Thorsten Wiegand

Thorsten Wiegand is a researcher at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig, Germany, leading the Department of Ecological Modelling. He holds a PhD in theoretical ecology from the University of Marburg (1992) and has been conducting research at UFZ since its inception. His work focuses on spatial ecology, integrating mathematical models with spatial statistics to understand forest dynamics, species coexistence, and biodiversity patterns. In 2023, he secured an ERC Advanced Grant (€2.5M) to develop spatial theories explaining species-rich forest stability, collaborating with Prof. Andreas Huth and international partners.

Research interests include:

• Spatial patterns in tropical and temperate forests
• Seed dispersal mechanisms and stochastic environmental effects
• Individual-based simulation models linking micro-scale interactions to macro-scale ecological patterns

Current projects involve analyzing forest inventory data from global networks (e.g., Smithsonian's ForestGEO) and field studies in Sri Lanka/Thailand. Funds will support early-career researchers and international workshops. Wiegand's work bridges ecology, physics, and mathematics to address climate change impacts on biodiversity.