Research

Our research focuses on marine biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, with particular focus on food web structure, functioning and resilience.
Research topics

The Marine Interactions Research Group explores the changing marine environment, the ecology of coastal ecosystems and the organisms that are part of them. We study the interactions interlinking marine organisms in the food web, as well as the interactions between human society and marine ecosystems. The food web provides the setting within which changes in biodiversity are manifested and the architecture of the trophic interactions largely governs how ecosystems respond to external forcing and how robust they are.

Research topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

  • Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning
  • Food web structure, functioning and resilience
  • Trait-based diversity
  • Foundational species and habitat diversity across the seascape
  • Human impact on marine ecosystems

We approach these broad topics through studies in several different marine ecosystems. Our collective expertise covers functional biodiversity change in the Baltic Sea, polar regions (Arctic, Antarctic), the Atlantic, and Mediterranean-climate areas. We rely on large-scale and long-term monitoring and field sampling, as well as manipulative experiments using both mesocosm and in-silico approaches.