Dr. Benito Schöpke

since 2023           Researcher & Lecturer at Uni Hildesheim

2019 - 2025          Doctorate on vegetation ecology of grassland –
                               crop field boundaries at Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape
                               Research (ZALF) with apl. Prof. Monika Wulf & Prof. Karsten Wesche

2018                     Master of Ecology, Evolution & Nature Conservation (Uni Potsdam) 
                              Theses on island biogeography of kettle hole vegetation with
                              PD Thilo Heinken

2012 - 2021       teaching assistance & lecturer for advanced botanical classes,
                              Uni Potsdam

2011                     Bachelor Biosciences (Uni Potsdam) Theses on urbanization effects on
                              ruderal plant species with Dr. Volker Kummer

2010 – 2018       research assistance and field botanist in various scientific projects at
                              University of Potsdam, Munich, Cottbus, Agroscope Zurich,
                              Biodiversity Exploratories

2009 – 2018       teaching assistance botanical basics, Uni Potsdam

I am interested in the biodiversity patterns in our agricultural landscapes, especially of plants. How the configurational components of the landscape – i.e. patches and the boundaries between them, their heterogeneity and connectivity – impacting and interacting with each other. How biodiversity is influenced by land use on various spatial and temporal scales.

• Vertiefte floristische Artenkenntnisse
• Botanisch - vegetationskundliches Seminar
• Vegetationsökologische Freilandübung
• The Beauty of clear Thinking: Datenanalyse für Feldökolog_innen
• Vorlesung Ökologie (partly)
• Freilandübung zur Vorlesung Ökologie

• International Association for Vegetation Science
• Eurasian Dry Grassland Group
• Gesellschaft für Ökologie
• Gesellschaft zur Erforschung der Flora Deutschlands
• Botanischer Verein Berlin Brandenburg

Escher, J., Schöpke, B., Wulf, M., Wesche, K., Brühl, C.A., Lehmitz, R., et al., 2026. Pesticide mixtures affect soil fauna and vegetation of arable fields and bordering grasslands. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 399, 110143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2025.110143

Schneider, E.N., Kummer, V., & Schöpke, B., 2025. A decade of decline in ruderal plant species due to urbanization of villages in northeastern Germany. https://doi.org/10.14471/2025.45.009

Schöpke, B., Wesche, K., Tschan, G.F., Wulf, M., 2024. Plant species richness increase across crop field–dry grassland edges masks diverging patterns in generalists and specialists. Landsc Ecol 39, 39. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-024-01843-x

Schöpke, B., Wesche, K., Wulf, M., 2023. Dry grasslands adjacent to organic fields have higher plant diversity − Even far into their interior. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 357, 108672. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2023.108672

Schöpke, B., Heinze, J., Pätzig, M., Heinken, T., 2019. Do dispersal traits of wetland plant species explain tolerance against isolation effects in naturally fragmented habitats? Plant Ecology 220, 801–815. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-019-00955-8

Universität Hildesheim
Institut für Biologie und Chemie
Abteilung Biologie
Universitätsplatz 1
31141 Hildesheim

Sekretariat
Jeanette Glahn
Raum D307
Tel.: 05121-883-40700
Fax: 05121-883-40701

Sprechzeiten des Sekretariats
Montags 08.00 - 12 Uhr
Dienstags 08.30 - 12 Uhr 
Mittwochs 08.00 - 12 Uhr
Donnerstags 08.30 - 12 Uhr

-Persönliche Termine nur nach vorheriger Absprache.-