Studiet af biodiversitet omfatter alle levende organismer og deres rumlige og tidslige fordeling. Biodiversiteten er udfordret globalt af menneskelige aktiviteter, som truer arterne og accelererer deres uddøen, hvilket kan have negativ indvirkning på den tætte kobling mellem natur og menneskers aktivitet (kultur). Ud over klassiske metoder til at studere biodiversitet, bruges i dag avanceret DNA-teknologi i kombination med bioinformatiske analysemetoder.
På Institut for Biologi arbejder vi på at øge vores forståelse af biodiversitet, fra små genetiske variationer, over variationer mellem arter til variationer på økosystemniveau. Instituttet bidrager til den løbende opdagelse af nye livsformer fra mikroorganismer i havbunden til nye plantearter i tropiske regnskove. Vores forskning adresserer spørgsmål om biodiversitet med et evolutionært udgangspunkt for at forstå, hvordan de organismer, vi kender i dag, er blevet til. For eksempel: Hvordan opstod biodiversiteten? Hvad er de nødvendige betingelser for at opretholde den? Vi arbejder desuden med at beskrive biodiversitetens rolle i truede økosystemer og på at udvikle modeller, som kan forudsige de fremtidige forandringer i biodiversiteten og økosystemerne.
Henrik Balslev worked in Latin America and Thailand on pant systematics, ethnobotany, and plant ecology in projects funded by the Danish Research Council, Danida, EU, and Carlsberg Foundation. His project on harvest of wild palms in the Amazon basin involved 24 months field work along the Amazon river. Recent work in Thailand is funded by the Carlsberg Foundation (2 mio €; 2015-2024). He has trained numerous researchers from the third world, parallel to supervising Danish MSc and PhD students.
Jeg forsker i evolutionsøkologi og genetik og interesserer mig for gruppeliv, samarbejde og parringssystemer, genomiske konsekvenser af socialitet og indavlede parringssystemer, genetiske og ikke-genetiske processer involveret i tilpasning. Jeg er professor ved og centerleder af Center for Ecological Genetics (EcoGenetics) på Institut for Biologi. Her undersøger vi forholdet mellem genetisk diversitet og funktionelle reaktioner. Vi sigter mod at forudsige insekters fremtidige udbredelse og ydeevne og opretholdelse af populationens genetiske mangfoldighed og vil give værktøjer til at udvikle effektive forvaltningspraksisser i lyset af de igangværende globale forandringer.
With my background in Biology, PhD in Global Development, and postdoc in Human Geography, l am trying to combine the best of different field to specialize in Environmental Justice and sustainability.
I am eager to explore creative and engaging approaches via inter- and transdisciplinary research collaborations and innovative students, from landscape design experiments and photography-based studies to body-mapping of nature relations, and Citizen Science.
Currently, l am steering a research project in South Africa with partners from University of Pretoria and private and public partner. We focus on collaborative, locally-anchored Green Infrastructure and Nature-based Solutions as a strategy to address great challenges surrounding biodiversity, inequity, water and waste in green spaces of deprived urban areas. The project includes co-development and onsite testing of landscape designs and ecological restoration with and in local communities.
In parallel, I am part of the SustainScapes research center and the Biodiverse Cities partnership, where I supervise a PhD project, in which we will assess user perceptions through co-created landscape visualizations (maps, models and physical installations) in Vilhelmsborg, Aarhus, in close collaboration with Aarhus Municipality.
Tightly connected to my research, I coordinate and teach a course in Global Change Biology. I see teaching as a privilege and passion, and an opportunity to integrate mutual learning with student-driven studies (see Pasgaard 2017).
See further detail on this profile page or do not hesitate to reach out for more information.
Jens-Christian Svenning is a macroecologist and biogeographer, with strong interest in plants, animals and people across the world. Alongside basic curiosity about nature, Jens-Christian Svenning is highly motivated to contribute to help overcome the climate and biodiversity crises and promote sustainable societal development. His research includes foci on fundamental drivers of biodiversity, climate change impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems, and human-nature interactions from the past to the future, with interest in fundamental issues such as disequilibrium dynamics and top-down trophic effects. Key applied research foci include predictive modelling, the application of informatics and space-borne and other remote sensing technology to ecological and sustainability research, human dependence on and benefits from nature, and rewilding as a promising approach to ecosystem restoration. Jens-Christian Svenning is committed to ensuring the societal benefits of his research and knowledge, working closely with a range of public and private actors on concrete real-world conservation, restoration, and sustainability projects and challenges, as well as doing large amounts of outreach.
My passion is the natural history of life on Earth. I have combined this passion with the development of novel molecular tools to study biodiversity in a new way, and in order to work with what I love.
My research interests are mainly within molecular ecology with a focus on the applications of DNA from environmental samples (environmental DNA - eDNA) using high-throughput DNA sequencing. In my research group, we address fundamental and applied research questions within ecology and conservation. We are working with both species, community and population level analyses, mostly on animal eDNA but also comprehensive eDNA analyses using a tree-of-life approach. I also work with topics such as evolution, ecology and conservation.
What I do:
https://scholar.google.dk/citations?user=ZklvBfQAAAAJ&hl=en
Why I do it:
https://www.instagram.com/francis_in_the_field/
