Birgit Müller

Contact

Head of Junior Research Group POLISES

Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ

Department of Ecological Modelling

Permoserstr. 15
04318 Leipzig
Germany

Building 1, room 2.04

Tel.: +49 341 235-1708
Fax: +49 341 235-3500
birgit.mueller@ufz.de    

Research Interests

Use of process-based models for an enhanced understanding and governance of social-ecological systems under global change:

1. Exploring dynamics of social-ecological resource systems under uncertainty
   
2. Effects of policy instruments for global food security and for coping with climate risk (such as weather insurances) on social-ecological systems (SES)
   
3. Adequate representation of human decisions in agent-based models for natural resource use Journal Club
4. Potential of SES models as tool of thinking and tool for communication in inter- and transdisciplinary research    
   

Current Projects

• POLISES - Global food security policies and their social-ecological side effects in regions prone to global change  Short description
  Project Website POLISES
• BESTMAP - Behavioural, Ecological and Socio-economic Tools for Modelling Agricultural Policy (September 2019 -  August 2023).
• NamTip - Understanding and Managing Desertification Tipping Points in Dryland Social-Ecological Systems – A Namibian Perspective (March 2019 - Februar 2022).
• DFG funded Project SEEMI - "Effects of microinsurance on informal safety nets and on strategies for natural resource use – a model-based analysis" (March 2017 - August 2020)
• SESYNC Pursuit: Testing and extending Ostrom’s frameworks: quantitative synthesis and modeling of social-ecological dynamics (2017- ongoing)
  

Finished Projects

• Junior Research Group POLISES - Global food security policies and their social-ecological side effects in regions prone to global change (2014-2019) Short description
  Project Website POLISES
• Collaborative SESYNC-UFZ-IDiv project: Synthesis of micro-scale human decision making to mitigate risks to ecosystem services
• Sustainability of (Post-)Nomadic Resource Utilization Under Global Change - Conceptual Understanding Through Ecological-Economic Modelling (2008-2012)
• Ecological Economics: Modelling and conceptual foundation, with an example of grazing in semi-arid regions (2004-2007)

Publications

Latest Publications:

• Bartkowski, B., Beckmann, M., Drechsler, M., Kaim, A., Liebelt, V., Müller, B., Witing, F., Strauch, M., (2020):
  Aligning agent-based modeling with multi-objective land-ese allocation: Identification of policy gaps and feasible pathways to biophysically optimal landscapes
  Front. Environ. Sci. 8 , art. 103
  full text (doi)
• Cumming, G.S., Epstein, G., Anderies, J.M., Apetrei, C.I., Baggio, J., Bodin, Ö., Chawla, S., Clements, H.S., Cox, M., Egli, L., Gurney, G.G., Lubell, M., Magliocca, N., Morrison, T.H., Müller, B., Seppelt, R., Schlüter, M., Unnikrishnan, H., Villamayor-Tomas, S., Weible, C.M., (2020):
  Advancing understanding of natural resource governance: a post-Ostrom research agenda
  Curr. Opin. Environ. Sustain. 44 , 26 - 34
  full text (doi)
• Müller, B., Hoffmann, F., Heckelei, T., Müller, C., Hertel, T.W., Polhill, J.G., van Wijk, M., Achterbosch, T., Alexander, P., Brown, C., Kreuer, D., Ewert, F., Ge, J., Millington, J.D.A., Seppelt, R., Verburg, P.H., Webber, H., (2020):
  Modelling food security: Bridging the gap between the micro and the macro scale
  Glob. Environ. Change 63 , art. 102085
  full text (doi)
• Rahimi Balkanlou, K., Müller, B., Cord, A.F., Panahi, F., Malekian, A., Jafari, M., Egli, L., (2020):
  Spatiotemporal dynamics of ecosystem services provision in a degraded ecosystem: A systematic assessment in the Lake Urmia basin, Iran
  Sci. Total Environ. 716 , art. 137100
  full text (doi)
• 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
  full text (doi)
• Will, M., Groeneveld, J., Frank, K., Müller, B., (2020):
  Combining social network analysis and agent-based modelling to explore dynamics of human interaction: A review
  Socio-Environmental Systems Modelling 2 , art. 16325
  full text (doi)
• Ziv, G., Beckmann, M., Bullock, J., Cord, A., Delzeit, R., Domingo, C., Dreßler, G., Hagemann, N., Masó, J., Müller, B., Neteler, M., Sapundzhieva, A., Stoev, P., Stenning, J., Trajković, M., Václavík, T., (2020):
  BESTMAP: behavioural, Ecological and Socio-economic Tools for Modelling Agricultural Policy
  Research Ideas and Outcomes 6 , e52052
  full text (doi)
• Dressler, G., Groeneveld, J., Buchmann, C.M., Guo, C., Hase, N., Thober, J., Frank, K., Müller, B., (2019):
  Implications of behavioral change for the resilience of pastoral systems—Lessons from an agent-based model
  Ecol. Complex. 40, Part B , art. 100710
  full text (doi)
• Dressler, G., Hoffmann, F., Breuer, I., Kreuer, D., Mahdi, M., Frank, K., Müller, B., (2019):
  Polarization in (post)nomadic resource use in Eastern Morocco: insights using a multi-agent simulation model
  Reg. Envir. Chang. 19 (2), 489 - 500
  full text (doi)
• John, F., Toth, R., Frank, K., Groeneveld, J., Müller, B., (2019):
  Ecological vulnerability through insurance? Potential unintended consequences of livestock drought insurance
  Ecol. Econ. 157 , 357 - 368
  full text (doi)
• Klein, J.A., Tucker, C.M., Nolin, A.W., Hopping, K.A., Reid, R.S., Steger, C., Grêt‐Regamey, A., Lavorel, S., Müller, B., Yeh, E.T., Boone, R.B., Bougeron, P., Bustic, V., Castellanos, E., Chen, X., Dong, S.K., Greenwood, G., Keiler, M., Marchant, R., Seidl, R., Spies, T., Thorn, J., Yager, K., (2019):
  Catalyzing transformations to sustainability in the world's mountains
  Earth Future 7 (5), 547 - 557
  full text (doi)
• Klein, J.A., Tucker, C.M., Steger, C.E., Nolin, A., Reid, R., Hopping, K.A., Yeh, E.T., Pradhan, M.S., Taber, A., Molden, D., Ghate, R., Choudhury, D., Alcántara-Ayala, I., Lavorel, S., Müller, B., Grêt-Regamey, A., Boone, R.B., Bourgeron, P., Castellanos, E., Chen, X., Dong, S., Keiler, M., Seidl, R., Thorn, J., Yager, K., (2019):
  An integrated community and ecosystem-based approach to disaster risk reduction in mountain systems
  Environ. Sci. Policy 94 , 143 - 152
  full text (doi)
• Schlüter, M., Müller, B., Frank, K., (2019):
  The potential of models and modeling for social-ecological systems research: the reference frame ModSES
  Ecol. Soc. 24 (1), art. 31
  full text (doi)
• Huber, R., Bakker, M., Balmann, A., Berger, T., Bithell, M., Brown, C., Grêt-Regamey, A., Xiong, H., Le, Q.B., Mack, G., Meyfroidt, P., Millington, J., Müller, B., Polhill, J.G., Sun, Z., Seidl, R., Troost, C., Finger, R., (2018):
  Representation of decision-making in European agricultural agentbased models
  Agric. Syst. 167 , 143 - 160
  full text (doi)

Full list of publications: Publications

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