Biodiversity & Macroecology

Studying geo-ecosystems and the distribution of life on Earth

Biodiversity & Macroecology

The Biodiversity & Macroecology (BIOMAC) lab is a research group at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), the Netherlands. We are part of the Department Theoretical and Computational Ecology (TCE) within the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED). The central aim of our work is to quantify how biodiversity varies across space and time, how it interacts with the abiotic components of the Earth system, and how responses of species and ecosystems to changing environmental conditions can be monitored and predicted.

The group comprises permanent staff members (associate and assistant professors), support staff, scientific developers, data scientists, postdoctoral researchers and PhD students. We work at the interface of ecology, Earth science, informatics and data science, covering topics in biodiversity, geodiversity, conservation, physical geography, landscape ecology, remote sensing, ecosystem monitoring, environmental policy and global change biology. Please read more about our research and our teaching, or have a look at our news page.

Selected publications

  • Kissling, W.D., Shi, Y., Wang, J., Walicka, A., George, C., Moeslund, J.E. & Gerard, F. (2024): Towards consistently measuring and monitoring habitat condition with airborne laser scanning and unmanned aerial vehicles. Ecological Indicators 169: 112970. [ABSTRACT] [DATA] [CODE]

  • Kissling, W.D., Evans, J.C., Zilber, R., Breeze, T.D., Shinneman, S., Schneider, L.C., Chalmers, C., Fergus, P., Wich, S., & Geelen, L.H.W.T. (2024): Development of a cost-efficient automated wildlife camera network in a European Natura 2000 site. Basic and Applied Ecology 79: 141–152. [ABSTRACT] [DATA ON ZENODO] [STORY MAP] [GBIF data pilot 1] [GBIF data pilot 2] [GBIF data pilot 3] [PRESS RELEASE]

  • Polman, E.M.N., Seijmonsbergen, A.C., Versteegh, H. & Kissling, W.D. (2024): Global geodiversity components are not equally represented in UNESCO Global Geoparks. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A 382: 20230054. [ABSTRACT] [DATA]

  • Gonzalez, A., ..., Kissling, W.D., ...(2023): A global biodiversity observing system to unite monitoring and guide action. Nature Ecology & Evolution 7: 1947–1952. [ABSTRACT] [PRESS RELEASE]

  • Kissling, W.D., Shi, Y., Koma, Z., Meijer, C., Ku, O., Nattino, F., Seijmonsbergen, A.C. & Grootes, M.W. (2023): Country-wide data of ecosystem structure from the third Dutch airborne laser scanning survey. Data in Brief 46: 108798. [ABSTRACT] [DATA] [BEST PAPER AWARD]

News

Measuring and monitoring habitat condition

2024-12-13

Our new paper provides a comprehensive synthesis of the challenges and solutions for consistently measuring and monitoring habitat condition with remote sensing using airborne laser scanning and affordable drones.

Read more


Events

di11feb

Netherlands Annual Ecology Meeting 2025

Lunteren - The Netherlands

Each year in February, the Netherlands Ecological Research Network (NERN) organises her annual conference, the Netherlands Annual Ecology Meeting (NAEM). This conference is particularly geared towards people working in the field of ecology and/or evolution. It aims to strengthen the network of ecologists in the Netherlands, Belgium, and surrounding countries and provides an overview of the work carried out by the people in the network. The NAEM meeting is two full days. See details here.


do20feb

FAIRfest: Celebrating advancements of FAIR solutions in EOSC

Den Haag - The Netherlands

Madurodam, George Maduroplein 1, 2584 RZ The Hague, The Netherlands

FAIR-IMPACT and FAIRCORE4EOSC partners are glad to invite the broad European research community to FAIRfest, a festival celebrating advancements of FAIR solutions in the European Open Science research landscape: https://fair-impact.eu/events/fair-impact-events/fairfest-celebrating-advancements-fair-solutions-eosc

 


ma23jun

eLTER science conference

Tampere - Finland

The eLTER Science Conference focuses on advancing ecosystem, biodiversity, and environmental research in a broad sense and holistic approach. It brings together scientists, policymakers, and practitioners to share knowledge on long-term ecosystem, critical zone, and socio-ecological research, fostering collaboration and the exchange of innovative ideas to address environmental challenges in the Anthropocene. W. Daniel Kissling from BIOMAC is invited as one of the keynote speakers. More details about the conference can be found here: https://elter-ri.eu/science-conference