Jens Mutke

Dr. Jens Mutke serves as a Senior Academic Councillor (Akademischer Oberrat) at the University of Bonn's Bonn Institute of Organismic Biology (BIOB), specifically within the Plant Biodiversity Working Group. He has been affiliated with the university since 2003 as an Akademischer Rat, advancing to Akademischer Oberrat in 2006, and has coordinated teaching in the department while maintaining an active research profile in macroecology and biogeography.

His research interests focus on ecological and biogeographic patterns from local to global scales, with particular emphasis on worldwide patterns of plant diversity, regional to continental plant diversity in the Neotropics (especially tropical Andean mountain forests of South America), and local flora and vegetation in the Bonn and Rhein-Sieg region. His work increasingly examines the impacts of global environmental change on biodiversity, including both climate change and land use effects. He combines vegetation-ecological fieldwork with macroecological and biogeographic analyses using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and data analysis in R/Rstudio.

Dr. Mutke's publication record reveals consistent research themes in plant diversity patterns, biogeography, and conservation. His work spans from global analyses of vascular plant diversity to detailed regional studies in South America and Germany. Recent publications show increasing focus on the intersection of biodiversity science with sustainability goals, particularly examining urban ecosystems in relation to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. His research methodology consistently integrates GIS applications, field observations, and statistical analysis to address fundamental questions in biodiversity science.

• Teaching Award from the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Bonn (2020)
• Golden Microscope Teaching Award from the Biology Student Council, University of Bonn (2020)
• Commerzbank Dissertation Prize (2003)
• Biodiversity Prize from the Academy of Sciences and Literature, Mainz (2002)

Dr. Mutke coordinates teaching in the department and has supervised numerous student theses examining regional biodiversity in the Kottenforst forest, Siebengebirge, and Sieg Valley. His research has been supported through various projects including the BMBF-funded BIOTA Africa research consortium. He actively collaborates with local biostations and environmental organizations to study regional biodiversity changes and communicate findings to the public through various media including YouTube presentations on climate change and biodiversity.

His work is conducted through the Plant Biodiversity Working Group within the Nees Institute for Biodiversity of Plants at the University of Bonn. This research environment focuses on global patterns of plant diversity, with particular expertise in Andean ecosystems and German regional flora. The group maintains strong connections with international biodiversity initiatives and contributes to global assessments of plant diversity patterns.