Marija Milanović, Ph.D.
Post-Doctoral Researcher
Department of Community Ecology
Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
Theodor-Lieser-Straße 4, office 318
06120 Halle (Saale), Germany
Tel: +49 345 558 5223

Email

2021 - present

Postdoc in the project iCon - "Analysing plant invasions in their environmental context" at German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and UFZ

2017 - 2020

Doctoral Researcher at UFZ, Department Community Ecology

2014-2016

MSc. in Ecology, University of Poitiers, France
Department: Ecology and Biology of Interactions

2016

Christian - Albrechts University of Kiel, Germany
Institute for Natural Resource Conservation, Department for Landscape Ecology
Master thesis and internship
Title: Wild bee diversity on wild flower areas in relation to landscape composition

2012-2013

Research Trainee, Institute of Botany Institute of Botany and Botanical Garden "Jevremovac"
Department: Plant Morphology and Systematic

2007-2012

BSc. in Biology, Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, Serbia

Invasive alien species (IAS) can impact biodiversity, ecosystem functions and services (ES) as well as cause considerable economic lost. Invasive plants and their interaction with habitat are known to act as drivers of change. Impacts of species are mediated by their traits (biological and ecological characteristics, environmental preferences, spatial distribution), though many of the species characteristics responsible for changes in Ecosystem Services or Disservices (EDS) are context dependent.

I am interested in how invasive plant species affects ES and EDS and which sectors are benefiting and which one are those that are impacted. Identifying competing interests and identifying plants or features which are most prominent in them, will help mitigating impacts on ES.

Furthermore I am interested in trait-environmental relationship between native and non-native plant species. A conclusive list of traits that promote successful invasion is lacking mainly due to incoherent results. Evaluating the relationships between the environment and plant functional traits is crucial for understanding the response of species of different origin and different stages in the invasion process to see how they might respond under changing environmental condition.