Karin Johst

Research

I studied physics at the Technical University Dresden. Afterwards I had been working in the field of theoretical chemical physics. Since 1992 I have been working in the field of ecological modelling.
The focus of my current research is on population and community dynamics in disturbed and dynamic landscapes with a special focus on a mechanistic understanding of the responses of species and communities to climate change.
In this area, I deal with:

• Population and community dynamics in dynamic and disturbed landscapes: the impact on species persistence, coexistence and the functioning of ecosystems
• the role of intra- and interspecific interactions for the dynamics, stability and diversity of communities
• combination of ecological theory, modelling and experiments: knowledge transfer to microbiology and aquatic ecology
• human land use and biodiversity conservation in a changing world: ecological-economic modelling for cost-effectiveness in nature conservation

For more details see a selection of my  projects

Publications

Latest publications:

• Franz, K.W., Romanowski, J., Johst, K., Grimm, V. (2021):
  Porównawcza ocena programów analizy żywotności populacji (PVA) w rankingu scenariuszy przekształceń krajobrazu. A comparative assessment of PVA software packages applied to rank the landscape management scenarios
  Polish Geographical Review (Przegląd Geograficzny) 93 (5), 365 - 385 10.7163/PrzG.2021.3.3
• Horn, J., Becher, M.A., Johst, K., Kennedy, P.J., Osborne, J.L., Radchuk, V., Grimm, V. (2021):
  Honey bee colony performance affected by crop diversity and farmland structure: a modeling framework
  Ecol. Appl. 31 (1), e02216 10.1002/eap.2216
• Weise, H., Auge, H., Baessler, C., Bärlund, I., Bennett, E.M., Berger, U., Bohn, F., Bonn, A., Borchardt, D., Brand, F., Chatzinotas, A., Corstanje, R., De Laender, F., Dietrich, P., Dunker, S., Durka, W., Fazey, I., Groeneveld, J., Guilbaud, C.S.E., Harms, H., Harpole, S., Harris, J., Jax, K., Jeltsch, F., Johst, K., Joshi, J., Klotz, S., Kühn, I., Kuhlicke, C., Müller, B., Radchuk, V., Reuter, H., Rinke, K., Schmitt-Jansen, M., Seppelt, R., Singer, A., Standish, R.J., Thulke, H.-H., Tietjen, B., Weitere, M., Wirth, C., Wolf, C., Grimm, V. (2020):
  Resilience trinity: safeguarding ecosystem functioning and services across three different time horizons and decision contexts
  Oikos 129 (4), 445 - 456 10.1111/oik.07213
• Singer, A., Schweiger, O., Kühn, I., Johst, K. (2018):
  Constructing a hybrid species distribution model from standard large-scale distribution data
  Ecol. Model. 373 , 39 - 52 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2018.02.002
• Sturm, A., Drechsler, M., Johst, K., Mewes, M., Wätzold, F. (2018):
  DSS-Ecopay – A decision support software for designing ecologically effective and cost-effective agri-environment schemes to conserve endangered grassland biodiversity
  Agric. Syst. 161 , 113 - 116 10.1016/j.agsy.2018.01.008
• Drechsler, M., Johst, K. (2017):
  Rapid assessment of metapopulation viability under climate and land-use change
  Ecol. Complex. 31 , 125 - 134 10.1016/j.ecocom.2017.06.005
• Drechsler, M., Johst, K., Wätzold, F. (2017):
  The cost-effective length of contracts for payments to compensate land owners for biodiversity conservation measures
  Biol. Conserv. 207 , 72 - 79 10.1016/j.biocon.2017.01.014
• Karakoç, C., Singer, A., Johst, K., Harms, H., Chatzinotas, A. (2017):
  Transient recovery dynamics of a predator–prey system under press and pulse disturbances
  BMC Ecology 17 , art. 13 10.1186/s12898-017-0123-2
• Lucas, R., Groeneveld, J., Harms, H., Johst, K., Frank, K., Kleinsteuber, S. (2017):
  A critical evaluation of ecological indices for the comparative analysis of microbial communities based on molecular datasets
  FEMS Microbiol. Ecol. 93 (1), fiw209 10.1093/femsec/fiw209
• Mewes, M., Drechsler, M., Johst, K., Sturm, A., Wätzold, F. (2017):
  Für besseren Artenschutz in Agrarlandschaften – Entscheidungshilfe-Software DSS-Ecopay^®. For better species conservation in agricultural landscapes - The DSS-Ecopay^® decision support software
  Nat. Landschaft 92 (11), 504 - 510 10.17433/11.2017.50153521.504-510
• Singer, A., Johst, K. (2017):
  Transience after disturbance: Obligate species recovery dynamics depend on disturbance duration
  Theor. Popul. Biol. 115 , 81 - 88 10.1016/j.tpb.2017.04.004
• Banitz, T., Frank, K., Wick, L.Y., Harms, H., Johst, K. (2016):
  Spatial metrics as indicators of biodegradation benefits from bacterial dispersal networks
  Ecol. Indic. 60 , 54 - 63 10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.06.021
• Schöttker, O., Johst, K., Drechsler, M., Wätzold, F. (2016):
  Land for biodiversity conservation — To buy or borrow?
  Ecol. Econ. 129 , 94 - 103 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.06.011
• Singer, A., Johst, K., Banitz, T., Fowler, M.S., Groeneveld, J., Gutiérrez, A.G., Hartig, F., Krug, R.M., Liess, M., Matlack, G., Meyer, K.M., Pe'er, G., Radchuk, V., Voinopol-Sassu, A.-J., Travis, J.M.J. (2016):
  Community dynamics under environmental change: How can next generation mechanistic models improve projections of species distributions?
  Ecol. Model. 326 , 63 - 74 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2015.11.007
• Urban, M.C., Bocedi, G., Hendry, A.P., Mihoub, J.-B., Pe'er, G., Singer, A., Bridle, J.R., Crozier, L.G., De Meester, L., Godsoe, W., Gonzalez, A., Hellmann, J.J., Holt, R.D., Huth, A., Johst, K., Krug, C.B., Leadley, P.W., Palmer, S.C.F., Pantel, J.H., Schmitz, A., Zollner, P.A., Travis, J.M.J. (2016):
  Improving the forecast for biodiversity under climate change
  Science 353 (6304), aad8466-1 - aad8466-9 10.1126/science.aad8466
• Wätzold, F., Drechsler, M., Johst, K., Mewes, M., Sturm, A. (2016):
  A novel, spatiotemporally explicit ecological-economic modeling procedure for the design of cost-effective agri-environment schemes to conserve biodiversity
  Am. J. Agr. Econ. 98 (2), 489 - 512 10.1093/ajae/aav058
• Fetzer, I., Johst, K., Schäwe, R., Banitz, T., Harms, H., Chatzinotas, A. (2015):
  The extent of functional redundancy changes as species’ roles shift in different environments
  Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 112 (48), 14888 - 14893 10.1073/pnas.1505587112
• Groeneveld, J., Johst, K., Kawaguchi, S., Meyer, B., Teschke, M., Grimm, V. (2015):
  How biological clocks and changing environmental conditions determine local population growth and species distribution in Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba): a conceptual model
  Ecol. Model. 303 , 78 - 86 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2015.02.009
• Johst, K., Drechsler, M., Mewes, M., Sturm, A., Wätzold, F. (2015):
  A novel modeling approach to evaluate the ecological effects of timing and location of grassland conservation measures
  Biol. Conserv. 182 , 44 - 52 10.1016/j.biocon.2014.11.033
• Kazmierczak, M., Johst, K., Huth, A. (2015):
  Conservatives and Gamblers: Interpreting plant functional response to water stress in terms of a single indicator
  Ideas Ecol. Evol. 8 (1), 29 - 41 10.4033/iee.2015.8.5.n
• Mewes, M., Drechsler, M., Johst, K., Sturm, A., Wätzold, F. (2015):
  A systematic approach for assessing spatially and temporally differentiated opportunity costs of biodiversity conservation measures in grasslands
  Agric. Syst. 137 , 76 - 88 10.1016/j.agsy.2015.03.010

Full list of publications: Publications

Selected past third party projects and other projects

• PolarTime: Biological timing in a changing marine environment (‘Helmholtz Virtual Institute’ coordinated by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven) 2012-2016
• DBU – Projekt Soko Bio "Software-basierte Entscheidungshilfe zur Bestimmung kosteneffizienter Kompensationszahlungen für Biodiversitätsschutzmaßnahmen in einer sich ändernden Umwelt“ 2008-2010
• ESF EuroDiversity Project EcoTRADE "Market based instruments for cost-effective biodiversity conservation" 2006-2009
• BMBF- Projekt Wirtschaftswissenschaften für Nachhaltigkeit’ FONA: FlaechEn -„Nachhaltige Landnutzung im Spannungsfeld umweltpolitisch konfligierender Zielsetzungen am Beispiel der Windenergiegewinnung“ 2007-2010