
Evolutionary Ecology I (lecture and practical)
Ecology Specialisation (lecture and practical)
Aquaculture (Berufsqualitfizierend)

Master’s programme: Ecology, Evolution and Systematics (EES)
Aquatic Ecology (lecture and practical)
Experimental Plankton Ecology (practical)
Soft Skills IV: Grant Writing (seminar)
Research Internships
Individual Research Training I–III
Alpine Field Excursion
http://ees.bio.lmu.de/the_program/courses/index.html

Teacher training in biology
Schule einmal draußen
Forschung macht Schule

Selected Publications

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Pondaven, P., Stibor, H., Huang ,Y-T., Stockenreiter, M. , Behl , S., Stieglitz, T. , Patris, S. and Ucharm, G. (2026). Photophysiological Performance of Zooxanthellate Endosymbionts (Symbiodiniaceae) in the Golden Jellyfish Mastigias papua Across a Natural Environmental Gradient in Marine Lakes of Palau (Micronesia)Front. Photobiol. - Photoecology and Environmental Photobiology, accepted

Stockenreiter, M.; Hammerstein, S.; Ilić, M.; Titocci, J.; Fink, P.; Stibor, H. (2025). Mesocosm studies linking phytoplankton diversity and zooplankton nutrition: the role of essential fatty acids in complex natural communities. Limnology and Oceanography, https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.70252

Stockenreiter, M. (2025). Stay connected to be diverse! Global Change Biology, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70046

Stockenreiter, M., Isanta Navarro, J., Buchberger, F., & Stibor, H. (2021). Community shifts from eukaryote to cyanobacteria dominated phytoplankton: The role of mixing depth and light quality. Freshwater Biology, 66(11), 2145-2157.

Buchberger F, Stibor H, Neusius D, Nickelsen J, & Stockenreiter M (2020). Transgenic and cell wall-deficient Chlamydomonas reinhardtii food affects life history of Daphnia magna. Journal of Applied Phycology, 32(1), 319-328.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10811-019-01983-7

Buchberger, F. and Stockenreiter, M. (2018). Unsuccessful invaders structure a natural freshwater phytoplankton community. Ecosphere. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2158

Stockenreiter, M., Graber, A.-K., Haupt, F. and Stibor, H. (2012). The effect of species diversity on lipid production by micro-algal communities. Journal of Applied Phycology 24(1), 45-54. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-010-9644-1