Oxford Long-Term Ecology Lab

Long-Term Ecology, Biodiversity Conservation, and Environmental Stewardship Technologies

Henrik was a doctoral research student at the Department of Zoology, working at the Long-term Ecology Laboratory. His research was supervised by Professor Kathy Willis and Dr Marc Macias-Fauria.

He read Biology and Economics at the University of St Andrews receiving a BSc (Joint Honours) in 2011. During his honours research project he focused on conservation approaches within the context of the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy in the North Sea. Continuing a more interdisciplinary approach to ecological questions he completed his MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management at the School of Geography and the Environment at the University of Oxford in 2012. His thesis examined potential for future-orientated conservation designations using species distribution modelling to highlight issues arising from using national databases only.


DPhil research project

Henrik’s DPhil research focused on the optimisation of conservation strategies within Europe, including both ecological approaches and economic valuation.

Current protected area networks are far from being specifically designed for the task at hand. Range area and size fluctuations due to climate change and continued high levels of urban development throughout Europe give rise to the opportunity for strategic conservation planning accounting for these constraints. In his project species distribution modelling was used to inform future range areas and thus potential sites worthy of protection in order to encompass needed species in adequate areas and quantities. Palaeoecological distributions were included in his analysis in order to ensure more robust modelling resulting from using datasets covering longer timeframes.

The interdisciplinary approach for site selection also included economic valuation in order to facilitate long-term economic sustainability for future-orientated conservation approaches.


Selected Publications