Conservation & Restoration Ecology

BIOGRAPHY

1976 - 1983: Drs. Biology University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands
1983 - 1989: PhD Plant Ecology, Uppsala University, Sweden
1988 - 1990: Research Scholar, Biosphere Project, International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) Laxenburg, Austria
1990: Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
1991 - 2003: Senior Researcher, Dutch National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM)
1996 - 2001: Project leader, IMAGE project, RIVM
2000 - 2003: Professor Integrated Land-use modelling, Chair Group Plant Production Systems, Wageningen University
2001 - 2005: Chair Responses Working Group of The Millenium Ecosystem Assessment
2003 - present: Professor, Chair Group Environmental Systems Analysis, Wageningen University
2005 - present: Director WIMEK Graduate School and chair Board SENSE
2007 - present: Chair Science Committee Earth Systems Science Partnership

Research

Prof. Dr. Leemans’ early studies at Uppsala University (Sweden) emphasized the successional dynamics and structure of boreal forests. His subsequent research position at the Biosphere Project of the International Institute of Applied System Analyses (IIASA, Austria) focused on boreal forest models. Since then his research has excelled into modeling global environmental change at The Dutch Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and Wageningen University. He has also been instrumental in different science-policy assessments. His main research interests concern biodiversity, biogeochemical cycles, ecosystem services and sustainable development. Prof. Dr. Leemans has published many papers on a wide range of topics. These include forest dynamics, large-scale vegetation and crop distribution, global environmental databases, terrestrial C cycle and the importance of feedback processes, the incorporation of land-use change and other human dimensions into Earth system models, biodiversity, integrated assessment tools and, more recently, potential mitigation and adaptation options and strategies for environmental change.