Research for conservation

I am a quantitative conservation biologist who explores the consequences of anthropogenic effects on marine ecosystem functioning. I am interested in connecting academic science to decision tools and effective conservation practice. My field program aims to quantify and to conceptualize the relationships of organisms critical to ecosystem functions that may be incorporated into ecological models that are useful for decision-making. While my research focuses primarily on marine ecosystems, I am most broadly driven by questions rather than particular species or processes. Most recently, I have focused on benthos organisms of coastal wetlands and linking standing stock and trophic flow through functional groups into ecosystem-level analyses. I have also worked on developing approaches to communicate complicated scientific information to decision makers and stakeholders.

Ecology between land, freshwater and sea

I graduated as a limnologist, specialized in marine biology, at the Albert-Ludwigs University in Freiburg (Germany) in 1995. During this period, I earned my oceanology degree from the Université d'Aix-Marseille II in France. In 1993, I joined the GIS Posidonie (Groupement d’Intérêt Scientifique) in Marseille, a non-governmental association of marine scientists hosted by the LBMEB (Laboratoire de Biologie Marine et d’Ecologie du Benthos) at Université d’Aix-Marseille II (France). I worked as coordinator of the macrobenthos group in the international multidisciplinary project entitled « Etude pour la Sauvegarde du Parc National de l’Ichkeul (Tunisie) », doing my Diploma thesis on the population dynamics of bivalves in Lake Ichkeul. Since 1996, I work as a diver and marine biologist.

Since 2006, I hold a Ph.D. in Limnology/Oceanography from the Albert-Ludwigs University in Freiburg (Germany). My doctoral research on the macroinvertebrate trophic linkages of Mediterranean marine wetlands, mainly done at the UMR Dimar (Diversité, Evolution et Ecologie fonctionnelle marine) of the Centre d’Océanologie de Marseille (France), involved to estimate the secondary production and energy transfer, and to analyse the preliminary conceptual model of the Lake Ichkeul aquatic ecosystem (Northern Tunisia).

While working as a marine biologist in the Mediterranean, I maintained my involvement as a limnologist, contributing to diverse projects (Hydracarina of mountain running waters, lake ecosystem functioning) at the Limnological Institute of the University of Constance in Germany.

A mediterranean ecologist in the middle of the Balkans...

As strange as it can seem, my research interests in coastal ecosystem functioning now bring me to the Bulgarian Academy of Science in Sofia, where I joined the parasite biodiversity research group of the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research to focus on the trophic interaction between invertebrates and birds at Atanasovsko Lagoon on the Black Sea coast.

Evidence suggests that waterbird populations throughout the world have experienced a dramatic shift in numbers as a result of extensive human impact on coastal wetlands. At Atanasovsko lagoon, nothing is known about the ecological consequences of the rinsing of invertebrates in terms of their roles as consumers in food chains and as prey and carrion, by the water movement used for the salt production. To understand the influence of variation in food supply on the behaviour and distribution of waterbirds on the lagoon, it is necessary to analyze the situation in the ecosystem context as there are a large number of indirect and direct interactions through which these two groups might influence each other.

The main thrust of my research will address the following question: Are long-term, cumulative densities of feeding birds limited or not by the production of acceptable benthic biomass ? We will use mensurative (sediment cores, bird numbers and activity budgets) and experimental field approaches (exclosures) to relate the harvestable benthic yield statistically to the predatory impact by waterbirds. These approaches will also be used as a framework for identifying tolerance limits of benthos density that is acceptable to waterbirds, and for elaborating a biological monitoring progamme on Atanasovsko lagoon.

This research is part of the EC FP7 Capacities Programme „WETLANET“, supporting scientific research on natural and man-made resources of Atanasovsko lagoon that will help the local laboratory network enhance the research potential for studying wetlands ecosystem functioning, restoration and management.

For more details see my CV

List of publications