Research overview
We study biodiversity as a spatial eco-evolutionary process. Our research investigates how movement, dispersal, species interactions, environmental variation and evolutionary change shape population dynamics, community assembly and biodiversity patterns across scales.
Spatial interactions and feedbacks across organisational scales are central to our work. We ask how local processes such as behaviour, demography, competition and adaptation scale up to regional and global patterns of biodiversity, and when eco-evolutionary and eco-geomorphological feedbacks influence persistence, diversification and community organisation.
Our research is not restricted to one taxonomic group or ecosystems. We increasingly apply our spatial-ecological perspective to urban, coastal and marine environments. Across these systems, we combine theory, field observations, experiments, molecular approaches, remote sensing and modelling.
By linking fundamental ecology and evolution to applications in biodiversity monitoring, restoration, connectivity planning and nature-based solutions, we aim to contribute to biodiversity-positive landscapes and seascapes under global change.
We are funded by BOF-UGent, FWO, CSC, VLAIO, EU Horizon, EU Biodiversa+ and EU Interreg
Dispersal, movement and spatial biodiversity dynamics
Dispersal links individual behaviour to population dynamics, community assembly, range expansion and biodiversity patterns. We study why organisms differ in movement and dispersal, how these differences evolve, and how they feed back on ecological dynamics in changing landscapes.
Using amphibian, fish, arthropods and plants as model systems, we combine behavioural ecology, field studies, mesocosm experiments and individual-based modelling. Current work focuses on detecting movement patterns in fish from acoustic tracking (MAREWIND), dispersal costs and trade-offs in dune-building grasses, temperature-dependent dispersal in food webs, diversity-dependent dispersal as a mechanism linking local community context to regional biodiversity dynamics.
This research provides the mechanistic foundation for understanding how biodiversity responds to environmental change, habitat fragmentation, restoration and spatial planning.
Researchers involved: Femke Batsleer, Maxime Dahirel, Zaya Lips, Frederik Mortier, Lotte Pohl, Heleen Van Ransbeeck, Jiayue Yan, Yongxin Zang
Eco-Evolutionary dynamics in spatially structured systems
We study how ecological and evolutionary processes interact in landscapes where populations are connected by dispersal but differ in demography, environmental conditions and extinction–recolonisation dynamics. In such metapopulations, selection operates both within local populations and across the wider spatial network, linking dispersal, colonisation, life-history evolution and species interactions.
Our work combines experimental evolution, field studies and modelling, using spider mites, white clover, duckweed and experimentally assembled metapopulations as model systems. Current research focuses on mite–clover coevolution, urban evolution, range expansion, habitat fragmentation and the role of spatial structure in polyploid establishment and diversity, in collaboration with the Wybouw lab and within the Methusalem project led by Prof. Yves Van de Peer.
Researchers involved: Karen Bisschop, Frederik Mortier, Silvija Milosavljević, Siebe Van Wunnik, Lennert Beele
Biodiversity conservation, monitoring and restoration
We investigate how biodiversity can be conserved, monitored and restored in landscapes shaped by habitat loss, fragmentation, climate change and changing land use. Building on our expertise in spatial ecology, community dynamics and species interactions, we study which conditions allow populations and communities to persist, recover or reorganise under environmental change.
Our work combines field-based biodiversity assessment with experiments, movement tracking, ecological modelling, eDNA, remote sensing and long-term monitoring. These approaches allow us to evaluate how habitat quality, connectivity and management interventions affect biodiversity across local and landscape scales.
Current projects focus on biodiversity conservation in fragmented and restored habitats in temperate and (sub)tropical regions, the development of robust monitoring frameworks, and the assessment of restoration success. By linking ecological mechanisms to practical conservation questions, this research supports adaptive management and evidence-based restoration.
Researchers involved: Femke Batsleer, Ellen Blomme, Maxime Dahirel, Katrien De Wolf, Frederik Van Daele, Tresor Kisimba, Orane Mordacq, Henri Rommel Charlotte Taelman, Lotte Pohl
Invasive species and global change responses
We investigate biological invasions as spatial eco-evolutionary processes. Invasive species establish and spread through landscapes that are increasingly shaped by climate change, urbanisation, habitat fragmentation and disturbance. Their success depends on dispersal, adaptation, species interactions and community context, the same processes that structure biodiversity more broadly.
Our research combines field studies, experiments, monitoring and modelling to understand how invasive plant, vertebrate and invertebrate species spread, how they affect native communities, and how ecological impacts vary across landscapes. We are particularly interested in linking invasion dynamics to movement behaviour, rapid evolutionary change, community assembly and management interventions.
Current work focuses on invasive species in aquatic and terrestrial systems, their effects on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, and the development of ecological knowledge that supports risk assessment and adaptive management.
Researchers involved: Lia Baeteman, Maxime Dahirel, Orane Mordacq, Heleen Van Ransbeeck
Terrestrial and coastal urban ecology
We study how urbanised terrestrial and coastal landscapes can be redesigned to support biodiversity, ecological connectivity and climate resilience. Cities and coasts are shaped by habitat fragmentation, environmental stress, intensive management and competing land uses, but they also provide powerful living laboratories to test how spatial design and habitat quality influence ecological communities.
Our work focuses on blue-green infrastructure, ecological corridors and nature-based solutions along urbanised coastlines. By combining field surveys, biodiversity monitoring, experiments, remote sensing and spatial modelling, we investigate how biodiversity responds to habitat configuration, connectivity, management and environmental change.
Current research develops ecological knowledge for biodiversity-positive planning and adaptive management. This includes connected green networks in cities (Livable cities), nature-based coastal protection through the development of dune-dike hybrid NbS (DuneFront). Through MARE-WIND, we also apply spatial ecology to offshore wind seascapes, linking marine biodiversity, fish movement and socio-ecological modelling.
We have a specific expertise in coastal dune ecology and develop predictive models to assess the impact of climate change on coastal dune functioning and the development of dunes as nature based solutions. We coordinate in this respect an EU-horizon project on mainstreaming biodiversity in dune-dike hybrid NbS (DuneFront), and are partners in a VLAIO Blue Cluster project SUSANA to investigate whether alternative sediments can be used as a fundament for such dune-based NbS. We are a key user of, and contributor to the Living Lab Raversijde.
Researchers involved: Maxime Dahirel, Frederik Van Daele, Orane Mordacq, Lotte pohl, Zaya Lips, Charlotte Taelman, Jiayue Yan
Digital twins and ecological decision support
We develop digital-twin and scenario-modelling approaches to support adaptive biodiversity management in dynamic landscapes and seascapes. Digital twins allow us to connect ecological data, remote sensing, movement information and process-based models into living representations of ecological systems that can be updated, tested and used for planning.
Our work focuses on translating spatial ecology into decision-support tools for nature-based solutions, restoration, urban planning, coastal protection and marine spatial planning. These tools help explore how alternative management or development scenarios may affect biodiversity, connectivity, ecosystem functioning and resilience.
Current research includes digital-twin building blocks for sandy coastal nature-based solutions in DuneFront and Living Coast, where vegetation dynamics, sediment transport, remote sensing and coastal protection processes are integrated for adaptive management.
Researchers involved: Lia Baeteman, Frederik Van Daele, Yongxin Zang