Research group
Biodiversity and Ecosystem services (BIOECOS)

Our research focuses on monitoring, mapping and modeling spatio-temporal patterns of biodiversity and ecosystem services. It comprises conceptual work, applied case studies and the development of methods. Our aims are:
- First, to understand the impacts of different land use systems on species distributions and the capacity of ecosystems to provide ecosystem services.
- Secondly, to characterize and quantify trade-offs and synergies among ecosystem services and between ecosystem services and biodiversity.
- Thirdly, to explore the suitability of information derived from remote sensing or other geospatial data to help inform decision-making and to develop future monitoring capabilities.
Methodological focus
- Geospatial analysis of large databases on biodiversity and ecosystem services using macroecological methods and statistical modeling
- Novel techniques to monitor biodiversity in agricultural landscapes (e.g. audiomoth)
- AI assisted analysis of biodiversity monitoring data
- Analysis of remote sensing products (e.g. Land Surface Temperature, Vegetation Indices, Leaf Area Index, UV-B radiation) for monitoring biodiversity and ecosystem services
- Systematic reviews and meta-analyses
Contacts
Phone: +49 (0)341 235 1946
Fax: +49 (0)341 235 1939
michael.beckmann@ufz.de
Phone: +49 (0)341 235 1070
anne.paulus@ufz.de
Projects
- BESTMAP - Behavioural, Ecological and Socio-economic Tools for Modelling Agricultural Policy; Horizon 2020 project funded by the European Commission
Former Projects
- WAKANAKA: Ermittlung naturschutzbezogener Kriterien in der Umweltprüfung der Bedarfsplanung für Stromnetze und in der Bundesfachplanung zur Erhöhung der Planungssicherheit und Verhinderung von Zielkonflikten more information
- ECOPOTENTIAL: improving future ecosystem benefits through earth observations more information
- TALE - Towards multifunctional agricultural landscapes in Europe: Assessing and governing synergies between food production, biodiversity and ecosystem services more information
- LEGATO: Land-use intensity and Ecological Engineering – Assessment Tools for risks and Opportunities in irrigated rice based production systems more information
- Improving species distribution models of endangered plants in Mexico (completed) more information
Frequent collaborators
- University of Dresden, Chair of Computational Landscape Ecology Link
- University of Leeds, School of Geography (UK) Link
- Palacký University Olomouc, Faculty of Science, Department of Ecology & Environmental Sciences (Czech Republic) Link
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig Link
- The National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) at the University of Maryland (USA) Link
- University of Southampton, Geography and Environmental Science Link
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Faculty of Science, Environmental Geography Link
- Stony Brook University (USA), Department of Ecology & Evolution Link
Recent publications
2021 (5)
- Biffi, S., Traldi, R., Crezee, B., Beckmann, M., Egli, L., Epp Schmidt, D., Motzer, N., Okumah, M., Seppelt, R., Slabbert, E.L., Tiedeman, K., Wang, H., Ziv, G. (2021):
Aligning agri-environmental subsidies and environmental needs: a comparative analysis between the US and EU
Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (5), art. 054067
full text (doi) - Gosal, A.S., Giannichi, M.L., Beckmann, M., Comber, A., Massenberg, J.R., Palliwoda, J., Roddis, P., Schägner, J.P., Wilson, J., Ziv, G. (2021):
Do drivers of nature visitation vary spatially? The importance of context for understanding visitation of nature areas in Europe and North America
Sci. Total Environ. 776 , art. 145190
full text (doi) - Palliwoda, J., Fischer, J., Felipe-Lucia, M.R., Palomo, I., Neugarten, R., Büermann, A., Price, M.F., Torralba, M., Eigenbrod, F., Mitchell, M.G.E., Beckmann, M., Seppelt, R., Schröter, M. (2021):
Ecosystem service coproduction across the zones of biosphere reserves in Europe
Ecosyst. People 17 (1), 491 - 506
full text (doi) - Schröter, M., Crouzat, E., Hölting, L., Massenberg, J.R., Rode, J., Hanisch, M., Kabisch, N., Palliwoda, J., Priess, J.A., Seppelt, R., Beckmann, M. (2021):
Assumptions in ecosystem service assessments: Increasing transparency for conservation
Ambio 50 (2), 289 - 300
full text (doi) - Spake, R., Mori, A.S., Beckmann, M., Martin, P.A., Christie, A.P., Duguid, M.C., Doncaster, C.P. (2021):
Implications of scale dependence for cross‐study syntheses of biodiversity differences
Ecol. Lett. 24 (2), 374 - 390
full text (doi)
2020 (7)
- 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) - Eigenbrod, F., Beckmann, M., Dunnett, S., Graham, L., Holland, R.A., Meyfroidt, P., Seppelt, R., Song, X.-P., Spake, R., Václavík, T., Verburg, P.H. (2020):
Identifying agricultural frontiers for modeling global cropland expansion
One Earth 3 (4), 504 - 514
full text (doi) - Hölting, L., Komossa, F., Filyushkina, A., Gastinger, M.-M., Verburg, P.H., Beckmann, M., Volk, M., Cord, A.F. (2020):
Including stakeholders’ perspectives on ecosystem services in multifunctionality assessments
Ecosyst. People 16 (1), 354 - 368
full text (doi) - Kambach, S., Bruelheide, H., Gerstner, K., Gurevitch, J., Beckmann, M., Seppelt, R. (2020):
Consequences of multiple imputation of missing standard deviations and sample sizes in meta‐analysis
Ecol. Evol. 10 (20), 11699 - 11712
full text (doi) - Kattge, J., Bönisch, G., Díaz, S., Lavorel, S., Beckmann, M., Dechant, B., Durka, W., Klotz, S., Roscher, C., Doktor, D., Prentice, I.C., et al. (2020):
TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access
Glob. Change Biol. 26 (1), 119 - 188
full text (doi) - Seppelt, R., Arndt, C., Beckmann, M., Martin, E.A., Hertel, T.W. (2020):
Deciphering the biodiversity-production mutualism in the global food security debate
Trends Ecol. Evol. 35 (11), 1011 - 1020
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)