© Erich Kucs

Research experience

since 2020/09 – Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Colorado Boulder, USA (Smith lab)

since 2016/11 – Research Associate, Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INABIO), Ecuador

2019/03 – 2021/06 – Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Vienna (FWF-Project P-30669 “Pollinator shifts and floral evolution in the Merianieae (Melastomataceae)”, Schönenberger lab)

2011 – 2018 – Fieldwork in Austria, Borneo, Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland

2017/10 – Visiting Researcher, New York Botanical Garden, USA

2014/01-12 – Research Associate, University of Vienna (Dullinger lab)

Research funding

2020 – FWF Hertha-Firnberg postdoctoral grant (T-1186, € 243,120.00)

2017 – FWF research grant (P-30669, co-authored with PI Jürg Schönenberger; € 299,977.67)

2016 – Fieldwork grant, University of Vienna, € 2,700

2012 – Fieldwork grant, University of Vienna, € 1,650

Awards

2020 – Gertrud-Pleskot Publication Award, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, € 7,000

2018 – Best student’s talk, PopBio conference, Austria

2017 – Best student’s talk, PopBio conference, Germany

             Outstanding Student Award, International Botanical Congress, € 130

2013 – Best student’s talk, NOBIS conference, Austria, € 500

             Best student’s talk, SCAPE conference, Finland

2012 – Merit scholarship, University of Vienna, € 1,227

2011 – Merit scholarship, University of Vienna, € 727

Current students

2022/05 – undergraduate student Ashlee Kerber (University of Colorado Boulder): The role of Geographical, Phenological and
Ethological Isolation in Maintaining Species Boundaries in Rhexia; funded through CU Boulder’s UROP programme

2021/05 – prae-doc research associate José Miguel Valverde Espinoza (University of Vienna, Austria): Floral evolution in the tribe Blakeeae (Melatomataceae): a multifaceted approach to understanding floral diversification under variable selection regimes

2021/04 – PhD student Constantin Kopper (University of Vienna, Austria): Pantropical pollination syndromes and pollinator shifts in Melastomataceae

2021/04 – MSc student Katharina Kagerl (University of Vienna, Austria): Pollination niches along altitudinal gradients in Phyteuma orbiculare (Campanulaceae)

2021/04 – MSc student Paula Huber (University of Vienna, Austria): Pollination biology and floral morphology of Austrian Clematis

Former students

2020 – BSc student Fabian Polz (University of Vienna, Austria): Pollen release patterns of buzz-pollinated flowers with different architectures

2020 – 2021 – MSc student Constantin Kopper (University of Vienna, Austria): Testing pollination syndromes in Melastomataceae

2018 – 2019 – MSc student José Miguel Valverde Espinoza (Universidad de Costa Rica, Costa Rica): Forma y función de los estambres de Meriania macrophylla (Benth.) Triana (Melastomataceae) e implicaciones en su polinización

2018 – 2019 – MSc student Laura Kanduth (University of Vienna, Austria): Urban pollination: Plant-pollinator interactions of two Trifolium species in relation to green area size

2018 – BSc student Léa Pöllabauer (University of Vienna, Austria): The function of heteranthery in Adelobotrys adscendens

2017 – 2019 –  MSc student Lisa Scheer (University of Salzburg, Austria): Floral scent in Merianieae (Melastomataceae)

2017 – 2018 – MSc student Michael Rameder (University of Vienna, Austria): Pollinator shifts and their relation to stamen morphology and seed number in the Merianieae (Melastomataceae)

2016 – MSc student Silvia Artuso (University of Padova, Italy): Floral morphological analyses and pollination syndrome testing in selected species of the tribe Merianieae (Melastomataceae)

Teaching activities (also see here)

2020 – Methods in pollination biology (5 ECTS)

2019, 2020, 2021 – Drivers of plant and fungal diversity: from genomes to biomes (10 ECTS)

2014 – 2020 – Interdisciplinary ecological field course (5 ECTS)

2012, 2013 – Diversity and systematics of higher plants (7 ECTS, student tutor)

Organized conferences and workshops

ECOFLOR 2021 – Workshop: Towards a conceptual frame to study floral form and function in pollination. online, May 26t 2021 (co-organized with Rocío Pérez-Barrales (Univ. de Granada, Spain), Øystein Opedal (Univ. of Lund, Sweden).

GMAustria – 2019 National Symposium Geometric Morphometrics Austria. Vienna, Austria; March 27-28 2019 (co-organization with Marion Chartier, Nicole Grunstra, Anne Le-Maître, Sonja Windhager).

PopBio 2018. Innsbruck, Austria; May 3-5 2018 (Erschbamer, Schönswetter, Pagitz, Schallhart, Margreiter, Nicklas, Dellinger, Pernfuß) https://www.uibk.ac.at/congress/popbio2018/index.html.en

LAF Austria, 34th annual meeting. Strobl am Wolfgangsee, Austria; May 18-20 2018. Workshop “Biologische Korridore – Bedeutung für Natur und Mensch im modernen Lateinamerika”; accepted languages: English, German, Spanish. http://laf-austria.at/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/AK- 6_Biologische-Korridore.pdf

Editorial activities

2022 – guest editor for American Journal of Botany (special issue: Pollen as the link between phenotype and fitness, co-editors: Vinicius de Brito, Nathan Muchhala, Øystein Opedal, Rocío Pérez-Barrales)

2021 -guest editor for the book “Melastomataceae systematics, ecology and evolution.” (Springer, in press)