Current zoological research projects focus on the model group of ground beetles. Based on extensive collections, changes in the fauna are continuously documented and contrasted with anthropogenic processes of landscape consumption, habitat valorisation and climatic change. The field work is focussed on Styria, but is also carried out on near-natural rivers on the Balkan Peninsula. In participation in ABOL, a supra-institutional Austria-wide initiative to record genetic diversity, DNA barcoding is used to create the basis for a better understanding of historical colonisation processes.
In Herberstein, valuable forest and meadow sites are being restored and the effects of maintenance measures on the insect fauna are being analysed. A permanent observation centre for Styrian fauna is to be established here.