People
List of researchers, students, and staff currently working in the center. Scrolling down below the overview, you will, on this page, find short descriptions of research interests and pictures of people.
At the bottom you will find a list of the international and national research collaborators of the center.
| Faculty and Senior Members | |||
 | Carsten Rahbek I direct CME and have an active interest in all its activities. My main personal research interests are patterns of species distribution, species range sizes, species assemblages, species richness and what determines such patterns (contemporary and historical factors or perhaps also just a bit of chance). Recent focus has been on the role of scale and conceptual formulation and practical design of null- and predictive models that allow direct testing of hypotheses related to patterns of diversity. The natural "other side" of my research relates how evolutionary and ecographical principles can be used to identify robust priorities for conservation of biodiversity. Email: crahbek@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Miguel B. Araujo My research is focused around three broad questions: why do species occur where they do? What processes drive speciation, persistence and extinction of species at varying spatial and temporal scales? How do processes operating at the individual-species level scale up to large ensembles of species and species richness? I have also a strong interest in the application of biogeographical principles, theories, and analyses to problems concerning the conservation of biodiversity at macroecological scales. Email: mbaraujo@bi.ku.dk | ||
 | Neil David Burgess My current research interests are related to the interface between science and pratical conservation action, either on the ground in terms of reserve management or community engagment, or within international proceses such as the propgramme of work on protected areas in the CBD and the whole issue of forest carbon and the implementation of REDD within the UNFCCC. As such I work on collaboration projects with NGOs (WWF, BirdLife, Conservation International, IUCN), Governments (Tanzania) and UN agencies (UNEP-WCMC and UNDP GEF and UN REDD). Email: ndburgess@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Jon Fjeldså Field of expertease broad, comprising evolution, biogeography and taxonomy of birds. Current research has focus on the tropical Andes region of South America and eastern Africa, and global evolution of passerine birds, which comprise more than half of all birds. Mode of speciation and historical and ecological factors affecting the regional patterns of endemism and species richness. This is developed through traditional biogeographical methods supplemented with DNA-based studies of species-rich groups (in collaboration with other institutes) and comprehensive distributional databases (with external collaboration concerning GIS and remotely sensed environmental parameters). Conservation priority analysis (with links to institutions studying human use of natural resources). The broader field of interest includes art and illustration of books in the fields of ornithology and conservation. Email: jfjeldsaa@snm.ku.dk | ||
 | Henrik Glenner My research interest can be divided in 3 major points. 1) Lifecycle studies of barnacles and related crustacean groups have constituted a major part of my research activities. 2) Invasive species in the marine environment in Norway and other places. In the recent years I have been studying the population dynamic and genetics of two invasive marine crab species and their most prominent parasite, a parasitic barnacle or rhizocephalan, which as adult castrates their crab hosts. And 3) I am interested in how to construct the most reliable phylogeny by the use of data from diverse data like dna, fossils and morphological and geographical sources. Email: Henrik.Glenner@bio.uib.no | ||
 | Gary Graves I am interested primarily in the evolution, ecology, and biogeography of birds. My current interests focus on the application of null models to multi-scale patterns of species diversity, the evolutionary consequences of hybridization, and the ecology and evolution of wood warblers. I am conducting long-term field studies in the Great Dismal Swamp and in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern North America. Email: gravesg@si.edu | ||
 | Brian MacKenzie My research interest are the effects of climate variability on fish populations and marine ecosystems. Larval/juvenile fish ecology. Long-term changes in populations and ecosystems. Historical marine ecology Professor MacKenzie holds a permanent position at DTU aqua, National Institute of Aquatic resources. Email: brm@aqua.dtu.dk | ||
 | Katherine Richardson My research deals with the identification and quantification of factors influencing the flow of energy and material (especially carbon and nitrogen) in pelagic ecosystems. Most of my research has been on marine plankton (primarily phytoplankton). However, I have also studied higher trophic levels such as fish (both larvae and adults) and even harbour porpoises. Specifically, I concentrate on the climatic control of marine ecological processes, including predicting the influence of climate change on aquatic productivity, quantifying the role of biological processes in ocean uptake of atmospheric CO2, how changes in ocean conditions influence the strength of the biological pump and the effect of physical/chemical conditions on biodiversity and size distribution of phytoplankton. Email: kari@science.ku.dk | ||
 | Niels Strange I direct the European Erasmus Mundus Master Course in Sustainable Forest and Nature Management (www.sufonama.net). My main personal research interests focus on environmental planning and economics under uncertainty. In particular on climate change and environmental effects. I am also involved in a number of research projects concerning payments for environmental services, landowner behaviour and contract design, multi-criteria analysis, environmental economics, spatial planning under risk of calamities, and agent-based modelling. In my research and teaching career I have strived to mix my competences within quantitative as well as qualitative methods. Email: nst@life.ku.dk | ||
 | Bo Jellesmark Thorsen I am Professor in Applied Economics of Forest and Landscape and Head of the Division of Economics, Policy and Management Planning. My research interests are quite broad. A considerable part of my research has focused on uncertainty and decision making in forest and natural resource settings. I am also interested in the environmental economics of forest and landscape. I also teach in various courses at KU-LIFE - mainly as a co-teacher, and I act as supervisor for a number of PhD-students and MSc-thesis students. Email: bjt@life.ku.dk | ||
 | Robert J. Whittaker Rob Whittaker is appointed by the Dean of the faculty of Science to an Honorary Professorship in Macroecology and Climate at the Department of Biology from July 2008 for a five year term. He is Professor at the University of Oxford, where he is a founding member of the School of Geography and the Environment's Biodiversity research cluster. His research interests span diverse themes within ecological biogeography and ecology, including: conservation biogeography, spatial scale, species diversity theory, climatic controls on species richness, species richness-productivity relationships, macroecology, and island biogeography. He is also an authority on the ecology of the Krakatau Islands, Indonesia, which provide a classic case study of ecosystem recovery in the tropics involving studies of both forest dynamics and island biogeography and their inter-relationships. | ||
 | Henning Adsersen Current Research: Island biogeography, ecology and biodiversity. Special interests: Invasibility of (island) ecosystems, invasivity of plants and animals, evolutionary traits on islands, distribution patterns, conservation aspects, succession and vegetation dynamics, species turnover, vegetation analysis. The research focuses on the Galápagos Islands, the Mascarenes and Danish habitat islands. Email: adser@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Hans Henrik Bruun My research is focussed on community assembly and species richness, more specifically: environmental control (productivity, disturbance) vs. neutral effects, species pool effects, relationships of diversity to invasibility and to productivity and community phylogenetics. My interests, however, cover a wide range of related topics, such as demography, reproductive allometry, seed dispersal processes, niche conservatism, habitat specialization, historical landscape ecology, conservation and restoration. I have done my research in temperate, alpine and arctic plant communities. A main theme in my current research is what we can learn about communities and about migration and colonization processes from studying invasive species. We study the Japanese rose (Rosa rugosa) in its native Asian range and in Europe. I entered the CME on August 1, 2009. Email: hhbruun@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | David Nogués-Bravo My research aimed at unveiling the drivers of biological diversity for a better understanding the future impacts of Global Change on biodiversity. I´m specifically assessing the causes of Late Quaternary Extinctions (humans and climate change) integrating genomics, phylogeography and niche modeling. This is also an excellent playground to improve niche modeling and getting better predictions of future extinctions when climate change and humans come together. Email: dnogues@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Nikolaj Scharff Phylogeny and comparative morphology of spiders in general. Phylogeny and taxonomy of the spider superfamily Orbicularia in particular. Historical biogeography of the spider fauna of the Southern Hemisphere, and in particular the Afromontane spider fauna. Species richness estimations of spiders in tropical ecosystems. Functional morphology of spider genitalia. Email: nscharff@snm.ku.dk | ||
 | Kasper Thorup My primary research interests are within ornithology with a focus on bird migration, especially the orientation systems of long-distance migrants, but also including animal orientation and radio tracking in general. Other primary research interests include all aspects of the distribution, evolution and ecology of birds. Overall research themes: Bird Migration: Migration routes; Climate change effects; Monitoring; Spread of bird-borne diseases. Navigation: Navigation and orientation, the migratory orientation programme. Conservation: Rare Danish breeding birds, Environmental impact assessment. Email: kthorup@snm.ku.dk | ||
 | Anders P. Tøttrup My main research interests are bird migration with focus on: long-term changes in phenology and mortality; intra- and inter-specific interactions; and the impact of climate change. My main objective is to analyse changes over time at different life cycle stages of the populations and clarify consequences of a changing climate. Ringing data from field stations in Europe and Africa will be the main sources of information to test my hypotheses on changes in timing of migration and population limitations. Email: aptottrup@bio.ku.dk | ||
| Postdoctoral Researchers | |||
 | Mohamed Adjou My research interests are in the understanding of, how changes in climate and ocean currents controls biodiversity, by assessing the induced-changes in species' abundances and distributions in the sea and on the land. This research includes three major study-steps; 1) the Physical changes on the oceans caused by climate change, 2) Ocean feedback and 3) direct or indirect marine and terrestrial biodiversity shifts related to such environmental physical changes. These study-steps will consider and compare between past (paleoceanographic, plaeoclimatologic and paleobiologic records and simulated data), present (contemporary records and observations) and future (scenarios and models outputs) Email: madjou@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Michael Krabbe Borregaard My research interests are broad and include patterns of distribution and abundance of both plants and animals, with special emphasis on practical applications in relation to conservation and biodiversity monitoring; more generally, I am keenly interested in the influence of natural history and small-scale processes on broader ecological patterns. I am currently working with the relationship between distribution and abundance of organisms, with special emphasis on the assemblage of Danish breeding birds. Email: mkborregaard@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Bo Dalsgaard I am interested in spatial patterns of biotic interactions and species richness, and how these may interrelate. Most of my work has been conducted in the Caribbean focusing on spatial patterns of plant-pollinator interactions, especially interactions between assemblages of plants and hummingbirds. My current research focuses on “what determines species richness” in the Caribbean. I am particularly interested in determining whether historical or contemporary environmental factors drive patterns of avian species richness, and how biogeography may be used in conservation. Email: b.dalsgaard@zoo.cam.ac.uk | ||
 | Dimitar Dimitrov My main interests are in the field of systematics and phylogeny of spiders with emphasis on the family Pholcidae and the orbweaver spiders (Araneoidea). I am also interested in the processes of speciation in general and the factors involved. Modeling spatial patterns of biodiversity and quantifying the impact of human and climate changes on them, by combining remotely sensed spatial and temporal data sets on the status of environment with geo-referenced taxonomic data. Email: dimitard.gwu @ gmail.com | ||
 | Pierre-Henri Fabre My postdoctoral research deals with the diversification of Passeriformes. I am currenly developping a Core Corvoidea project dealing with their systematics, diversification and biogeography. I plan to focus on the very interesting family of Monarchidae and also Core Corvoidea clade. The use of phylogenetic data allowed to estimate extinction and speciation rates, to detect shifts in diversification rates, and to study of the link between biological traits and diversification within clades. I will also explored the relative plausibility of biogeographic events, climatic events, life history traits and morphology as explanations for variations in diversification rate. Email: phfabri@snm.ku.dk | ||
 | Panu Halme My research has mostly been focused on different aspects of forest biodiversity and its conservation. In addition, I have been working with biodiversity survey methods, restoration ecology and the ecology of species inhabiting traditional rural biotopes such as wooded pastures. I have used mostly fungi but also birds and bryophytes as my study species. In my current project I will study how different log, stand and landscape scale factors affect the fungal communities living in decaying wood. I am currently situated at the Centre of Macroecology, Evolution and Climate but I am also involved in some research projects in University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Email: panu.p.j.halme@jyu.fi | ||
 | Martin Hartvig I have a wide interest in community and food web ecology at different spatial and temporal scales. I am particularly interested in how communities are assembled, and how they loose species and reconfigure when exposed to invasions and/or environmental changes. My work includes both theoretical and data-driven approaches; hopefully these two ends will benefit from each other and synthesise the field. Currently I work on predicting future species distributions in the North Atlantic ecosystems when both the environment and prey distributions are changing. Email: martin.hartvig@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Jacob Heilmann-Clausen My main research interests are related to forest biodiversity and its conservation. I am especially interested in the links between landscape history, disturbance dynamics and habitat diversity on one side, and the diversity of fungi, vascular plants and epiphytes on the other. The more normative aspects of Conservation Biology is another key interest, and I consider the question: "why conserve nature" to be far from trivial. In particular, I am interested in exploring and possibly bridging the typical conceptual gap in how "good nature" is appreciated among landowners, conservationists and the broader population. Finally, I have a special devotion to fungi, and are working part-time in the Danish basidiomycete mapping project. Email: jheilmann-clausen@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Ben Holt The aim of my current research project is to investigate and explain spatial patterns of biodiversity within the marine environment. In order to achieve this goal I am focusing on Caribbean coral reef fish. Using a large fish survey database, provided by our collaborators (R.E.E.F.), I am currently investigating patterns of fish species richness across the region. I will determine which environmental factors are most closely associated with variation in species richness and consider both alpha and beta diversity. This project will also consider other aspects of biodiversity, namely phylogenetic and functional diversity, and examine the relationships between these different diversity metrics. I will also consider community assembly processes in these fish and attempt to answer long standing questions regarding the composition of life on coral reef systems. Email: bholt@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Knud Andreas Jønsson My research interests are centered around systematics and biogeography of an Indo-Pacific bird radiation, the core Corvoidea. This group numbers about 750 species and includes such diverse groups as cuckoo-shrikes, whistlers, orioles, crows, birds-of-paradise and vireos. I have constructed molecular phylogenies for a number of these families and use these as a tool to investigate biogeographical patterns of dispersal and diversification in time and space. Email: kajonsson@snm.ku.dk | ||
 | Jean-Philippe Lessard I am generally interested in integrating ecological and evolutionary approaches to gain a better understanding of the forces governing the assembly of communities. My research incorporates concepts in community Ecology, Biogeography, Macroecology and Macroevolution to elucidate how current patterns of community structure emerge. More specifically, I use large datasets of community composition, molecular phylogenies, null models and environmental niche modeling to assess the role of evolutionary history in driving spatial variation in community structure. In addition, I use environmental gradients and biological invasions as natural experiments to examine the cause and consequences of contemporary patterns of biodiversity. Email: jplessard@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Martin Lindegren Global patterns of fish species richness and phylogeny. Similar to terrestrial organisms, global fish species richness show a strong latitudinal gradient, mainly related to temperature and primary production. Whether these patterns are consistent across taxonomic groups is largely unknown. This project will link fish species richness with recent findings in phylogeny and investigate the factors affecting the radiation and distribution of marine fish species. Email: mli@aqua.dtu.dk | ||
 | Thomas Hedemark Lundhede At the Danish Centre for Forest and Landscape I primarily work with the socioeconomic aspects of biodiversity. Like any other natural resource biodiversity is managed within limited economical means. Therefore I focus on how society’s objectives of protecting biodiversity are best and economically efficient accomplished. Among other things this involves revealing society’s preferences for different species by means of non-market valuation techniques and econometric modelling. Email: Thlu@life.ku.dk | ||
 | Katharine Ann Marske I am interested in the evolutionary origin of shared phylogeographic patterns among co-distributed species, how this relates to historical events, and whether they are likely to continue to respond similarly to future events. My current research combines phylogeography with ecological niche models to investigate the roles of climate change and human activity in driving the Late Quaternary extinctions. I am also interested in whether comparative phylogeography can be used to predict shared responses to modern climate change in extant species. Email: KAMarske@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Anna Neuheimer My research is focused on explaining spatial and temporal variability in population dynamics of exploited species and associated prey populations in aquatic systems. This work includes the development and application of quantitative tools to disentangle the various factors (e.g. climate, fishing) affecting growth and life history, as well as consolidate our current theories of environmentally dependent population dynamics (e.g. individual-based models). Currently, I am developing modelling tools to explain and predict dynamics of cod (Gadus morhua) and herring (Clupea harengus) populations across the north Atlantic. Models will include spatial variability in environmentally dependent growth and life history characteristics for both species across their range, and will be used to predict species dynamics under future climate conditions. Email: abneuheimer@gmail.com | ||
 | Martin Reinhardt Nielsen My primary research interest is hunting, ranging from bushmeat hunting in developing countries to Inuit communities traditional hunting in the Arctic. My research focus on assessing the socioeconomic and cultural drivers and the ecological impacts of hunting. This in order to examining the efficiency of management approaches and their implications for hunters’ livelihoods and traditional cultures and to assist in developing targeted mitigation policies. Recent projects include: evaluating the outcome of Joint Forest Management in Tanzania in relation to the policy objectives conservation, improves local livelihoods and promotion of good governance using bushmeat hunting as an indicator; investigating the production and communication of information in locally-based monitoring initiatives in relation to the local political reality and stakeholders strategic interests; and assessing the ecological justification and cultural implications of narwhal hunting management regulations in Greenland. Current projects include examining the relations between poverty and forest use in the Democratic Republic of Congo and building knowledge for regulating illegal bushmeat markets in Tanzania. Email: mrni@life.ku.dk | ||
 | Christian Mac Ørum Rasmussen I am particularly interested in biodiversity hotspots and the causes to mass extinction events. What drives these fundamental parameters that are crucial for the evolution of life on Earth? I particularly focus on the interplay between geology and biodiversity. I come from a background as palaeontologist, where I have studied biodiversity aspects in deep time. More specifically, I have focused on the Ordovician-Silurian periods (~460-417 million years ago), where I have studied the taxonomy, ecology, biogeography and stratigraphy of brachiopod faunas from various localities around the world, including Alaska, Chile, North Greenland, Russia and Scandinavia. Email: Christian@snm.ku.dk | ||
 | Anna-Sofie Steensgaard The aim of my research is to gain a better understanding of the underlying principles that drive the spatio-temporal patterns of infectious diseases. I am particularly interested in human parasitic infections that require a vector or secondary host species to completely their life cycles. I am interested in combining conceptual and theoretical approaches ranging from classical macroecology, disease ecology and host-pathogen evolutionary ecology. In my current research I follow a multi-scale, multi-species approach, were individual pathogens are investigated in the context of co-existing host-pathogen systems and their spatial-environmental realities. I use Bayesian geostatistical mapping and ecological niche modeling to assess the relative roles of biotic and abiotic factors in driving the spatial variation in single and co-endemic snail- and mosquito borne parasitic infection patterns in Africa and South-America. Email: asstensgaard@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Zhiheng Wang I am interested in all issues of macroecology, especially the causes of the geographical patterns of biodiversity, range size and body size, and the responses of species to climate change. My work in the last several years was mainly focused on the compilation of Database of China’s Woody Plants, and the geographical patterns of plant diversity in eastern Asia and North America. My current research combines phylogeography with macroecology to explore how climate and species evolution collectively determine local and regional species diversity, and how future climate change influences species distribution. Email: zwang@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Hannah Marie Wood My research interests focus on functional morphology, particularly in relation to diversification, ecology, and behavior. I have been examining two closely related spider families (the pelican and trap-jaw spiders, families Archaeidae and Mecysmaucheniidae) that have both evolved unusual jaw/carapace morphologies, which directly relate to their predatory behaviors. Working with trap-jaw spiders, I hope to address how diversification rates change in relation to rates of morphological and functional change as the trap-jaw structure evolves increasing complexity. Working on pelican spiders, my research focuses on understanding the timing and nature of diversification patterns in relation to the evolution the novel jaw/carapace morphology, with an emphasis on ancient speciation patterns in Madagascar. Email: hannah.wood@snm.ku.dk | ||
| PhD Students | |||
 | Fatemeh Bakhtiari Using environmental economics for guiding biodiversity conservation and management is my main interest. The PhD project, which is carried out in a collaboration between University of Copenhagen and Bangor University (UK), has three main parts: The first part analyzes the trade-offs between utilization and protection of forest goods and eco-system services. The value of ecosystem services and non-timber products plays an increasing role in decision making. This requires the development of robust valuation methods. The project aims at improving the choice experiment valuation method applying qualitative analysis and psychometrics to develop a more valid questionnaire design. In the second part of the project I will apply the choice experiment in a number of countries to investigate the importance of attributes in a geopolitical setting on the estimated value of biodiversity. The last part of the project investigates the potentials of transnational coordination of biodiversity conservation applying the results from the choice experiment. I am interested in understanding the implications of taking the objective of a social planner and the resulting distribution of conservation effort across countries. Email: fba@life.ku.dk | ||
 | Aske Bosselmann In my PhD project, which is carried out at Forest & Landscape in collaboration with CATIE in Costa Rica, I work with small scale coffee farmers who, through their management of shade coffee systems, provide a range of environmental or ecosystem services, ranging from carbon sequestration to biodiversity conservation through maintenance of habitats, biological corridors and buffer zones. With increasing costs of production and highly fluctuating coffee prices, farmers are shifting to other land uses and environmental services are lost. How can schemes of Payments for Environmental Services be set up to secure the services provided by shade coffee systems, and can coffee cooperatives make PES schemes more efficient, effective and equitable? These are some of the questions the PhD study aim to answer, based on field work in Costa Rica and Nicaragua Email: askeboss@life.ku.dk | ||
 | Stine Wamberg Broch My research interests are primarily related to landowner motivation. Since private landowners often own large share of the land area they are important agents in implementing nature conservation. The research aims at developing theory and methods on how different types of policy tools can be improved in order to simultaneously achieve societal goals and meet the interests and motivation of the private landowners. I use different theories from e.g. sociology, social psychology and economics to increase understanding of landowner motivation. Furthermore, I use both quantitative methods as choice experiments and qualitative methods as interviews to explore landowner motivation. For example, I have used a choice experiment to investigate Danish landowners’ preferences regarding afforestation subsidy schemes. The results are used to discuss how afforestation schemes could be further developed. Email: wamberg@life.ku.dk | ||
 | Monika Chrenková My main interests are within conservation biology and ornithology. The main focus of my PhD work is the behavioural ecology of the Little Owl in Central European farmland, linked with identification of causes of its decline and possibilities for conservation. I aim at finding effective approaches to incorporate scientific results to biodiversity conservation, protected area management and related environmental policies. My previous experiences include mainly monitoring and conservation of endangered species (especially raptors), management of water ecosystems, creation of ecological networks and active involvement of local people in nature conservation. I come from Slovakia, from an NGO background (cooperating with NGOs from countries of the Danube River Basin and the Carpathian Region). I started a PhD in autumn 2010 at the University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic. Starting in February 2011 I join the CMEC for 1 year, where Kasper Thorup will function as supervisor. Email: chrenkova@gmail.com | ||
 | Henrique Batalha Filho In my PhD project I aim to understand the evolutionary diversification of the Atlantic forest by comparative phylogeography using forest birds. I am using genes to reconstruct the past history by coalescent and phylogenetic approaches. I am trying to find which biogeographic events played a role on the Atlantic forest Quaternary diversification and I will test the hypothesis to historical contact between Atlantic forest and Amazon. I come from Brazil, from São Paulo city. I have started my PhD in 2008 at Biosciences Institute from the University of São Paulo, Brazil. I am visiting the Zoological Museum for 2 and half months, where Jon Fjeldså will be supervising me. Email: henrique.batalha@usp.br | ||
 | Raquel A. Garcia The focus of my PhD is on the effects of climate change on the patterns of vertebrate species diversity in sub-Saharan Africa. I am using bioclimatic envelope models to forecast potential shifts in climatically suitable space for species of birds, mammals, amphibians and snakes. The modelling will be complemented by exploratory approaches using climatic data for the un-modelled (range-restricted) species. The aim of this macro-scale analysis is to identify potential high-priority biogeographical realms for species’ persistence, or climate change refugia. While the results will reflect the exposure of species to climatic changes, I am also interested in exploring the species’ sensitivity given by biological traits. I am supervised by Miguel B. Araújo and Mar Cabeza. Most of my work is done at the Integrative Biology and Global Change Group at the National Natural Sciences Museum in Madrid (Spain), in collaboration with the Centre for Macroecology, Climate and Evolution and the Rui Nabeiro Biodiversity Chair at Évora University (Portugal). My research is also co-hosted by the South African National Biodiversity Institute, where I intend to use the macro-scale results to explore the implications of climatic changes for conservation planning at a finer scale. Email: raquel.garcia@mncn.csic.es | ||
 | Jonas Geldmann My primary research interest is in conservation biology, looking at the relationship between management effectiveness and conservation outcomes. The main focus of my PhD work, is addressing how different parameters of protected area management affect biodiversity indicators, to evaluate present conservation strategies and improve future ones. I am especially interested in South and Latin America tropical forests but also more overall conservation efforts to preserve biodiversity though Strategic Conservation Planning and selection criteria for protected areas. I collaborate with Oxford University and UNEP-WCMC using the Protected Area Management Effectiveness information module. Email: jgeldmann@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Soladoye Babatola Iwajomo My research interests are within conservation and ornithology. The focus of my PhD is the Palearctic-African Bird migration. I am analyzing long term autumn migration data from Ottenby Bird Observatory, Sweden to investigate trends in population, phenology and migration strategies of some bird species wintering in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to using radio transmitters to study the spatial behaviour of the Garden warbler on its non-breeding ground, I am also employing the use of geolocators and light-weight satellite transmitters to study the between-season movements of two intra-African migrants; Carmine Bee-eater and African Cuckoo respectively. My previous experience includes avian influenza surveillance among wild birds and community-based conservation education. Email: iwajom@yahoo.com | ||
 | Peter Søgaard Jørgensen I have broad research interests extending within most of the center’s research themes. My research deals with population response to past and current environmental change. In my PhD the overall goal is to describe macroecological (i.e. general) patterns within this field. I do this through several approaches: In the bird populations of the Eastern Arc Mountains in Eastern Africa, I work on the question of how environmental change in the past, from deep historic to very recent events, helps shape current genetic and phenotypic make-up. This is an important question to help us understand how populations will respond to current global change. I investigate this latter question with work on two major datasets of bird population abundance in Europe and North America. These datasets provide time series extending back 30-40 years collected by volunteer bird watchers, and they offer a unique opportunity to look at how variation in climate and land use affects populations and how these effects may vary systematically within and between species depending on their traits. Finally, through review and meta-analysis I try to synthesize current knowledge on how some of the major components of environmental change as land use and climate change, pollution, introduced species and human exploitation add up to form overall population response across different taxa. For more on my research, including projects within applied evolutionary biology, and interactions between biological and human response to environmental changes please see my regularly updated website Marcoecology of environmental change. Email: PSJorgensen@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Andreas Kelager I study the impact of species’ trophic interactions on their distribution under climate change using a myrmecophilic butterfly the Alcon Blue (Maculinea alcon) and its two different host species, the Marsh Gentian (Gentiana pneumonanthe) and various Red Ant species (Myrmica spp.) as a model system. I’m focused on integrating biological relevant parameters in species distribution modelling under current and projected future climate in Europe. The project will involve large-scale and coarse grained modelling of potential ranges of species in an obligate parasitic interaction system. In addition, more detailed fine-grain investigations on the system will be undertaken, including habitat suitability modelling and incorporating population genetic information in the models. The study will also include work on the species’ habitat requirements in northern Europe focusing on conservation and restoration within Denmark. Email: akelager@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Mikkel Willemoes Kristensen My research will mainly focus on individual migration patterns of small night-migrating birds wintering south of the Sahara. The migration routes will be tracked using small light-weight satellite transmitters, light-based geolocators and radio tagging. The obtained information of migration timing, migration routes, stop-over sites, wintering grounds and winter behaviour will be tested against patterns of population decline as well as large scale patterns of migration control. I will also investigate patterns of dispersal and migration distances in relation to climate in large sets of ringing data. My previous research areas include ecology and management of seabird populations, orientation of vagrant passerines and arctic ecology. I am based at the National History Museum of Denmark. Email: MWKristensen@snm.ku.dk | ||
 | Maren Moltke Lyngsgaard My research interest is in the area of Biological Oceanography and Marine Ecology. During the past two years I have been working with the ocean carbon cycle and biological uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to the Ocean. I started my Ph.D. project in July 2009 where I focus on phytoplankton primary production in the past, present and future and the relation between deep chlorophyll maxima, the distribution of oxygen production and the amount of organic material exported out of the watercolumn. The Ph.D. project is a part of a larger project called ECODYN working with ecosystem dynamics and the potential impact from climate change on the marine environment in inner Danish waters with a special focus on oxygen concentrations in the future. Email: mmlyngsgaard@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Erik Askov Mousing My research interests focus mainly on marine phytoplankton ecology and paleoecology. During my PhD I will investigate the ecological and evolutionary processes that control the distribution and diversity of phytoplankton in the ocean. I will also examine how climate change and, in particular, global warming is expected to affect the distribution and diversity of phytoplankton in the future. The project will build on several different data sets covering multiple spatial scales from global datasets (e.g. the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS)) to local data sets from monitoring activities in Denmark. To understand the contemporary species distribution and diversity, it is necessary to understand the role of past environmental and evolutionary processes. Combining historic data sets of climate and species distributions I will explore the possibility to use modeling as a tool to establish historical ranges under different environmental scenarios. The understanding of past ranges combined with contemporary data sets will then be used to elucidate the controlling factors and possibly explain the anticipated effects of global warming. Email: eamousing@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Anne Sofie Bang Nielsen The aim of my Ph.D project is to investigate the implication of policy initiates implemented to protect biodiversity and ecosystem services. I make use of econometric modelling to elicit information on questions such as: What are the drivers of land-use changes? How do policies impact these - and how does this affect the ability of nature to deliver environmental goods? Do policies such as e.g. Payments for Environmental Services deliver biodiversity and ecosystem protection and to what level? And what are the linkages between these policies and socioeconomics parameters? Email: asbn@life.ku.dk | ||
 | Nikolaj Sørensen My PhD is part of the project North Atlantic - Arctic coupling in a changing climate: impacts on ocean circulation, carbon cycling and sea-ice (NAACOS). I study the diversity and ecology of marine North Atlantic and Arctic picoeukaryotes and I find seasonal variation especially interesting. The first studies of marine picoeukaryote diversity were not published until 2001, why many relatively basic questions remain unanswered regarding the ecology and population dynamics of this important biodiversity component. Picoeukaryotes have proven to have a very high diversity, ranging from new genotypes to novel lineages, can dominate planktonic communities, and are ecologically important both as autotrophs and heterotrophs. The minute size of picoeukaryotes (<3 µm) makes microscopy inadequate when studying them and I therefore make extensive use of modern molecular methods. In addition to investigating picoeukaryotes I also work on improving and developing the molecular methods used in this field. Email: nsorensen@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Stavroula Tsoukali In my PhD project I will focus on the oceanography of small pelagic fish species of the Northern Seas, and specifically on the early life stages (eggs and larvae) which are particularly vulnerable to temperature changes. Our aim is to investigate how their life history traits, such as survival, growth and developmental rates or the timing of spawning and hatching in regard to the spring bloom, are affected by temperature and further by climate changes. We will examine the match-mismatch dynamics, which early life history traits have stronger or weaker responses to temperature changes, the intra- and inter-specific differences and what would be the consequences to the ecosystems. Email: stavroula.tsoukali@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Xiaoting Xu I am interested in species distribution and diversity and their response on climate change. My PhD project mainly focus on Quercus species which are important components of tropical to temperate forests. I already constructed a global distribution and species traits database of Quercus and try to understand how climate and evolution history influence the distribution and richness of Quercus and how they interact with species traits. Email: Xiaoting.Xu@bio.ku.dk | ||
| MSc Students | |||
 | Marie Aggerbeck My main fields of interest are phylogenetics, population genetics and ancient genomic approaches. With my M.sc, I aim at resolving a phylogeny for a number of bird species within the Corvoidea, applying a multi-locus approach to place the taxa of 40 key species. Using several different genes, I will try to construct the overall phylogeny of this family, and will then be able to use these results to investigate the divergence between the species and the biogeographical patterns of these. Email: marieag10@gmail.com | ||
 | Anne Katrine Bro Larsen My primary fields of interest are restoration ecology, nature management, botany and mycology. The aim of my master thesis is to identify restoration potential through a cronosequence analysis of heathland and grassland restorations on ex-arable and afforested land on sandy soils in Jutland. In the study I will combine vegetation analyses of vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens with soil analyses and land use history data. Another aim is to develop indicators for biotic and abiotic constraints that should be handled in a given restoration as well as proposing simple methods to asses restoration suitability of a given area. Thirdly I will estimate and compare the costs of restoring arable soil and plantations into heathland and grassland in order to help nature managers in the decision making process. Email: katrine.bro.larsen@gmail.com | ||
 | Signe Carlsson In my masters thesis I work with a data-set on forest-living organisms in Denmark, looking at the spatial distribution of forest biodiversity. I aim to identify potential “gaps” in the representation of species in protected forest areas in Denmark and wish to investigate whether areas of protected forest in Denmark are adequate chosen to protect forest biodiversity or if other areas could be more appropriate for this conservation action. I also wish to explore how different taxa of forest living organism are spatially distributed and if some groups are better indicators for overall forest biodiversity than others. My main area of interests lies within conservation biology, biodiversity and biogeography. Email: smc@hotmail.dk | ||
 | Christina Dahl My main fields of interests are conservation biology and science communication. For my Master’s Thesis, I will investigate visitor composition and learning in the protected area of Lille Vildmose, Northern Jutland. With 50 % of the world’s population living in cities, we are further from nature than ever before. Reconnection with nature is essential, if people are to care for and protect what is left. Large protected areas have the potential to convey experiences and knowledge of nature that can lead to attitude change towards conservation efforts. But who visit these areas, and how do you best communicate to visitors, the value of an area, and the management goals for it? In this study I am going to categorize visitors in Lille Vildmose based on their general environmental attitude and personal norms. I will then investigate if some types of communication attract certain people. I will also investigate knowledge and attitude change for people in different communication environments, to evaluate how best to increase knowledge about and cultivate a positive attitude towards PAs and conservation. Finally I will use follow-up interviews to look at possible effects on a larger timescale. Email: christinamdahl@hotmail.com | ||
 | Signe S Gerlach In my Masters Thesis I will investigate nature quality in areas protected by §3 in the Danish nature conservation act. 40% of these areas are situated within areas also protected by the European Habitats Directive, which will allow me to investigate whether the highest nature quality is found inside or outside the Habitat areas. This knowledge will clarify how important the §3-protected nature is outside Habitat areas, on the national level. The investigation will be based on botanical and structural data collected by the Danish Nature Agency and will also include field trips. Email: signe.sofie@gmail.com | ||
 | Marie Simone Glahn My main interests are conservation biology and botany. In this study I investigate the effects of grazing on the vegetation in the light open forest, Tofte Skov in Lille Vildmose, Northern Jutland. How the grazers (deer’s and wild boars) affect floristic and structural diversity and, in general, the dynamics of the clearing-forest matrix will be covered within this study and management from a biodiversity perspective discussed. Email: marie_glahn@hotmail.com | ||
 | Randi Jacobsen My main areas of interest are conservation biology, biodiversity, applied ecology and nature management. The aim of my master thesis is to evaluate the effectiveness of one of the tools for protecting nature in Denmark (fredninger). In the study I will first investigate the purpose of the areas protected by this method. I will then select the areas protected to conserve nature or biodiversity. For these areas I will try to retrieve the plans for the maintenance of the areas nature and the supervision over the areas done by the municipalities. From this I will evaluate how well the protected area is actually conserved, and if the purpose of the protection is fulfilled. Email: randi_jacobsen@hotmail.com | ||
 | Mathilde lerche- Jørgensen My main fields of interests are conservation and wildlife management. In my Master’s Thesis I will analyze the spatial behavior and habitat selection of the Montagu’s Harrier Circus pygargus, which breeds in the Wadden Sea area in Denmark. The population is currently declining; however, the reasons for the decline are still unknown. From my study I hope to identify factors, which are limiting the success of breeding Montagu’s Harriers in Denmark. I will use data from four males tagged with GPS-loggers. The loggers provide information about movement, e.g. position, height, acceleration and speed, which allows detailed analyses of each bird’s spatial behavior. I will investigate which foraging habitats are preferred by the birds and whether there is a temporal variation in spatial behavior e.g. due to stages in breeding cycle. Thanks to studies carried out on breeding birds in the Netherlands, I will be able to compare my results with data from other areas where the population is increasing. Email: mathildelerchej@gmail.com | ||
 | Simon Lindegaard We are investigating whether species richness of host specific herbivorous insects are dependent on plant nutrition (leaf N and P concentrations, C / N ratio). Insect species are divided into functional guilds (e.g. gall-forming insects vs. chewing / sucking insects) and selected species within guilds are examined. We examine the described relationship between pairs of sister species of Danish plants in such a way that plant phylogeny is taken into account. The project consist of a 1) bibliographic review of present knowledge of target species and 2) field collection of insects in Denmark. Email: simon_l@sol.dk | ||
 | Malthe Lund We are investigating whether species richness of host specific herbivorous insects are dependent on plant nutrition (leaf N and P concentrations, C / N ratio). Insect species are divided into functional guilds (e.g. gall-forming insects vs. chewing / sucking insects) and selected species within guilds are examined. We examine the described relationship between pairs of sister species of Danish plants in such a way that plant phylogeny is taken into account. The project consist of a 1) bibliographic review of present knowledge of target species and 2) field collection of insects in Denmark. Email: malthelund@gmail.com | ||
 | Peter Zahl Marki My main fields of interest are evolution and biogeography of birds, as well as other aspects of ornithology. My Master’s thesis will focus on brain size as a possible key innovation in the diversification and radiation of the Passeriformes. This involves measuring braincase volumes from representatives of most lineages within the passerines. Brain size can then be compared to geographical distribution and diversity in order to assess whether it is likely to have played a role in the expansion and radiation of the different passerine lineages. Email: zoothera87@hotmail.com | ||
 | Mattias Lange Nielsen My main fields of interests are conservation biology and science communication. For my Master’s Thesis, I will investigate visitor composition and learning in the protected area of Lille Vildmose, Northern Jutland. With 50 % of the world’s population living in cities, we are further from nature than ever before. Reconnection with nature is essential, if people are to care for and protect what is left. Large protected areas have the potential to convey experiences and knowledge of nature that can lead to attitude change towards conservation efforts. But who visit these areas, and how do you best communicate to visitors, the value of an area, and the management goals for it? In this study I am going to categorize visitors in Lille Vildmose based on their general environmental attitude and personal norms. I will then investigate if some types of communication attract certain people. I will also investigate knowledge and attitude change for people in different communication environments, to evaluate how best to increase knowledge about and cultivate a positive attitude towards PAs and conservation. Finally I will use follow-up interviews to look at possible effects on a larger timescale. Email: mlnielsen@bio.ku.dk | ||
| BSc Students | |||
| Technical and Administrative Staff | |||
 | Lisbeth Andreassen Responsible for administration at CMEC, including budgets, accounting and reporting, funding management, recruitment, enrolment of new staff members, general managing support staff, facilitating visitors at CMEC and liaison with DNRF and University administration. I have a master’s degree in Humanities. Email: Landreassen@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Louis A. Hansen I am an ornithologist, graduated from the Zoological Museum, where my present office can be found. At the Center, I work on various projects for Professor Carsten Rahbek (and Jon Fjeldså at the Zoological Museum), where my part is mapping the species distribution of various groups of vertebrates (though mainly birds) species on three continents. Privatly funded fieldwork often carries me away to East Africa. Here my main interests are various aspects on the montane bird species. Email: lahansen@snm.ku.dk | ||
 | Bjørn Hermansen I am a geographer and computer scientist who have been working in the Danish Ministry of Environment for more than 20 years as GIS-coordinator and GIS-projectleader. My special interest concerns data quality and spatial analysis on environmental, biological and geological geodata. Moreover I am interested in dissemination of environmental related issues within geography and biology. Email: bhermansen@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Jan Bolding Kristensen I am from the Vertebrate Section of the Natural History Museum, where I work with the ornithological collections. Preparation of new material (skins, skeletons etc.) and handling of loans, digitizing data from the collections. Administration of the Tissue Collection and handling all loans of subsamples from this for genetic studies. Participating in collecting expeditions and have so far been to Tanzania, Bolivia, Solomon Islands – especially working with forest birds. Also ringing and sampling blood from Geese in high arctic (Svalbard and Greenland). Field Ornithology as a big life-time interest! Email: jtbkristensen@snm.ku.dk | ||
 | Jan Pedersen I work on the entomological collection at the Natural History Museum with Nikolaj Scharff. Specially focusing on spiders, flies and millipedes (Aracnida, Diptera, Diplopoda). My work mainly consist of expanding and maintaining the museums large insect collection and participating in field work and collecting expeditions. I have contributed to many Danish and international atlas projects on insects and spiders. Email: japedersen @ snm.ku.dk | ||
 | Lykke Pedersen My current research interest is conservation biology. The aim of my BSc project is to explore the food items, food availability and food quality of populations of Red-backed shrikes breeding in different habitats and determine the impact on breeding success. The output of this study will increase our knowledge on preferred breeding habitats towards a better protection of a declining bird species. Email: lyks86@gmail.com | ||
 | Anders Højgård Petersen My current main interest is quantitative analysis of biodiversity data in an applied context. My main focus is on Danish nature conservation issues in general and on combining biological data with socioeconomic and other data in multi disciplinary studies, including cost efficiency analyses and priority analyses. Most recently I have been heavily involved in a study designed to investigate and prioritize the effort needed to conserve the Danish terrestrial biodiversity and to estimate the associated social costs. During my 20 years as a biologist, researcher and consultant I have gained extended experience in a multitude of disciplines within e.g. terrestrial biodiversity, marine biology, environmental monitoring and impact assessment, environmental management, nature conservation and data analysis. Email: anders.h.petersen@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Troels Leuenhagen Petersen I'm a master student in Biology. My main fields of interest are bird migration and conservation. I wrote my BSc on phenological changes in arrival and breeding initiation of passerines and waders on Tipperne during the past 80 years. I have taken part in the GeoLocator work on Red-backed Shrikes in Gribskov in 2009 and 2010. Email: troelspe18@m7.stud.ku.dk | ||
 | Birgitte Ingrid Rasmussen I am a biologist working for Professor Carsten Rahbek and Professor Neil Burgess in the conservation group. I support the group in all aspects concerning conservation research, communication, administration, education and field work mainly focused on nature reserves in Denmark. My main responsibility is to facilitate networking between university based research and practical nature management involving the Aage V. Jensen Foundation, stakeholders, NGOs, students etc. I have experience in project management and nature restoration from working at the Nature Agence, Ministry of the Environment. | ||
 | Malik Thrane At CMEC I work with Katherine Ann Marske and David Nogués-Bravo with their research in the distribution of different animal- and plant species, mainly by distribution models, GIS and statistics. I am a BSc-student in mathematics and geography and I find the application of GIS and mathematics in this context, species distribution, very interesting. In my bachelorproject in geography I wrote a project about the distribution of Eelgrass in Roskilde Fjord, where my group and I made a model predicting the probability of finding Eelgrass in the fjord depending on different parameters. Email: mthrane@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Ditte Mikkelsen Truelsen I am B.Sc. student in Biology and my current interest is in Evolution and Population Genetics but also in Cell Biology and Physiology. At CMEC I work with Center Administrator Lisbeth Andreassen as her assistant especially on the annual report to Danish National Research Foundation and on other administrative assignments. Email: dmtruelsen@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Elisabeth Wulffeld I am a biologist with expertise in conservation and communication to the public. My work is focused on increasing public awareness of biodiversity and promoting communication within and from the Center of Macroecology, Evolution and Climate. I have experience from international NGO’s and Technical University of Denmark, where a part of my job was to produce educational material for school children. Email: elisabethw@bio.ku.dk | ||
| Collaborators | |||
 | Andrew Balmford My research focuses on conservation planning, the costs and benefits of effective conservation, evaluating the success of conservation interventions, and exploring how conservation efforts might best be reconciled with other activities, especially in developing countries. I try to tackle these questions through fieldwork, analyses of large databases, and modelling, and strive to work with colleagues in other disciplines. I am also extremely keen on building close working relationships between conservation scientists and conservation practitioners. Email: apb12@cam.ac.uk | ||
 | Katrin Boehning-Gaese Ecology and Evolution of Bird Communities - Biodiversity of tropical and temperate bird communities. - Comparison of tropical and temperate bird species (morphology, life-history,behavior). - Structure of bird migration systems (biodiversity, abundance, habitat choice). - Evolution of long-distance migration. Relationships between Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function - Relationship between landscape structure, pollinator and bird diversity and ecosystem function (pollination, seed dispersal). - Interactions between ants and ant-dispersed plants (phenological adaptations, disturbance, abundance). Conservation Biology - Population trends and biodiversity of birds in North America, Europe and Africa. - Influence of global climate change on bird communities. - Influence of forest fragmentation on pollination, seed dispersal, seedling establishment and plant population structure. Email: boehning@uni-mainz.de | ||
 | Robin L Chazdon My present research is on the regeneration and community assembly of tropical secondary forests; seedling establishment and dispersal of trees, life history and functional traits of tropical tree species. I have a general interest in ecology and regeneration of tropical and temperate forests, conservation and restoration of tropical forests, tropical second-growth forests, biodiversity and conservation in agricultural landscapes. Professor Chazdon is currently a sabbatical visitor at CMEC holding a permanent position at the Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, USA. Email: chazdon@uconn.edu | ||
 | Lauren Coad Research fellow at the Environmental Change Institute at University of Oxford. I am interested in the impacts of protected areas on deforestation and carbon loss, as well as their social, economic and cultural impacts on communities and local livelihoods. Measuring the effectiveness of different protected area management and governance systems in reducing deforestation. These analyses utilise the Protected Areas Management Effectiveness (PAME) database. Email: lauren.coad@ouce.ox.ac.uk | ||
 | Robert Colwell As an evolutionary ecologist, my interests center on the biology and geography of biodiversity. In the tropics, I have worked with the ecology and evolution of species interactions, and managed and developed database tools for a major biodiversity inventory. Recent work with biogeographical theory and spatial models, focusing on the role of geometric constraints, has stimulated controversy, new directions in the field, and links with conservation biology. In collaboration with colleagues in statistics, I have been active in developing new statistical methods and software tools for biodiversity statistics. Professor Colwell is currently a sabbatical visitor at CMEC holding a permanent position at the Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, USA. Email: colwell@uconn.edu | ||
 | Nicholas Gotelli My research addresses basic questions about the organization of animal and plant communities. What are the forces that determine the species composition and abundance of natural assemblages? How do competition and predation affect local community structure? What are the biotic and abiotic factors that control population growth and the risk of extinction? Email: Nicholas.Gotelli@uvm.edu | ||
 | Catherine Graham My research interests include investigating the effect of spatial and temporal arrangement of habitats on ecological and evolutionary patterns and processes and the use of this information to inform conservation and management policy. Email: cgraham@life.bio.sunysb.edu | ||
 | Joaquín Hortal My interests are the description of biodiversity patterns, and the understanding of how this synecological phenomenon works and is affected by environment, energy and water availability, historic events and evolutionary constraints. I am also interested in the distribution of species (including the role of exotic species in their new habitats, and the geographic expression of potential niches), and in Conservation Biogeography. I use to work particularly with dung beetles, and in Western Palaeactic, Iberian and Macaronesian biogeography. Email: jhortal@mncn.csic.es | ||
 | Jette Bredahl Jacobsen I work with environmental and resource economics, with focus on forest, nature and landscape. My interests are broad. Among other things I work with (economic) valuation, and I am in particular interested in valuation of biodiversity, both related to use and non-use value. I also work with climate change and the possibility of adapting management strategies for forest and nature areas. Email: jbj@life.ku.dk | ||
 | Thomas Krogsgaard Kristensen Head of The Mandahl-Barth Research Centre for Biodiversity and Health, DBL-Centre for Health Research and Development, IVP, Faculty of Life Science, University of Copenhagen. I have a keen interest in biodiversity, evolution and distribution of African Freshwater snails with special reference to the relationship between biodiversity and health viz. snail borne diseases. Description and modelling of snail distribution and distribution of snail borne diseases based on climate data retrieved by satellite and analysed by geographic information systems, GIS and Remote sensing.. Field studies have been conducted in: Cameroon, Gabon, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Liberia, Gambia, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Zambia. Email: tkk@life.ku.dk | ||
 | Frank Wugt Larsen Currently at The Center for Applied Biodiversity Science at Conservation International, Washington DC working issues related to ecosystemservices and preservation of biodiversity in light of climate change. Other research focus on testing whether indicator groups can be useful tools for identifying important areas for conservation using distributional data on ca. 4,000 vertebrates in Sub-Saharan Africa, and ca. 1,000 species from various taxonomic groups in Denmark. Email: fwlarsen@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Robert E. Ricklefs I am currently working on the biogeography and community relationships of birds and their malaria parasites. Much of my work has focussed on the West Indies, although I am also interested in the influence of large-scale processes on patterns of distribution and abundance of birds within large continental regions. Department of Biology, University of Missouri-St. Louis Email: ricklefs@umsl.edu | ||
 | Tom S. Romdal I work with explanations for macroecological patterns, mainly variation in species richness with latitude and elevation. Current projects include analysing elevational zonation of communities, the influences that habitat area has on elevational patterns, and the influence of paleoclimate on the global diversity patterns we observe today. Email: tsromdal@bio.ku.dk | ||
 | Minik Rosing Geology: Early crustal evolution. Geochemistry and metamorphic petrology of ultramafic rocks. The effects of mass transport processes on isotopic systems. Email: minik@snm.ku.dk | ||
 | Nathan Sanders We pursue questions about the causes and consequences of biodiversity, from genes to ecosystems. Current research interests in the lab center on geographic diversity gradients, community and ecosystem genetics, global climate change and species distributions, and the structure and function of ant and temperate tree communities. Generally speaking we ask three broad questions: (1) What processes underly the assembly of ant communities? (2) What factors govern broad-scale patterns in the distribution of biodiversity?, and (3) Do trophic dynamics limit local community structure and mediate ecosystem processes? Email: nsanders@utk.edu | ||
 | Eske Willerslev Eske is currently a full professor at Copenhagen University and leader of the Ancient DNA and Evolution Group at the Natural History Museum. His group is interested in understanding what caused the decreases in diversity of Megafauna after the last ice age and also tries to develop techniques to recover DNA mostly from ice preserved specimens, such as DNA from sediments in ice cores and fossil bones found in permafrost. Email: ewillerslev@bio.ku.dk | ||