Prof. Dr. Damaris Zurell
Research interests
I am a professor of Ecology and Macroecology at the University of Potsdam, with a deep interest in how biodiversity responds to environmental change. My work bridges theoretical ecology, conservation science, and predictive biodiversity modelling, often connecting basic research with real-world conservation challenges. I lead an interdisciplinary research group, coordinate international initiatives, and actively contribute to global scientific networks on biodiversity and climate change. Through collaborative, data-driven research, I aim to support evidence-based conservation in a rapidly changing world. I primarily focus on terrestrial ecosystems, particularly birds, mammals and plants.
Links
Personal website: https://damariszurell.github.io/
Social Media: Bluesky
Scholarly profiles: ORCID, Google Scholar, ResearchGate
Damaris Zurell
Prof. Dr. Damaris Zurell
Campus Maulbeerallee
University of Potsdam
Ecology/Macroecology
Maulbeerallee 3, Building 3, Room 0.12
14469 Potsdam
Education
- 2011 – PhD in Geoecology, University of Potsdam, Inst. of Earth and Environmental Sciences
- 2007 – Diplom (M.Sc.) in Geoecology, University of Potsdam, Inst. of Geoecology
Academic career
- since 2023 – Full professor of Ecology/Macroecology, University of Potsdam
- 2020 - 2023 – Associate professor of Ecology/Macroecology (tenure track), University of Potsdam
- 2018 - 2020 – Junior research group leader (DFG Emmy Noether programme), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Geography Department
- 2016 - 2018 – Scientific staff member, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Dept. Landscape Dynamics
- 2014 - 2016 – Postdoc, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Dept. Landscape Dynamics
- 2011 - 2014 – PostDoc, University of Potsdam, Inst. for Biochemistry and Biology
- 2011 – PhD in Geoecology, University of Potsdam, Inst. of Earth and Environmental Sciences
- 2007 – Diplom (M.Sc.) in Geoecology, University of Potsdam, Inst. of Geoecology
Professional services
- Co-lead ISIMIP sector on Terrestrial biodiversity (since 2025)
- Co-lead GEOBON working group on biodiversity modelling EcoCode (since 2022)
- Expert panel “Abiotic effects on biodiversity”, National Monitoring Centre Biodiversity, Germany (since 2021)
- Deputy Editor-in-Chief Journal of Biogeography (2021-2023)
- Subject/Associate journal editor: Phil Trans B (Special Issue editor, 2022-2023), Ecography (2019-2022), Oikos (2018-2021), Diversity and Distributions (2016-2019), Journal of Biogeography (Special Issue editor, 2019)
- Recommender for PCI Ecology (since 2018)
- Commission member IUCN SSC Climate Change Specialist Group (since 2017)
Projects
Projects as main applicant
- 2023-2026 – DFG Individual Project Grant. “ DEBTs - Detecting and attributing biodiversity trends – a process-explicit modelling framework for identifying drivers of past and future population and community dynamics”.
- 2023-2026 – DFG Individual Project Grant. “ NichePac - Invaders on the move – niche and spread dynamics of introduced alien plants in the Pacific”.
- 2019-2020 – DAAD Programmes for project-related personal exchange. “RangeDyna - Moving from pattern towards process for improved forecasts of species range dynamics”. Exchange with Univ. Melbourne, Australia.
- 2018-2023 – DFG Emmy Noether junior research group, “BIOPIC – Disentangling the effects of demography, dispersal and biotic interactions in population and community response to global change”
- 2016-2019 – SNF Ambizione Fellowship, “SCODA – Scaling from individual interactions to community dynamics in avian assemblages”
- 2014-2016 – EU-FP7 Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship (IEF), “MATES – Understanding and predicting multispecies assemblages and interactions in space and time”
- 2014 – University of Potsdam Individual Postdoc Grant “Bridge Programme”
- 2007-2010 – PhD Scholarship by the Potsdam Graduate School on Ecological Modelling UPGradE
Projects as co-applicant
- 2024-2027 – HORIZON-CL6-2023-BIODIV-01. “ZOE - Zoonoses Emergence across Degraded and Restored Forest Ecosystems”. (Damaris is PI)
- 2023-2026 – HORIZON-EUSPA-2021-SPACE. “ BirdWatch - A Copernicus-based service for the improvement of habitat suitability of farmland birds via satellite-enabled monitoring, evaluation and optimisation of CAP greening measures”. (Damaris is PI)
- 2022-2024 – ARC Discovery project (Univ. Melbourne). “Nature futures - Mapping pathways to prosperity for people and nature”. (Damaris is partner investigator)
- 2022-2025 – Leibniz Collaborative Excellence (MfN / HU Berlin). "BeyondSpecies - Predicting biodiversity change by integrating genetic diversity into ecological niche models". (Damaris is Co-PI and work package leader)
- 2020-2022 – Interdisciplinary project funded by Swiss Data Science Center SDSC, “COMECO - Combining machine learning, ecological modelling and plant morphological characteristics to develop a tool for identifying plants of Switzerland” (Damaris is co-PI)
- 2018-2020 – Interdisciplinary project funded by Swiss Data Science Center SDSC, “SPEEDMIND - Improving species biodiversity analyses and citizen science feedback through mining data” (Damaris is co-PI and work package leader)