Macroecology

In this research theme, we investigate the effects of evolutionary history, species’ traits, and current and past environmental variation on present-day global or regional patterns of biodiversity. Our studies span from empirical analyses of terrestrial vertebrates to conceptual work on how to integrate phylogenetic and spatial information.

Macroecology is the study of the relationships of organisms among each other and with their environment at large spatial, temporal, or taxonomic scales, and therefore frequently investigates global or regional ecological patterns based on species and higher taxa. Biogeography focuses particularly on spatial patterns of biodiversity; it describes which organisms and species occur where, and tries to understand why. Our current studies in these fields focus on the global patterns of diversity on islands and in mountains, investigating for example how the diversity in ecological functions changes with island characteristics, with the evolutionary history of the species groups found only on islands, and with human impacts.

In macroevolution, the focus is on studying processes that act over long, geological timescales, particularly the dynamics of speciation, extinction, and evolution of species’ traits over millions of years. The combination of data and methods from macroecology and macroevolution allows us to address the origin, evolution, and loss of biodiversity in an integrative way. A particular focus of the group is on the evolutionary and ecological processes that shape ecological niches of species, i.e. all abiotic and biotic conditions where a species can survive and reproduce. Comparative analyses of niche position, niche width, and niche evolution allow deep insights into how species assemble into ecological communities, and how they adapt to their abiotic and biotic environment through time. Studying the climatic niche, which describes the climatic conditions that a species can be found in, is particularly relevant for projecting the responses of species to ongoing and future climate change.