Martijn is a global change ecologist studying how wildlife copes with our rapidly changing environment and what we can do about it to work towards a Nature-postive world. In his research he takes a strongly quantitative approach by estimating how strong imapcts are, how certain we can be about them, translate what this means for population numbers and determine what the most efficient way is to mitigate biodiversity impacts. Mathematical modelling and statistical tool development are combined with data collection from the field (e.g. GPS-tracking of birds and airplanes), often taking a landscape or even global perspective (e.g. comparative analysis on multi-species datasets).

Martijn was repeatedly listed in the top 1% of Stanford's ranking of globally most cited scientists (Ioannidis et al. 2018, 2020, 2021). He sits on the Editorial Board for Proceedings of the Royal Society B and coordinates JCU's Bachelor of Advanced Science and the Honours program of the Bachelor or Science. Before joining JCU in 2021 he worked at various institutes across the globe (Netherlands, Germany, Norway) and as an ARC Future Fellow at the Australian National University.

Interested in joining?

I am keen to advise PhD, Masters-by-Research, Honours and Postdoc projects on topics that improve our understanding of how organisms cope with environmental change (or any other topic that you can convince me is exciting). I encourage you to develop your own ideas, but below are some example topics that could be particularly suitable and timely.

If you are interested, please reach out (martijn.vandepol@jcu.edu.au) with a summary of your previous research experience, and the type of research project that you wish to undertake (or drop by my office for a chat). PhD/MPhil Scholarships schemes are available for both domestic and international students (deadlines for itnternational student are each year in August). Australian and New Zealand students can apply year-round and have good chances. China Scholarship Council (CSC) scholarship also offers funding for Chinese students who would like to study for a PhD in Australia. Postdocs can explore the ARC-DECRA fellowship scheme, or overseas funding opportunities (e.g. EU MSCA global postdoctoral fellowship allow for Europeans to work in Australia). 

Ideas for project topics:

- Preparing bilbies for feral weather: developing an early warning system for conservation management

- Statistical tools for robust climate change biology

- Population dynamical responses to climate change on a continental scale.

- Demographic models of the evolution of cooperation.

- The impact of sea level rise on shorebirds – a global analysis.

Ongoing funded research projects

• Cumulative Human Impact of Bird Populations (2016-22; funded by applied research council, Air force, NAM gas mining, BirdLife). Two PhD students and a postdoc quantify how sea level rise, soil subsidence, disturbance, fisheries, climate change and agricultural intensification accumulate to affect bird populations and identify the most efficient mitigation and conservation actions.
• Studying “Wild eco-evolutionary dynamics: the decline of an iconic Australian bird”, (ARC Discovery grant 2018-2023, with Loeske Kruuk & Andrew Cockburn, ANU).
• Involvement in various other projects as a partner investigator:
• ‘Individual heterogeneity in animals’ life-histories’, with Stephanie Jenouvrier - Woods Hole Institute USA & Remi Fay - NTNU Norway.
• sTraitChange studies how trait responses to climate change translate into demographic rates and population dynamics, led by Viktoriia Radchuk IZW Berlin.
• ‘When is global change too much? Limits to plastic responses in wild birds’, led by Celine Teplitsky, CNRS France. 
• ECOVAR studies how to manage ecosystems in an increasingly variable world, led by Yngvild Vindenes, Oslo University.

Teaching

• BS5260: Modelling Ecological Dynamics (Level 5; TSV)
• BZ3755: Climate Change and Biodiversity (Level 3; TSV)
• BZ5755: Climate Change and Biodiversity (Level 5; TSV)
• MA3211: Mathematical Modelling and Differential Equations (Level 3; TSV)
• SC2209: Quantitative Methods in Science-Advanced (Level 2; TSV)

Experience

• 2021 to present - Senior Lecturer, James Cook University (Townsville, Australia)
• 2017 to 2021 - Senior Researcher & Group Leader, Netherlands Institute of Ecology of the Royal Academy of Sciences NIOO-KNAW (Wageningen, the Netherlands)
• 2013 to 2016 - ARC Future Fellow & Senior Lecturer, Australian National University (Canberra, Australia)
• 2010 to 2012 - ARC Australian Postdoctoral Discovery Fellow, Australian National University (Canberra, Australia)
• 2007 to 2009 - NWO Rubicon Fellow, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Trondheim, Norway)
• 2007 - Max Planck Society Visiting Scholar, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (Rostock, Germany)
• 2001 to 2006 - PhD, Groningen University (Groningen, the Netherlands)
• 1994 to 2001 - BSc & MSc, Utrecht University (Utrecht, the Netherlands)

Research Disciplines

• Ecology (3103)
• Climate change impacts and adaptation (4101)
• Statistics (4905)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Expanding knowledge (2801)
• Understanding climate change (1905)
• Coastal and estuarine systems and management (1802)

Awards

• 2022 - Globally ranked in top 1% of citation scores across all fields, when accounting for career stage, research field and author position on papers (data till 2022; see list in doi:10.17632/btchxktzyw.5)
• 2019 - Globally ranked in top 1% of citation scores across all fields, when accounting for career stage, research field and author position on papers (data till 2019; see list in https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000918)
• 2017 - Globally ranked in top 1% of citation scores across all fields, when accounting for career stage, research field and author position on papers (data till 2017; see list in https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000384)
• 2006 - PhD cum laude (highest distinction, top 5%)

Fellowships

• 2013 to 2016 - Future fellowship (Australian Research Council )
• 2010 to 2012 - Australian Postdoctoral Discovery fellowship (Australian Research Council)
• 2008 to 2009 - Rubicon fellowship (NWO, Dutch Research Council)
• 2007 - Max Planck Society visiting scholarship

Memberships

• 2018 - Associate Editor for Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences
• 2013 to 2021 - Board Member Centre for Avian Population Studies
• 2012 to 2020 - Associate Editor for Journal of Animal Ecology
• 2017 - Theme issue editor of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

• Halupka L, Arlt D, Tolvanen J, Millon A, Bize P, Adamík P, Albert P, Arendt W, Artemyev A, Baglione V, Ba?bura J, Ba?bura M, Barba E, Barrett R, Becker P, Belskii E, Bolton M, Bowers E, Bried J, Brouwer L, Bukaci?ska M, Bukaci?ski D, Bulluck L, Carstens K, Catry I, Charter M, Chernomorets A, Covas R, Czuchra M, Dearborn D, de Lope F, Di Giacomo A, Dombrovski V, Drummond H, Dunn M, Eeva T, Emmerson L, Espmark Y, Fargallo J, Gashkov S, Golubova E, Griesser M, Harris M, Hoover J, Jagie??o Z, Karell P, Kloskowski J, Koenig W, Kolunen H, Korczak-Abshire M, Korpimäki E, Krams I, Krist M, Krüger S, Kuranov B, Lambin X, Lombardo M, Lyakhov A, Marzal A, Møller A, Neves V, Nielsen J, Numerov A, Or?owska B, Oro D, Öst M, Phillips R, Pietiäinen H, Polo V, Porkert J, Potti J, Pöysä H, Printemps T, Prop J, Quillfeldt P, Ramos J, Ravussin P, Rosenfield R, Roulin A, Rubenstein D, Samusenko I, Saunders D, Schaub M, Senar J, Sergio F, Solonen T, Solovyeva D, St?pniewski J, Thompson P, Tobolka M, Török J, van de Pol M, Vernooij L, Visser M, Westneat D, Wheelwright N, Wi?cek J, Wiebe K, Wood A and Wuczy?ski A (2023) The effect of climate change on avian offspring production: A global meta-analysis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 120 (19).
• Harvey J, Tougeron K, Gols R, Heinen R, Abarca M, Abram P, Basset Y, Berg M, Boggs C, Brodeur J, Cardoso P, de Boer J, De Snoo G, Deacon C, Dell J, Desneux N, Dillon M, Duffy G, Dyer L, Ellers J, Espíndola A, Fordyce J, Forister M, Fukushima C, Gage M, García?Robledo C, Gely C, Gobbi M, Hallmann C, Hance T, Harte J, Hochkirch A, Hof C, Hoffmann A, Kingsolver J, Lamarre G, Laurance W, Lavandero B, Leather S, Lehmann P, Le Lann C, López?Uribe M, Ma C, Ma G, Moiroux J, Monticelli L, Nice C, Ode P, Pincebourde S, Ripple W, Rowe M, Samways M, Sentis A, Shah A, Stork N, Terblanche J, Thakur M, Thomas M, Tylianakis J, Van Baaren J, van de Pol M, Van der Putten W, Van Dyck H, Verberk W, Wagner D, Weisser W, Wetzel W, Woods H, Wyckhuys K and Chown S (2023) Scientists' warning on climate change and insects. Ecological Monographs, 93 (1).
• Lv L, van de Pol M, Osmond H, Liu Y, Cockburn A and Kruuk L (2023) Winter mortality of a passerine bird increases following hotter summers and during winters with higher maximum temperatures. Science Advances, 9 (1).
• Van de Walle J, Fay R, Gaillard J, Pelletier F, Hamel S, Gamelon M, Barbraud C, Blanchet F, Blumstein D, Charmantier A, Delord K, Larue B, Martin J, Mills J, Milot E, Mayer F, Rotella J, Saether B, Teplitsky C, van de Pol M, Van Vuren D, Visser M, Wells C, Yarrall J and Jenouvrier S (2023) Individual life histories: neither slow nor fast, just diverse. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B, Biological Sciences, 290 (2002).
• Allen A, Jongejans E, van de Pol M, Ens B, Frauendorf M, van der Sluijs M and de Kroon H (2022) The demographic causes of population change vary across four decades in a long-lived shorebird. Ecology, 103 (4).
• Bailey L, van de Pol M, Adriaensen F, Arct A, Barba E, Bellamy P, Bonamour S, Bouvier J, Burgess M, Charmantier A, Cusimano C, Doligez B, Drobniak S, Dubiec A, Eens M, Eeva T, Ferns P, Goodenough A, Hartley I, Hinsley S, Ivankina E, Juškaitis R, Kempenaers B, Kerimov A, Lavigne C, Leivits A, Mainwaring M, Matthysen E, Nilsson J, Orell M, Rytkönen S, Senar J, Sheldon B, Sorace A, Stenning M, Török J, van Oers K, Vatka E, Vriend S and Visser M (2022) Bird populations most exposed to climate change are less sensitive to climatic variation. Nature Communications, 13.
• Fay R, Hamel S, van de Pol M, Gaillard J, Yoccoz N, Acker P, Authier M, Larue B, Le Coeur C, Macdonald K, Nicol-Harper A, Barbraud C, Bonenfant C, Van Vuren D, Cam E, Delord K, Gamelon M, Moiron M, Pelletier F, Rotella J, Teplitsky C, Visser M, Wells C, Wheelwright N, Jenouvrier S and Saether B (2022) Temporal correlations among demographic parameters are ubiquitous but highly variable across species. Ecology Letters, 25 (7). pp. 1640-1654
• Fay R, Authier M, Hamel S, Jenouvrier S, van de Pol M, Cam E, Gaillard J, Yoccoz N, Acker P, Allen A, Aubry L, Bonenfant C, Caswell H, Coste C, Larue B, Le Cœur C, Gamelon M, Macdonald K, Moiron M, Nicol?Harper A, Pelletier F, Rotella J, Teplitsky C, Touzot L, Wells C and Sæther B (2022) Quantifying fixed individual heterogeneity in demographic parameters: performance of correlated random effects for Bernoulli variables. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 13 (1). pp. 91-104
• Frauendorf M, Allen A, Jongejans E, Ens B, Teunissen W, Kampichler C, van Turnhout C, Bailey L, de Kroon H, Cremer J, Kleyheeg E, Nienhuis J and van de Pol M (2022) Love thy neighbour?-Spatial variation in density dependence of nest survival in relation to predator community. Diversity and Distributions, 28 (4). pp. 624-635
• McLean N, Kruuk L, Van Der Jeugd H, Leech D, van Turnhout C and van de Pol M (2022) Warming temperatures drive at least half of the magnitude of long-term trait changes in European birds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119 (10).
• van der Kolk H, Desmet P, Oosterbeek K, Allen A, Baptist M, Bom R, Davidson S, de Jong J, de Kroon H, Dijkstra B, Dillerop R, Dokter A, Frauendorf M, Miloti? T, Rakhimberdiev E, Shamoun-Baranes J, Spanoghe G, van de Pol M, Van Ryckegem G, Vanoverbeke J, Jongejans E and Ens B (2022) ?GPS tracking data of Eurasian oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus) from the Netherlands and Belgium. ZooKeys, 1123. pp. 31-45
• Van Der Kolk H, Ens B, Oosterbeek K, Jongejans E and van de Pol M (2022) The hidden cost of disturbance: Eurasian Oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus) avoid a disturbed roost site during the tourist season. Ibis, 164 (2). pp. 437-450

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ResearchOnline@JCU stores 82+ research outputs authored by Dr Martijn van de Pol from 2003 onwards.

Current and recent Research Funding to JCU is shown by funding source and project.

Advisory Accreditation: I can be on your Advisory Panel as a Primary or Secondary Advisor.

These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Current

• How intraspecific variation shapes the climates sensitivities of species (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.