About

My name is Till Macher and I was born in Oberhausen and raised in Essen. After my Abitur in the year 2012 I started my Biology studies at the Ruhr-University of Bochum. After obtaining my Master’s degree I started my PhD at the University of Duisburg-Essen in 2019. In my project I work on the evaluation and establishment of genetic methods in the routine monitoring of freshwater habitats. Here, I investigate the biodiversity of three indicator groups (i.e. diatoms, benthic macroinvertebrates and fish) which are used to determine the ecological status of rivers and streams. The main focus lies on the comparison of traditional methods (i.e. morphological identification) and genetic methods (the so called DNA metabarcoding).

As manifested in my studies and work, nature in all its ways, and simply "being outside" has always been important for me since I was a kid. My family and friends initially sparked and continuously shared this enthusiasm for nature and all its wonders. Thus, I started birding as teenager and spend hours and hours on projects in our garden and the local forest with my friends. This enthusiasm for nature has never diminished. However, in around 2017 I exchanged my binoculars with my first camera and started getting more and more fascinated by capturing nature in all its facets with photography.

This website shall provide a platform to present images from the different topics of animal-, plant- and landscape photography. Nevertheless, these photos are not only meant to be simply illustrative materials, but also highlight nature in all its facets and, in the best case, evoke the same enthusiasm that caught me as child.