Main research topics and selected grants

Main research topics

Based on the guiding question ”How can we reconcile nature conservation, environmental protection, and human needs?”, we do both purely ecological as well as ecological-economic research, mostly at a landscape scale and by developing and analyzing spatial simulation models. On the ecological side, we are interested in the patterns and mechanisms driving biodiversity and ecological functions. In ecological-economic research, we specifically investigate ecological and socio-economic trade-offs under different land-use scenarios.

Spatiotemporal plant patterns carry a lot of information on the mechanisms that formed these patterns. We mine this information with spatial pattern analysis and individual-based modelling. For instance, we disentangle interactions among species such as competition from interactions between species and their environment in forests. We also study the dynamics of plants and grazing systems in drylands. In savannas , this has led to the paradigm of patch dynamics as a mechanism to maintain tree‐grass co‐dominance.

Ecological processes and patterns are scale-dependent and heterogeneous. We explore, develop and improve methods for scaling up, for including heterogeneity in spatial point pattern analysis and for individual- or agent-based modelling. We also create virtual laboratories that for instance generate neutral landscapes to provide tools for systematic analysis of ecological processes and patterns.

Selected Grants

• B10 - Landscape-level assessment of ecological and socioeconomic functions of rainforest transformation systems in Sumatra (Indonesia) see EFForTS, since 2012
• B01 - Agricultural biodiversity and associated services across rural-urban landscapes - modelling studies see FOR2432 , since 2016

Previous Grants

• Population- and community-level plant trait variability in changing arid environments funded by Volkswagen foundation
• P3-7: The Role of Heterogeneity in Spatial Plant Population Dynamics within Research Training Group 1644 Scaling problems in statistics funded by German Science Foundation (DFG)
• P2-6: Spatial scaling methods for ecological patterns within Research Training Group 1644 Scaling problems in statistics funded by German Science Foundation (DFG)
• P2-8: Understanding landscape moderation of biodiversity patterns within Research Training Group 1644 Scaling problems in statistics funded by German Science Foundation (DFG)
• Towards a mechanistic understanding of biodiversity and its functional consequences - the biodiversity exploratory additional modeling component - BEAM . within Biodiversity Exploratories funded by German Science Foundation (DFG)
• Integrated modelling of land-use changes at rainforest margins in Indonesia see ELUC , funded by German Science Foundation (DFG)
• IDESSA - An Integrative Decision Support System for Sustainable Rangeland Management in Southern African Savannas see IDESSA
• Collaborative ecological modelling and experimentation to uncover the causes of bush encroachment in African savannas with David Ward funded by Volkswagen foundation, program of partnership
• Ecology of arid savannas based on the patch dynamics paradigm by means of simulation modelling funded by German Science Foundation (DFG)
• The effects of land-use and structural heterogeneity on biodiversity: A new assessment method using cost-effective remote sensing and fine-scale pattern analysis - STRUCTURE within Biodiversity Exploratories funded by German Science Foundation (DFG)
• Modelling the role of complementarity, species identity, and neutrality for diversity maintenance in deciduous forests within Research Training Group 1086 The role of biodiversity for biogeochemical cycles and biotic interactions in temperate deciduous forests funded by German Science Foundation (DFG)
• Scales of bacterial interactions on the leaf surface within Research Training Group 1644 Scaling problems in statistics funded by German Science Foundation (DFG)
• Profiling plants to predict success and longevity of climate change-induced invasions funded by German Science Foundation (DFG)