Patrick Jansen

I am an ecologist interested in interactions of wildlife with plants, with each other, with people, and with parasites and pathogens. I am particularly interested in the consequences of wildlife extirpation, for example due to bushmeat poaching, as well as wildlife return, such as through rewilding and colonization of novel habitats such as cities. My aim is to help bridge the gap between fundamental ecological research and practical challenges in nature conservation and restoration.

I work in regions where forest is the natural vegetation, both in the tropics and in the temperate zone. My principal experimental sites are the Barro Colorado Nature Monument in Panama, and the Veluwe in the Netherlands.

Much of my work involves the use of camera traps, for example to assess the abundance of terrestrial wildlife, and to quantify interactions. We develop new methods for doing these measurements. We also built a platform, called Agouti, to manage, process and store images for camera-trapping studies. Furthermore, I am involved in several international initiatives including the European Biodiversa+ Big Picture project, the European Observatory of Wildlife (EOW), and the ForestGEO global network of forest dynamics plots. 

To communicate scientific knowledge to the public and policy makers, I sometimes write columns and provide commentaries, in which I also share my personal opinion on how the knowledge can inform policy, and whether or not policies are effective.