Marten Scheffer
Wageningen University and Research Centre
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Primary Section: 63, Environmental Sciences and Ecology Membership Type:
International Member
(elected 2019)
Photo Credit: Jeroen Hofman Portret action |
Biosketch
Marten Scheffer is a theoretical biologist recognized for his work on the stability of complex systems. He has worked on the ecology of lakes but is known particularly for his work on tipping points in complex systems ranging from the brain to ecosystems, the climate system and societies. Scheffer was born in Amsterdam, and grew up in the Netherlands. He graduated from Utrecht University with a degree in biology. Working at the national water research institute RIZA he obtained his PhD at Utrecht University. He went on to become a professor of Water Quality at Wageningen University, where he has broadened his field of study since. He is a member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences as well as a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences in the US.
Research Interests
Marten Scheffer is interested in unravelling the mechanisms that determine the stability and resilience of complex systems. Although much of his work has focused on ecosystems, he also worked with a range of scientists from other disciplines to address issues of stability and shifts in natural and social systems. Examples include the feedback between atmospheric carbon and the earth temperature, the collapse of ancient societies, inertia and shifts in public opinion, evolutionary emergence of patterns of species similarity, the effect of climatic extremes on forest dynamics and the balance of facilitation and competition in plant communities.
