I am an ecologist and modeller, focusing on the consequences of environmental change on biodiversity, wildlife, invasive species and host-parasite interactions. My interests include questions of how insights from demographic and epidemiological dynamics, species range dynamics and bio-geographic patterns can be used to identify key processes for optimizing conservation and pest control efforts and the prevention of disease spread under different environmental scenarios and policy schemes.
I am passionate to share my fascination for our natural world and discuss evidence-based approaches and solutions to address pressing challenges in times of global change.
I am currently teaching Biodiversity and Health Ecology, which addresses the intersection of human, animal and ecosystem health. Understanding and controlling emerging infectious diseases (e.g. Covid19, Ebola), managing the viability of threatened wildlife populations, habitat management or invasive species control requires holistic approaches. My teaching is blended with frequent practical exercises to communicate the know-how of using important tools in research and applied ecology such as species distribution mapping, network analysis and epidemiological models.
I am also involved in teaching the Borneo Field Trip. With a decade-long personal research history in Borneo, I like communicating the multifaced aspects of wildlife conservation in a modern world and let teaching be driven by curiosity.
I am researching how animal populations (and other organisms) survive and interact in different environments. With the huge global challenges that come with the ways a growing human populations exploits natural resources, much of my research focuses on how species and ecosystems adopt to changing environmental conditions and can be managed in best possible ways to balance human activities and species conservation. I approach this topic from individual to population and community levels and I am interested how natural species communities are formed and how they change in times of global change.
Within this broader context, I have a main interest in emerging infectious diseases that affect animals and humans and the way they spread within and among species under variable conditions and mitigation strategies.
My lab is the Biodiversity and Animal Health Ecology (BAH) group and we use a range of computational tools and combine theoretical and empirical approaches in order to understand, predict, and mitigate the impacts of global change on animal health population viability, and community assembly. I also conduct field-based research with a main focus on mammals, birds, their parasites and disease vectors in natural, agricultural and urban environments.
My research is collaborative and interdisciplinary and I welcome new collaborations across disciplines, borders and institutions with the goal to protect human and animal health and our natural environments by scientific advancement, informed decision-making and public education.
So far, 20 of my closest collaborators from all over the world have at least coauthored five research papers with me.
Biodiversity & Health Ecology emerges as a new interdisciplinary research field at the intersection of humans, animals and ecosystems. It acknowledges that the spread of infectious diseases and pollutants in time of global changes strongly links health issues across organisms and ecosystems. Understanding and controlling Emerging Infectious Diseases (e.g. SARS, Ebola and Nipah virus) requires interdisciplinary and holistic concepts and approaches that account for human and animal interactions in all kind of natural and anthropogenic environments. This module addresses contemporary topics in the field of One Health from an ecological perspective and in context of changing biodiversity. It introduces background information and essential tools for environmental biologists, disease ecologists and resource managers to take part in tackling this global challenge. Through participation in this module you will develop the foundations to engage in research in this field.
