Studying geo-ecosystems and the distribution of life on Earth
The Biodiversity & Macroecology (BIOMAC) lab is a research group at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), the Netherlands. We are part of the Department Theoretical and Computational Ecology (TCE) within the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED). The central aim of our work is to quantify how biodiversity varies across space and time, how it interacts with the abiotic components of the Earth system, and how responses of species and ecosystems to changing environmental conditions can be monitored and predicted.
The group comprises permanent staff members (associate and assistant professors), support staff, scientific developers, data scientists, postdoctoral researchers and PhD students. We work at the interface of ecology, Earth science, informatics and data science, covering topics in biodiversity, geodiversity, conservation, physical geography, landscape ecology, remote sensing, ecosystem monitoring, environmental policy and global change biology. Please read more about our research and our teaching, or have a look at our news page.
Hijma, M.P., Bradley, S.L., Cohen, K.M., van der Wal, W., Barlow, N.L.M., Blank, B., Frechen, M., Hennekam, R., van Heteren, S., Kiden, P., Mavritsakis, A., Meijninger, B.M.L., Reichart, G.-J., Reinhardt, L., Rijsdijk, K.F., Vink, A. & Busschers, F.S. (2025): Global sea-level rise in the early Holocene revealed from North Sea peats. Nature 639: 652-657. [ABSTRACT]
Kissling, W.D., Shi, Y., Wang, J., Walicka, A., George, C., Moeslund, J.E. & Gerard, F. (2024): Towards consistently measuring and monitoring habitat condition with airborne laser scanning and unmanned aerial vehicles. Ecological Indicators 169: 112970. [ABSTRACT] [DATA] [CODE]
Kissling, W.D., Evans, J.C., Zilber, R., Breeze, T.D., Shinneman, S., Schneider, L.C., Chalmers, C., Fergus, P., Wich, S., & Geelen, L.H.W.T. (2024): Development of a cost-efficient automated wildlife camera network in a European Natura 2000 site. Basic and Applied Ecology 79: 141–152. [ABSTRACT] [DATA ON ZENODO] [STORY MAP] [GBIF data pilot 1] [GBIF data pilot 2] [GBIF data pilot 3] [PRESS RELEASE]
Polman, E.M.N., Seijmonsbergen, A.C., Versteegh, H. & Kissling, W.D. (2024): Global geodiversity components are not equally represented in UNESCO Global Geoparks. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A 382: 20230054. [ABSTRACT] [DATA]
Gonzalez, A., ..., Kissling, W.D., ...(2023): A global biodiversity observing system to unite monitoring and guide action. Nature Ecology & Evolution 7: 1947–1952. [ABSTRACT] [PRESS RELEASE]
2025-06-10
A digital story about our research project on Arctic migratory birds.
The eLTER Science Conference focuses on advancing ecosystem, biodiversity, and environmental research in a broad sense and holistic approach. It brings together scientists, policymakers, and practitioners to share knowledge on long-term ecosystem, critical zone, and socio-ecological research, fostering collaboration and the exchange of innovative ideas to address environmental challenges in the Anthropocene. W. Daniel Kissling from BIOMAC is invited as one of the keynote speakers. More details about the conference can be found here: https://elter-ri.eu/science-conference
This workshop on 'Ecology and Digital Technology' aims to bring together experts from ecology and digital libraries, with contributions from AI research, to address the challenges of synthesizing diverse ecological data and improving predictive models. See website for more information.
BIOMAC contact
Dr. W.D. (Daniel) Kissling
Email: wdkissling@gmail.com
Phone: +31 (0)20 525 8423
Postal address
Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED)
P.O. Box 94248, 1090 GE Amsterdam
The Netherlands
