Modelling group dynamics

I am collaborating with the Kalahari Meerkat Project (in particular Prof. Tim Clutton-Brock and Dr. Frank Groenewould from Univ. Cambrdige) on developing individual-based models of meerkat (Suricata suricatta) group dynamics.

I am leading an large-scale review of studies on population dynamics of vertebrates (currently focused on mammals) to answer the following main question: Do studies linking population dynamics of terrestrial vertebrates to climate reflect, in terms of what ecoregions and taxa are studied, the predictions of ecoregions and species vulnerability to climate change? Thanks to the hard work of all collaborators, we have reviewed available information on climate-demography relationships for the > 5,000 extant mammal species. Our results are available on bioRxiv. 

For my MS thesis, I used remote sensing technologies and species distribution modelling to investigate the current and potential future distribution of alien invasive plant species in the Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathian Mountains contain high levels of biodiversity and endemism but are increasingly pressured by unsustainable land use and invasion. Changing land-use patterns towards more fragmentation and degradation of natural ecosystems promote invasion and I hope to contribute to the scientific discourse on the potential levels of invasion and implications for ecosystems. I continue to collaborate with the World Wide Fund fro Nature (WWF) in Ukraine to improve range shift predictions using plant trait data.