Dr. Maja Ilić
Curriculum vitae
02/2025 – present | Scientific Assistant, University of Cologne, Institute for Zoology, Germany |
10/2023 – 01/2025 | University of Innsbruck, Research Institute for Limnology, Austria - Postdoc Project: Eco-evolutionary dynamics – admixture and global change |
10/2021 – 09/2023 | Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Switzerland - Postdoc Project: Food-webs across aquatic-terrestrial environments in forests in the face of global change |
03/2019 – 07/2021 | Queen’s University Belfast, United Kingdom, Data Analyst /R Programmer - 1. Project: Grassland Resilience, 2. Project: PROBYFISH – Protecting bycaught species in mixed fisheries |
10/2017 – 03/2018 | Scientific Assistant, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Germany |
10/2014 – 02/2019 | PhD Research (Date of disputation: 10.05.2019), University of Cologne, Germany - Project: Effects of natural phytoplankton trait diversity on Daphnia spp., Supervisor: PD Dr. Patrick Fink |
10/2012 – 09/2014 | Master of Science in Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany |
10/2009 – 08/2012 | Bachelor of Science in Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany |
About Me
I am an ecologist broadly interested in aquatic and terrestrial ecology, with the main interest in biodiversity – ecosystem functioning relationship, food webs and food quality. Most of my research was focused on the effects of natural phytoplankton trait diversity (in terms of food quality based on biochemical composition, i.e., content of essential dietary fatty acids) on population dynamics and intraspecific competition in water fleas (genus Daphnia), and presently thermal tolerance in Daphnia longispina species complex. In my past projects, I also investigated (i) ecosystem stability of grasslands in response to extreme drought and (ii) food webs across aquatic-terrestrial environments, including the effects of land-use and climate change on leaf litter decomposition, as well as the dietary preferences of riparian spiders. Finally, I have a pronounced background in analytical chemistry, and strong interest and expertise in data visualization (specifically in R), with the emphasis on novel techniques to improve the transparency and accuracy of data presentation.
Main Interest
Aquatic Ecology
Aquatic-Terrestrial Environments
Biodiversity – Ecosystem Functioning
Food webs
Food quality
Trait-based approached
Analytical Chemistry
Data Visualization