Denise Bertleff

• Agroecology
• Landscape Ecology
• Wild Bee and Hoverfly Ecology
• Biodiversity and Conservation in agricultural landscapes

FarmerBeeWild: Pollinator-friendly agricultural landscapes

Since 03/2022
PhD candidate | Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology | Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg, Germany
Topic: “Effects of agricultural land-use and landscape features on pollinator diversity and pollination services”. Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Andrea Holzschuh, Prof. Dr. Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter

10/2018 – 02/2022
Master of Science | Georg-August University Göttingen, Germany
Master Thesis: “Arthropod predation pressure in cacao agroforestry and adjacent natural forest in Peru”. Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Teja Tscharntke, Dr. Bea Maas

07/2016 – 11/2016
Semester abroad | James-Cook University Townsville, Australia

08/2014 – 09/2018
Bachelor of Science in Biology | Philipps-University Marburg, Germany
Bachelor thesis: “Predation rates of native and invasive ladybeetles”.  Supervisors: Dr. Roman Bucher, Prof. Dr. Nina Farwig

Bertleff, D., Vey, V., Birnbeck, S., Volz, H., Fiedler, J., Sauer, N., ... & Holzschuh, A. (2025). Wild pollinators and honeybees respond differently to landscape‐scale organic farming and increase sunflower yields. Journal of Applied Ecology, 62(10), 2515-2528.

Ocampo‐Ariza, C., Vansynghel, J., Bertleff, D., Maas, B., Schumacher, N., Ulloque‐Samatelo, C., ... & Tscharntke, T. (2023). Birds and bats enhance cacao yield despite suppressing arthropod mesopredation. Ecological Applications, 33(5), e2886.

Bertleff, D., Diekmann, J., Brand, S., Ünlü, A.G. and Bucher, R. (2021) Predation and avoidance behaviour in aphid-ladybird interactions of native and invasive ladybirds in Europe. Ecol Entomol, 46: 41-47. 10.1111/een.12938