People

Andreas originally come from Germany where he completed a Master in Biology for which he did field work and experiments on algae in the intertidal of Japan, before he changed his focus to ecological modelling during his PhD. Andreas came out to Australia to join Ove Hoegh-Guldberg’s group in the ARC Laureate project to study effects of Climate Change on metabolism of coral reef communities.

Andreas research focus is on ecosystem functions and functioning, non-linear dynamics and emergent properties of self-organizing processes. He uses spatially explicit, individual-based modelling to integrate current knowledge and simulate benthic coral reef communities under the influence of various sources of environmental change to complement ongoing science, help to identify gaps, and aid to scrutinize potential management plans and actions in globally changing environments

His research focus is on ecosystem functions, processes and relationships in coral reef communities. Reef systems feature complex interaction structures among associated organisms, often causing non-linear responses to change which are hard to trace with traditional ecological methods, alone. he uses spatially explicit, individual based modelling to integrate current knowledge and simulate benthic coral reef communities under the influence of various sources of environmental change, such as ever increasing carbon dioxide concentrations and temperatures, as well as frequencies and intensities of extreme events (e.g. hurricanes). Model outcomes shall complement ongoing science on coral reef functioning, help to identify gaps, and aid to scrutinize potential management plans and actions in globally changing environments.

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