Prof. dr. Wolf Mooij

I graduated from the University of Amsterdam in 1983. During my Ph.D. project on fish recruitment in eutrophic lakes I became interested in modeling animal communities. During a two-years stay at Delft Hydraulics I was involved in developing and applying large-scale eutrophication models. Since 1992, when I joined the Department of Food Web Studies as a senior scientist, I focus on modeling trophic interactions within freshwater communities from an individual perspective. For this purpose I developed a modeling framework work for individual-based simulations, OSIRIS, which is now applied in many NIOO-KNAW research projects. These OSIRIS applications range from abstract evolutionary prey-predator models to management-oriented bio-conservation studies. During the last five years I have focused on four topics. A common theme in all my work is the link between species- and ecosystem-level processes.

1) There is now compelling evidence that climate change is affecting the earth's ecosystems. I wrote a review on the impact of climate change on freshwater ecosystems in north-western Europe, showing that for a full understanding we need to focus on how species- and ecosystem-level responses interact. Minimal dynamic models showed that climate change may disconnect Daphnia from its algal prey and negatively affect the transparency of lakes. Analysis with a full ecosystem model showed that climate change will decrease the critical nutrient loading at which lakes become turbid and lead to a dominance of cyanobacteria. Experimental work confirmed that warming favours cyanobacteria and a predictive model of algal bloom formation was developed.

2) In classical theory the interaction strength between consumers and resources is kept constant. Empirical work shows, however, that through infochemicals predation often invokes an induced defense in the prey to minimize losses. Minimal dynamic models of induced defenses predicted effects of inducible defenses on trophic structure and a stabilizing effect on predator and prey densities. The presence and effectiveness of inducible defenses was shown in small-scale experiments. The stabilizing effect was confirmed in work with experimental plankton communities. This work showed how a species-level process (inducible defenses) can be effectively linked with the persistence and stability of food webs.

3) All organisms need to acquire sufficient resources and to cope with spatial heterogeneity in their distribution. I developed spatial models of resource exploitation for zooplankton, reptiles and birds. Mostly, it is very hard to extrapolate the population-dynamical consequences of foraging behaviour because systems are open to migrants. An exception to this rule is the Everglades snail kite. I developed a model for this raptor that lives in a closed population in Southern Florida and applied it. This project led to new insights in how to build models at multiple spatial scales.

4) Tremendous progress in ecological modeling has been made during recent years. Of particular interest are individual-based approaches that study how adaptation affects populations and communities. I worked on the construction, parameterisation and formalisation of IBMs. In a review on IBMs I stressed that, contrary to common beliefs, there is a continuum from classical minimal dynamic models to complex individual-based models.

I am an associate editor of The American Naturalist and a handling editor of Oecologia. Below are 10 recent publications given. A full list of my publications is attached as download.