PERSONAL INFORMATION
EDUCATION
- PhD: 23/9/2003, Wageningen University, The Netherlands. Promotores: Prof. F. Berendse, Prof. H. Olff. Thesis: Herbivores as mediators of their environment: the impact of large and small species on vegetation dynamics
- MSc: 27/8/1997, University of Groningen, The Netherlands, Biology, track Ecology, graduated cum laude.
CURRENT POSITION
2015 – present: Senior Scientist, Dept. Aquatic Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen, The Netherlands.
PREVIOUS POSITIONS
- 2009 – 2015: Tenure track, Dept. of Aquatic Ecology, NIOO-KNAW, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
- 2007 – 2009: Postdoc, Dept. of Plant-Animal Interactions, NIOO-KNAW, Nieuwersluis, The Netherlands. NWO-VENI personal grant: Causes and consequences of plant palatability along a gradient of resource availability.
- 2005 – 2007: Postdoc, Dept. Plant-Animal Interactions, NIOO-KNAW, Nieuwersluis, The Netherlands.
- 2004 – 2005: Postdoc, Dept. Biological Sciences, University of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. NWO-Talent Stipendium personal grant: Foraging behaviour in small mammalian herbivores.
- 2003 – 2004 : Postdoc, Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Nebraska, USA. Project: Herbivore impact on grassland plant diversity and nitrogen cycling along a productivity gradient.
FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS
- 2017 Grant Gieskes-Strijbis Fund (480 k€); 2 PhD students on rewilding site Marker Wadden
- 2017 Grant NIOO-KNAW (83 k€); 1 postdoc vertebrate grazing in a globally experimental network
- 2014-2017 Hosting talented PhD students and Postdocs with personal grants in my group (~ 395 k€); 1 postdoc EU Marie Curie grant; 2 full PhDs, 1 visiting PhD with CSC grants Chinese Research Council; 1 full PhD with Brazilian Science Without Borders CAPES grant on wetland ecology
- 2012-2017 Grants Waterboards/ Ministry of Economic affairs, Agriculture & Innovation/NIOO-KNAW (230 k€) for 1 PhD student to study the impact of aquatic plant management
- 2011 Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) Biodiversity works program (253 k€) for 1 PhD student to study ecosystem functions of invasive aquatic plants
- 2010 Grant Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture & Innovation (415 k€); 4 postdocs and 2 technicians to study the impact of water level fluctuations on wetlands
- 2010 Scientific Stimulation Prize for Biodiversity Conservation and Innovation Research (25 k€)
- 2009 Grant NIOO-KNAW (208 k€); 1 postdoc to study consumer diversity across ecosystems
- 2006 NWO-VENI personal grant (240 k€) Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research
- 2004 NWO-Talent Stipendium personal grant (30.5 k€) Netherl. Org. for Scientific Research
SUPERVISION OF GRADUATE STUDENTS AND POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS
- Ongoing: 2 Postdocs, 4 PhD students, 1 visiting PhD student, 2 external PhD students, 2 Master students
- Previous: 6 Postdocs, 3 PhD students (graduated), 2 technicians, 1 junior researcher, 35 Master Students
TEACHING ACTIVITIES
- 2009 – 2018: Guest lectures (30) on the role of herbivores in ecosystems at Utrecht and Wageningen Universities in courses: Restoration Ecology, Functional Biodiversity, Landscape Ecology, Aquatic Ecology, Environmental Change: Past and Present, Cutting Edge Ecology.
- 2018: Organiser PhD course: Robustness and resilience of aquatic ecosystems
- 2004 – 2005: Lecturer course Plant-Animal Interactions, University of Alberta, Canada
- 2002 – 2003: Lecturer course Vegetation and Landscape Ecology, Wageningen University
ORGANISATION OF SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS, organiser of:
- 2018 (in August) Session “Macrophyte vegetations of the future”, 34rd SIL Congress, Nanjing, China
- 2018 Session “Ecosystem response and restoration” Aquatic Plant Symposium, Queenstown, New Zealand
- 2017 Thematic Topic Session “Rewilding as a contemporary conservation strategy” BES, Ghent, Belgium
- 2016 Symposium: “Wat te doen aan Exotische Waterplanten? Samen naar efficiënte en effectieve bestrijdingsmethoden”, with Bureau Waardenburg and NVWA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
- 2016 Symposium: “From Wadden Sea to Marker Wadden: the functioning and restoration of large aquatic systems”, CWE, Groningen, The Netherlands
- 2016 Symposium: “Rewilding with large herbivores: challenges and opportunities for science and practice”, the Netherlands-Flanders Ecology Society (NecoV), Wageningen, The Netherlands
- 2016 Session “Natural and anthropogenic influences on ecology of macrophyte beds”, 33rd SIL, Turin, IT
- 2016 Symposium “The good, the bad or a bit of both? The role of exotic species in aquatic ecosystems”, CWE, Wageningen, The Netherlands
- 2015 Session “Trophic interactions in macrophyte beds” Aquatic Plant Symposium, Edinburgh, Scotland
- 2015 Session “Trophic interactions”, NERN meeting, Lunteren, The Netherlands
- 2011 Session “Processes and patterns of herbivory in aquatic and terrestrial systems”, Gfö, Oldenburg, DE
- 2011 Session “From water to land: ecology across borders”, NERN meeting, Lunteren, The Netherlands
INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES
- 2017 – present Theme leader “Restoration Ecology”, NIOO-KNAW.
- 2010 – present Organizing the weekly seminar series at NIOO-KNAW; Chair of Seminar Comm. (2017 –).
- 2016 Organizer Bi-annual Science Days NIOO-KNAW – science symposium and team building.
COMMISSIONS OF TRUST
- PhD thesis committees 19 committees 2009-2017: 14 divided over four Dutch Universities; Ghent University (1), Free University Brussels (2), Belgium; Griffith University, Australia (1); Swedish Agricultural University (1).
- Tenure track committees at the Resource Ecology Group, Wageningen University (2; 2011 – 2014; 2017) and at the Freshwater and Marine Ecology Group, University of Amsterdam (1; 2017)
- Chairs Chairperson Center of Wetland Ecology (CWE, https://www.wetland-ecology.nl/), a platform of 19 Dutch and Flemish academic aquatic groups and institutions (2015 – present); Chair of the Macrophyte Working Group of the International Limnological Society (SIL; 2015 – present).
- Scientific and Advisory Boards Member of the Scientific Board of the International Symposium on Aquatic Plants, Poland (2012), Scotland (2015), New Zealand (2018); Advisory Board Watermozaïek STOWA (Foundation for Applied Water Research) (2016 – present); Advisory Board of the Knowledge Network for Development and Management of Nature quality (OBN; 2011 – 2016).
- Editorial Board member Ecology, (ESA), USA, (2017 – present); Aquatic Ecology (2010 – 2013)
- Special Issue editor of 4 special issues: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society London B (Trophic Rewilding - Consequences for Ecosystems under Global Change; appears fall 2018); Frontiers in Plant Science (Conservation Ecology of Aquatic Plants; appears spring 2018); Aquatic Invasions (Invasive Species in Inland Waters; December 2017); Hydrobiologia (Plants in Aquatic Systems – a 21st Century Perspective; appears spring 2018)
- Grant panel member Netherlands Org. for Scientific Research NWO-ALW open competition (2015;2017)
- Grant proposals reviewed National Science Foundation (NSF, USA), European Union (EU COFUND), French National Research Agency (ANR), Wageningen Institute for Environmental Research (Wimek, NL), Hungarian Research Fund (OTKA), Polish Research Foundation (Kolumb FNP), Research Foundation Flanders (FWO, Belgium), Israel Science Foundation (ISF, Israel).
- Manuscripts reviewed for 47 international science journals incl. Nature Comm., Ecology Letters.
MEMBERSHIPS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES
Member of the global Research Network “The Nutrient Network” (http://www.nutnet.umn.edu/); Ecological Society of America (ESA), British Ecology Society (BES), International Limnological Society (SIL), Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO), Dutch-Flemish Society for Ecology (NecoV), Dutch Graduate School Production Ecology and Resource Conservation (PE&RC)