John Loehr is a Principal Investigator leading the WildER group, and he coordinates the University of Helsinki Wild Animal Phenotyping Infrastructure. With a background in evolutionary ecology John investigates how phenotypes adapt to and interact with the environment while integrating conservation, social science and genetic perspectives into research.
I am a doctoral student in the LUOVA programme and passionate about mammal behaviour and acoustic communication. Conducting my master thesis research in Bethlehem, South Africa, I was able to show that female lion roars contain information about the individual calling. Building on this foundation, my PhD research continues in the field of bioacoustics, where I am investigating acoustic signalling in mammalian species with a focus on the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx). Going from an individual level to community dynamics, I will look at what vocalisations lynx use in the wild, exploring individual, sex and age differences as well as geographic variation. Additionally, I will focus on investigating how effectively lynx use their habitat for sound propagation, how human modification affects their calling behaviour, and how other species respond to their calls.
Our research group works in close cooperation with Annika Herrero from the Natural Resources Institute, Caio Graco-Roza's group and Mar Cabeza's Global Change and Conservation group. We have many cooperating partners from across Europe that allows us to expand the scope of our research.
Internships
Maruša Poje, University of Ljublijana, Slovenia, 2025
Michaëlla Dacek, University of Louvain, Belgium, 2025
Lukas Kwasniok, University of Applied Sciences Weihenstephan Triesdorf, Germany, 2025