“Giving nature the space it needs can help protect and restore the ecosystems we depend on for the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe.”
 

Research focus: ecology, biodiversity and nature conservation

Merel Soons is Professor of Land Use and Biodiversity at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development at Utrecht University and Chair of the University's Biodiversity Council. Her main research interests lie in the field of (landscape) ecology: the mechanisms of dispersal, colonization and migration of plants and animals; the mechanisms that regulate biodiversity and ecosystem resilience; the interactions of these mechanisms with ongoing global changes (land use change, habitat fragmentation, eutrophication and climate change); and their consequences for biodiversity conservation and recovery.

In her research, Merel investigates ecological processes at the ecosystem to landscape scale, using a combination of field data collection, experiments and modeling approaches. In her dispersal research she uses a movement ecology framework to investigate both plant and animal movement. Merel combines work on the building of fundamental ecological theory with the application of ecological knowledge in nature conservation and restoration. She believes this combination of fundamental science and its application to key environmental problems is what society needs from the scientific community.

Much of Merel’s research is on wetlands and grasslands, which are globally important ecosystems for biodiversity and nature's contributions to people. 

Merel is a multiple NWO laureate (Meervoud, VIDI and Aspasia personal grants).

Areas of expertise:

• Biodiversity
• Ecology
• Grasslands
• Nature conservation
• Nature management
• Nature restoration
• Wetlands
   

Research team

PhD students and postdocs

• P. (Petros) Constantinides
• J. (Jelyn) Gerkema
• C.M. (Catrien) Hoffman
• N. (Nataliia) Pustilnik
• A.P. (Ana Patricia) Sandoval Calderon
• R. (Robert) Timmers
• I. (Inês) Vicente
• S. (Shengnan) Wang
• Y.N. (Yannick) Wiegers
   

Former research team members

• Dr. M. (Monique) de Jager
• Dr. R.G.A. (Rob) Fraaije
• Dr. A.G. (Annemarie) Garssen
• Dr. E. (Erik) Kleyheeg
• Dr. J.M. (Judith) Sarneel
• Dr. M. (Maitreyi) Sur
• Dr. H.J. (Jelle) Treep
• Dr. C.H.A. (Casper) van Leeuwen
• Dr. J.P. (Jeroen) van Zuidam