I am an animal ecologist, interested in the structure of arthropod communities and their responses to environmental change. In my projects I investigate the highly diverse and abundant fauna of soil- and litter-dwelling arthropods and how these communities are shaped by land-use change and global warming. In particular, I am interested how environmental change affects biotic interactions, such as predator-prey interactions, and thereby drives community composition, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. 
To identify feeding interactions between arthropods, I use metabarcoding coupled with high-throughput sequencing. This approach allows for accurate determination of ingested prey even under difficult conditions, such as when prey is very small. Such I was able to explore the impact of forest management on centipede prey choice or see how temperature and habitat affects feeding of Arctic wolf spiders.

Dittrich A, Lang J, Schütz C, Sittler B, Eitzinger B (2023) Identifying invertebrate species in arctic muskox dung using DNA barcoding, Polar Research, 42. https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v42.9017

Jüds M, Heidemann K, Eitzinger B, Scheu S (2023) Testing the effectiveness of different wash protocols to remove body surface contaminants in invertebrate molecular food web studies, PeerJ 11:e16018 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.16018

Dürrbaum E, Fornoff F, Scherber C, Vesterinen EJ, Eitzinger B (2022) Metabarcoding of trap nests reveals differential impact of urbanization on cavity nesting bee and wasp communities, Molecular Ecology, doi.org/10.1111/mec.16818

von Beckerath X, Benadi G, Gilg O, Sittler B, Yannic G, Klein AM, Eitzinger B (2021) Long-term monitoring reveals topographical features and vegetation explain winter habitat use of an arctic rodent, Arctic Science,  doi.org/10.1139/as-2021-0010

Tiede J, Keller A, Eitzinger B (2021) Special issue: DNA sequence-based biodiversity and interaction ecology. Basic and Applied Ecology, 56, 460-463

Eitzinger B, Roslin TV, Vesterinen EJ, Robinson S, O’Gorman E (2021) Temperature affects both the Grinnellian and Eltonian dimensions of ecological niches – a tale of two Arctic wolf spiders. Basic and Applied Ecology, 50, 132-143.

Bluhm S, Eitzinger B, Bluhm C, Ferlian O, Heidemann K, Ciobanu M, Maraun M, Scheu S (2021) The impact of root-derived resources on forest soil invertebrates depends on body size and trophic position. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 4, 1-13

Pollierer MM, Klarner B, Ott D, Digel C, Ehnes RB, Eitzinger B, Erdmann G, Brose U, Maraun M, Scheu S (2021). Diversity and functional structure of soil animal communities suggest soil animal food webs to be buffered against changes in forest land use. Oecologia, 196, 195-209. 

Bluhm S, Eitzinger B, Bluhm C, Ferlian O, SchröterK, Pena R, MaraunM, ScheuS (2019) The composition of forest soil microbial communities is highly resistant against changes in the input of root-derived resources. PLoS ONE 14: e0214233.

Eitzinger B, Abrego N, Gravel D, Huotari T, Vesterinen EJ, Roslin TV (2019) Assessing changes in arthropod predator-prey interactions through DNA-based gut content analysis - variable environment, stable diet. Molecular Ecology, 28, 266-280.

Schmidt NM, Mosbacher JB, Eitzinger B, Vesterinen EJ, Roslin TV (2018) High resistance towards herbivore-induced habitat change in a high arctic arthropod community. Biology Letters, 14, 20180054.

Eitzinger B, Rall BC, Traugott M, Scheu S (2018) Testing the validity of functional response models using molecular gut content analysis for prey choice in soil predators. Oikos, 127, 915-926.

Eitzinger B, Unger EM, Traugott M, Scheu S (2014) Effects of prey quality and predator body size on prey DNA detection success in a centipede predator. Molecular Ecology, 23, 3767–3776.

Günther B, Rall BC, Ferlian O, Scheu S, Eitzinger B (2014) Variations in prey consumption of centipede predators in forest soils as indicated by molecular gut content analysis. Oikos,123, 1192-1198.

Klarner B, Ehnes R, Erdmann G, Eitzinger B, Pollierer MM, Maraun M & Scheu S (2014) Trophic shift of soil animal species with forest type as indicated by stable isotope analysis, Oikos, 123, 1173-1181.

Ehnes RB, Pollierer MM, Erdmann G, Klarner B, Eitzinger B, Digel C, Ott D, Maraun M, Scheu S, Brose U (2014). Lack of energetic equivalence in forest soil invertebrates. Ecology, 95, 527–537.

Eitzinger B and Traugott M (2011). Which prey sustains cold-adapted invertebrate generalist predators in arable land? Examining prey choices by molecular gut-content analysis. Journal of Applied Ecology, 48, 591–599.