People

BIOPIC

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

Group leader:

  • Damaris Zurell (PhD) - Professor of Ecology & Macroecology at University of Potsdam (tenure track)

Administrative assistant:

Scientific programmer:

  • Jette Reeg (PhD) - ecological modeller and scientific programmer

Postdocs:

  • Juliane Wolter (PhD) - Individual postdoc project, paleoecology, effects of Arctic vegetation changes on carbon dynamics

PhD students:

  • Anne-Kathleen Malchow (M.Sc.) - BIOPIC project, PhD thesis “Understanding how life history and demography shape species’ niches”
  • Anna Rönnfeldt (M.Sc.) - NichePac project, PhD thesis on understanding and predicting niche and spread dynamics of Pacific plant invaders

Research and student assistants:

  • Katrin Schifferle (M.Sc.) - scientific programming, outreach

Bachelor/Master students:

  • Valén Holle - Univ. Potsdam, Master thesis on blacklisting invasive plants in the Pacific based on species distribution models
  • Raya Keuth - Univ. Potsdam, Master thesis on estimating extinctions risks with species distribution models
  • Levin Wiedenroth - Univ. Potsdam, Master thesis on range and niche dynamics of breeding birds over five decades of global change

Alumni:

  • please find a list of former lab members here.

Projects

BirdWatch

Copernicus-based service for the improvement of habitat suitability of farmland birds - funded by HORIZON-EUSPA-2021-SPACE (2023-2026).

DEBTs

Drivers of past and future population and community dynamics in North American breeding birds - funded by the German Science Foundation DFG (2023-2026).

NichePac

Niche and spread dynamics of introduced alien plants in Pacific - funded by the German Science Foundation DFG (2023-2026).

BeyondSpecies

Predicting biodiversity change by integrating genetic diversity into ecological niche models - Leibniz Cooperative Excellence Project (2021-2024)

Audiomonitoring

Automated bioacoustic monitoring of birds, bats and insects.

RangeShiftR

The RangeShifter platform - an eco-evolutionary modelling framework.

COMECO

Improved automated image recognition for identifying plants of Switzerland - Interdisciplinary project funded by the Swiss Data Science Center (2020-2022).

RangeDyna

Moving from pattern towards process for improved forecasts of species range dynamics - DAAD research exchange with Univ. Melbourne (2019-2020).

BIOPIC

Understanding population and community response to global change - Emmy Noether project funded by the German Science Foundation DFG (2018-2023).

SCODA

Scaling from individual interactions to community dynamics in avian assemblages - Ambizione project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation SNF (2016-2019).

SPEEDMIND

Improving species biodiversity analyses and citizen science feedback - Interdisciplinary project funded by the Swiss Data Science Center (2017-2019).

MATES

Understanding and predicting multispecies assemblages and interactions - Marie Curie fellowship funded by FP7 (2014-2016).

PhD thesis

Improve species range predictions for scenarios of environmental change - PhD research (2007-2011).

Publications

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.

Teaching

Teaching materials for practicals:

Current teaching:

  • BSc course “Introduction to scientific working in ecology”, Bachelor programme Bioscience, Univ. Potsdam
  • MSc course “R preparatory course”, Master programme “Ecology, Evolution and Conservation”, Univ. Potsdam
  • MSc module “Experimental design and data analysis”, Master programme “Ecology, Evolution and Conservation”, Univ. Potsdam
  • MSc module “Macroecology and global change”, Master programme “Ecology, Evolution and Conservation”, Univ. Potsdam
  • MSc module “Quantitative conservation biogeography”, Master programme “Ecology, Evolution and Conservation”, Univ. Potsdam
  • MSc module “Ecosystem dynamics and biodiversity”, Master programme “Climate, Earth, Water, Sustainability”, Univ. Potsdam

Downloads

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

Latest software developments in my team include:

  • an R package for the RangeShifter platform. More info under https://rangeshifter.github.io
  • a Shiny web app introducing and facilitating the usage of the ODMAP protocol for reporting SDM. Check out here: odmap.wsl.ch

Contact