Roman Alther

21 posts

New website

During the last few days the lab got a new website. The Altermatt lab got a modern overhaul and a responsive design. Please feel free to comment or give feedback. […]

TELE Z TV – Report

Environmental DNA (eDNA) is a novel tool to assess diversity in riverine ecosystems. This report shows how eDNA can be used to get information about which organisms live in and […]

Swiss TV SRF – Science Broadcast “Einstein”

Riverine ecosystems in Switzerland are dramatically changing. In a thematic broadcast, “Einstein” of the Swiss TV SRF documents how biodiversity in the river Rhine is affected by anthropogenic activities. Florian […]

Scientific American & BBC Wildlife

Light-pollution is a global phenomenon with well-documented negative effects on the environment. In an experiment, we found a significantly reduced flight-to-light behavior of moths from light-polluted areas versus dark sky […]

Science – Moths evolve to avoid light

Moths are fatally attracted to lights. Given the high level of light pollution, it has been speculated that this could trigger evolutionary responses. In a recent experiment, we for the […]

Aqua Viva

Aquatic Ecosystems are affected by a multitude of anthropogenic factors, ranging from climate change, to invasive species and habitat modifications. In an Interview in Aqua Viva, published by one of […]

Der Standard (Austrian daily newspaper)

Monitoring aquatic biodiversity is challenging for many reasons. We develop novel tools using environmental DNA (eDNA) which may revolutionize the way biodiversity is measured in aquatic systems. This is for […]

Radio 1 – Interview with F. Altermatt

Biodiversity is a key factor in preventing parasite epidemics. Altermatt & Ebert (2008) show in a study published in Ecology Letters that a high diversity of the host population is […]