معرفی
Dr. Mariska te Beest is an Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences at Utrecht University, affiliated with the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development. Her research focuses on systems ecology, conservation biology, and global change, with emphasis on plant communities, ecological feedbacks, and invasive species. She explores climate-vegetation interactions in grassy biomes, plant traits for ecological predictions, and woody encroachment impacts on climate via albedo effects. Her work spans African savannas and Arctic tundra, challenging ecological paradigms through cross-hemisphere comparisons.
Teaching responsibilities include courses in Global Sustainability Science and Sustainable Development programs, supervising student projects on ecology and conservation. Key research areas include invasion ecology, fire ecology, and the socio-ecological dynamics of southern African woodlands. Collaborations involve international teams, such as the Tundra Trait Team and SEOSAW network.
Publications span climate change experiments, plant functional traits, and conservation strategies. Her work emphasizes standardized methodologies for ecological research, such as the ClimEx handbook and TRY plant trait database contributions. Current projects address climate feedbacks in open ecosystems and the application of rewilding as a climate mitigation tool.
