The biodiversity modelling lab

I am fascinated by the question why species and individuals are where they are, how they get there and how they manage to sustain. This is central to understanding how they will respond to changes in their abiotic and biotic environment, for example due to climate change.

In my team, we tackle research questions across several spatial and temporal scales. For example, we study drivers of broad-scale species distributions, of population dynamics as well as individual fitness, and their interplay with inter- and intraspecific interactions and life-history trade-offs. Modelling and data integration is a major part of our work, and we dedicate a lot of time to testing and improving existing methods for biodiversity modelling.

For opportunities to join the lab, please have a look here.

Lab head:

• Damaris Zurell (PhD) - Junior research group leader at HU Berlin (temporary)

Postdocs:

• 2018-2019 - Patrice Descombes (PhD) - SPEEDMIND project, Improving biodiversity analyses and citizen science feedback through data mining approaches. Based at WSL with Niklaus E Zimmermann

• 2018-2021 - Guillermo Fandos Guzman (PhD) - BIOPIC project, work package “Understanding how life history and environment shape dispersal in birds”

• 2019-2021 - Christian König (PhD) - BIOPIC project, work package “Understanding how biotic interactions shape species’ niches”

PhD students:

• 2018-2021 - Anne-Kathleen Malchow (M.Sc.) - BIOPIC project, PhD thesis “Understanding how life history and demography shape species’ niches”

PhD mentoring:

• 2015-2018 - Merlin Schäfer (M.Sc.) - University of Potsdam, PhD thesis “Effects of altered migratory bird links on regional biodiversity”, Main academic lead: Prof. Florian Jeltsch, Univ. Potsdam

Alumni:

• please find a list of former lab members here.

You can find a full list of my publications here.

My ResearcherID is E-2439-2012. You can also find me on ResearchGate and GoogleScholar.

• Coordinator of MSc module “Global change impacts on biodiversity”, HU Berlin, since 2018
• Co-advisor in course “Spatial modelling: From climate & land use change to biodiversity conservation”, ETH Zürich, autumn semesters 2016 and 2017
• Lecturer within block course “Macroecology, niche evolution and climate change”, University of Zurich, autumn semester 2014
• Visiting lecturer for block course “Introduction to data analysis in R for geographers”, University of Tübingen, winter semester 2012-2013
• Co-advisor in block course “Advanced ecological modelling”, University of Potsdam, winter semester 2012-2013
• Co-advisor in block course “Introduction to ecological modelling”, University of Potsdam, summer semester 2011
• Lecturer for seminar “Simulation methods in Hydrology and Geoecology”, University of Potsdam, winter semester 2008-2009
• Lecturer for seminar “Landscape Ecology”, University of Potsdam, summer semester 2007

You can download some of my codes from my github site.

• damaris.zurell@hu-berlin.de
• +49 30 2093 6839
• Postal address: Humboldt-Universität Berlin, Geography Department, Unter den Linden 6, D-10099 Berlin, Germany || Office address: Rudower Chaussee 16, D-12489 Berlin, Room 1.209