Several faculty members have been working at IOE in the fields of ecology, behavioral ecology and nature conservation.  We study wild animals and plants in the field and in the lab using a diversity of research approaches. Among our main avenue of research is plant-animal interactions, including the direct interactions between mammalian herbivores and plant-dwelling insects and the role of secondary metabolites and microbiomes in shaping seed dispersal and pollination. We also study the biomechanical, behavioral, physiological and ecological aspects of flight in birds, bats and insects. Other research subject of our researchers is aquatic microbial interactions, particularly the web of interactions between cyanobacteria and their phages, as well as the diversity and ecology of freshwater algal and cyanobacterial communities. In addition, we study bird migration; pollination ecology; foraging ecology; fire ecology; wildlife-human conflicts; ecosystem services; diversity and ecology of soil microfungi; taxonomy, diversity, ecology, phytogeography, and biochemistry of lichens; ecology, evolution and biogeography of gall-forming aphids and wildlife nutritional ecology.