Current research

My expertise is within the fields of community ecology, mutualistic interactions, ecological networks, tropical ecology, biogeography, macroecology and climate change impacts on biodiversity. Most of my work focuses on mutualistic plant-animal interactions, often using hummingbird-plant interactions as a model system to understand how biotic interactions vary across biogeographical or macroecological scale. I am also working on applied aspects of this research, investigating whether climate influences the importance of pollination for coffee production. Most of this work involves fieldwork in the tropics, collecting data on plant-animal interactions along environmental gradients. However, I also work with a wide range of other systems, for instance, island biogeography of birds, threshold responses of birds to landscape changes, and global human linguistic diversity. See also my Google Scholar Profile and Researchgate Profile. I welcome applications from prospective MSc and PhD students and postdocs wanting to work on related issues.

Lab members

I am currently hosting Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellow Ana M Martín González. I am the main advisor of PhD student Jesper Sonne and co-advisor of PhD student Céline Moreaux. My group currently also includes four MSc students: Marta Múgica Galán, William Elliot Drabble, Nina Ali and Francheska Ilse Tacke. Ana works mainly on understanding macroecological patterns of plant-hummingbird interaction networks. Jesper has conducted fieldwork on plant-hummingbird interactions along an elevation gradeint in Ecuador, and is also working on macroecological patterns of plant-hummingbird interaction networks. Céline is working on the  economics of pollination, focusing on coffee production in Jamaica. Marta is working on the socio-economics of coffee production in Nicaragua, William on honeyeater-plant interactions in South-East Asia, Nina on frugivore bird-plant interactions in Guatamala whereas Francheska is investigating how historical climate change is associated with threshold responses of birds to current landscape changes. 

Former thesis students: 1. PhD Thais Zanata with Isabela Varassin (2018, Universidade Federal do Paraná - UFPR, Brazil), 2. PhD Tiago Malucelli with Isabela Varassin (2018, Universidade Federal do Paraná - UFPR, Brazil), 3. MSc Kamilla Friis with Daniel W. Carstensen (2017, University of Copenhagen), 4. MSc Inge-Mathilde Mønsted Rasmussen with Daniel W. Carstensen (2017, University of Copenhagen), 5. MSc Adriana Patricia Albán García with Ana M. Martín González and Jesper Sonne (2017, University of Copenhagen), 6. PhD Jeferson Vizentin-Bugoni with Marlies Sazima (2017, Universidade Estadual de Campinas -  UNICAMP, Brazil), 7. MSc Louise Lehmann with Carsten Rahbek (2016, University of Copenhagen), 8. MSc Jesper Sonne with Carsten Rahbek (2016, University of Copenhagen), 9. PhD Pietro Kiyoshi Maruyama with Marlies Sazima (2016, Universidade Estadual de Campinas -  UNICAMP, Brazil), 10. BSc Peter Kyvsgaard with Pietro Maruyama & Carsten Rahbek (2015, University of Copenhagen), 11. MSc Andrea Baquero with Carsten Rahbek (2014, University of Copenhagen), 12. BSc Ditlev Damhus with Carsten Rahbek (2014, University of Copenhagen), 13. MSc Miguel Cebrián with Jens M. Olesen (2009, Aarhus University), 14. BSc Ane Kirstine Brunbjerg with Jens M. Olesen (2009, Aarhus University), 15. BSc Mette Vestergaard Odgaard with Jens M. Olesen (2009, Aarhus University), 16. BSc Elna LK Mortensen with Jens M. Olesen (2008, Aarhus University), 17. BSc Vibeke H. Lund with Jens M. Olesen (2008, Aarhus University), 18. BSc Allan Timmermann with Jens M. Olesen (2007, Aarhus University), 19. BSc Laila H. Andersen with Jens M. Olesen (2007, Aarhus University), 20. BSc Sjannie Lefevre with Jens M. Olesen (2007, Aarhus University).

CV

Working experience

Postdoc, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, 2012-present; Postdoc, University of Cambridge, UK, 2010 to 2011; Research Assistant, RSPB, UK, 2000.

Supervision and teaching experience

Student advisor for two part II students, University of Cambridge, UK, 2010 to 2011; Student advisor for one MSc and seven BSc students, Aarhus University, Denmark, 2006 to 2008; Teaching Assistant, Graduate course "Population Biology" and Undergraduate course "Summer school in Ecology", Aarhus University, Denmark, 2005 to 2006.

Education

PhD, Aarhus University, Denmark, 2009 (research visits at University of Northampton, UK, and Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain, and participating in the European Consortium for Political Research Summer School at University of Ljubljana, Slovenia); MSc, Aarhus University, Denmark, 2007 (participating in the Boreal Biota & Ecology program at University of Helsinki, Finland); BSc, Aarhus University, Denmark, 2003.

Editorial experience

Member of the editorial board (Subject Editor) of Ecography (2015-present) and Nordic Journal of Botany (2015-2017).

Scholarships, awards and research grants

Carlsberg postdocoral research grant (2012 to 2013); The Danish Council for Independent Research | Natural Sciences (2010 to 2011); Hanne & Torkel Weis-Fogh Fund, University of Cambridge (2010, 2011 & 2012); PhD scholarship, Aarhus University (2005 to 2009); Frimodt-Heineke Foundation (2007); Augustinus Foundation (2006 & 2007); Knud Højgaard Foundation (2005); Nordlys exchange scholarship (2004); World Wildlife Foundation/Novo Nordisk Foundation (2003); Faculty of Science, Aarhus University (2003).

Fellowship evaluator

Sigma Delta Epsilon, Graduate Women in Science Fellowship (www.gwis.org), USA, 2012.

PhD-thesis opponent

Benigno Padrón Méndez. Plant-animal mutualistic networks on island ecosystems.
Integration and impact of invasive species. PhD-thesis. Universidad de La Laguna, Spain, 2011.

Journal referee

Acta Oecologia, Annals of Botany, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Biotropica, Bird Conservation International, Ecography, Ecological Entomology, Ecoscience, Global Ecology and Biogeography, Journal of Field Ornithology, Journal of Ornithology, Journal of Tropical Ecology, Ornithologia Neotropial, Oikos, Plant Species Biology, Restoration Ecology.