Trautschold was known as a specialist in the paleontology and stratigraphy of Carboniferous, Jurassic and Cretaceous deposits of the European part of Russia.

During his studies in Giessen, Trautschold worked for about one and a half years as an assistant in the laboratory of Justus von Liebig 1844–1845.

During his stay in Russia, he settled for a time as a home teacher in the family of the landowner of Kostroma Province, Fyodor N. Luginin, who lived in Moscow at that time, whom he had met in Germany (one of Trautschold's students, Vladimir Luginin, later became a major physicist, professor at Moscow University);[1] In Russia, Hermann Trautschold was known as Gérman Adólʹfovich.

During his work at the Petrovsky Academy, Trautschold devoted much time to researching the deposits of the Carboniferous and Jurassic periods of the Moscow province, and also repeatedly undertook long-term trips with the purpose of geological survey of the Volga, Ural, Donbas, Crimea and Northern Caucasus regions.

Pedagogical work of Trautschold was not limited only to conducting classes and lecturing; He arranged geological excursions for students, took care of replenishing the mineralogical collection of the Petrovsky Academy (which he was in charge of).

[1] In 1892, he distributed a series which resembles an exsiccata for educational purposes, namely Eine Sammlung getrockneter Pflanzen aus Abbazia.