"Seemingly insignificant interactions between organisms and their environment can cause ecosystem-scale phenomenon such as resilience. I find this very logical, but also truly wonderful!"
Teaching: Systems Thinking, Climate and Society, Ecosystem Change in the Anthropocene (木瓜福利影视 College Utrecht)
Research: How feedbacks between organisms and their environment affect ecosystem resilience.
Science communication: Anna-mAKe
Organisms interact with their environment: They change their local abiotic landscape, with which they affect their local biotic community that affects the environment, etcetera... These local interactions that seem almost insignificant can cause phenomenon at the ecosystem-scale, such as spatial patterns that are ubiquitous in ecological and physical systems and unexpected responses to environmental change. I find this very logical, but also truly wonderful! I study how ecological phenomena at different scales affect the resilience of ecosystems, how these phenomena give rise to spatial patterns, and which information we can deduce form these spatial patterns. In my work, I take a theoretical approach and try to combine modelling with data. I focus on different types of ecosystems, mostly in the deep sea and in savannas.
I've also specialised in science communication and have my own company (mAKe).
During my own studies, I've worked on self-organisation of arid ecosystems and pattern formation and extinction dynamics as a result of interspecific interactions, and during my PhD, I worked on the formation of cold-water coral reefs. Cold-water coral reefs are found in the deep-sea and little is still known about the drivers of reef formation and how feedbacks between the organisms and their fluid environment shape these ecosystems. During my PhD research I showed that especially the internal tide is important for the initiation of cold-water coral mounds and the survival of cold-water corals. Furthermore, I showed that the interaction between corals and their fluid environment creates scale-dependent feedbacks that lead to spatial pattern formation.
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