Frank van Langevelde

Frank van Langevelde is professor and chair of the Wildlife Ecology and Conservation group of Wageningen University and Research.

His research focuses broadly on ecological and evolutionary adaptations of animals to stress (e.g. diseases, poor food quality, predators, high temperatures, humans). Environmental stresses can constrain movement and searching for habitat and food, such as the presence of predators and exposure to extreme ambient temperatures or periods of drought.

Organisms are known to adapt to environmental stress, and animals, in contrast to plants, can move to avoid stressful conditions and search for more favourable conditions. Constraints in movement, e.g. due to habitat fragmentation in human-dominated landscapes, limit however the ability of animals to cope with stresses.

Frank supervises PhD candidates that work on these topics in many different ecosystems (e.g. tropical savannas and forests, temperate grassland) on a range of organisms (e.g. antelopes, mammalian carnivores, raptors and insects).