Staff - 3rd phase of Research

PD Dr. Karin Frank

Main fields of research:

Ecological and ecological-economic modelling • dynamics, functions and stability properties of ecological systems under environmental change • mobility and viability under spatio-temporal variability • interplay between ecological and socio-economic factors • risk analysis and management • biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of natural resources, esp. grazing in semi-arid regions • development of model-based tools for management-support and policy advice • conceptual and methodological work

Since July 2008 Project Leader at the Collaborative Research Centre "Difference and Integration" • Since 1992 scientist and since 2007 Acting Head of the Department of Ecological Modelling at the Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig • From 2003 to 2007 Co-Leader of the Junior Research Group "Ecological Economics" founded by the VolkswagenStiftung • 2007 Call for a Professorship in "Biostatistics" at the University of Oldenburg (declined) • 2006 Habilitation and Adjunct Professorship in Applied Systems Sciences at the University of Osnabrück • 1992 PhD in Mathematics at the University of Leipzig • From 1983 to 1988 Diploma studies in Mathematics at the University of Leipzig.

Selected Publications:

Frank, K., Lorek, H., Köster, F., Sonnenschein, M., Wissel, C, and Grimm, V. (2003) META-X: Software for Metapopulation Viability Analysis. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg.

Frank, K., Baumgärtner, S., Becker, C., Müller, B., and Quaas, M. (2006). Ecological-economic models for sustainable grazing in semi-arid regions: between concepts and case studies. In: Leser, H. (Ed.): The Changing Culture and Nature of Namibia: Case Studies. Publishing House Basler Afrika Bibliographien, Basel - Windhoek, 69 - 89.

Frank, K. (2005) Metapopulation persistence in heterogeneous landscapes: Lessons about the effect of stochasticity. The American Naturalist 165: 374-388.

Heinz, S.K., Wissel, C., and Frank, K. (2006) On the viability of metapopulations: individual dispersal behaviour matters. Landscape Ecology 21: 77-89.

Müller, B., Frank, K., and Wissel, C. (2007). Relevance of rest periods in non-equilibrium rangeland systems - a modelling analysis. Agricultural Systems 92: 295-317.

Müller, B., Linstädter, A., Frank, K., Bollig, M., and Wissel, C. (2007). Learning from local knowledge: modeling the pastoral-nomadic range management of the Himba, Namibia. Ecol. Appl. 17: 1857-1875.