About

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 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, 2023). 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
Honours
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
Publications

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

Current Funding

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

Radboud University - Donation

Modelling the cumulative effects of human-induced change on coastal wildlife

Indicative Funding
$53,050 over 5 years
Summary
Wildlife is threatened by many changes in the environment, as humans are rapidly altering their habitat in many ways at the same time (e.g. climate change, fisheries, changing land use). However, little is known how different threats accumulate and interact to affect the population dynamics of wildlife. This makes it challenging to identify the most efficient conservation strategies for threatened species. In this project we will continue data collection on an island population of shorebirds that has been ongoing for 40 years already. We will use this long-term dataset to parameterize population models to understand the cumulative effect and relative importance of various threats (e.g. changing shellfish stock, sea level rise, predation risk) on the population dynamics of this species. This will help us to determine the primary causes of population decline and identify management strategies on what we can best do about it. This concerns a donation of 34000 euro by Radboud University (the Netherlands). Together with another donation of 5000 euro (see other RFAF), we will use this to apply for a co-funded PhD scholarship here at JCU with GRS (GRS already notified of intent). We are still exploring the possibility to make this into a co-tutelle, in which case my partner university will provide an additional 0.5 year appointment for the PhD student at the end of the 3.5 year scholarship from JCU.
Investigators
Martijn van de Pol and Eelke Jongejans (College of Science & Engineering and Radboud Universiteit)
Keywords
Haematopus Ostralegus; Climate Change; Coastal Ecology; Integral projection models; Cumulative effects; Conservation

BirdLife Netherlands (Vogelberscherming) - Donation

Modelling the cumulative effects of human-induced change on coastal wildlife

Indicative Funding
$7,729 over 5 years
Summary
Wildlife is threatened by many changes in the environment, as humans are rapidly altering their habitat in many ways at the same time (e.g. climate change, fisheries, changing land use). However, little is known how different threats accumulate and interact to affect the population dynamics of wildlife. This makes it challenging to identify the most efficient conservation strategies for threatened species. In this project we will continue data collection on an island population of shorebirds that has been ongoing for 40 years already. We will use this long-term dataset to parameterize population models to understand the cumulative effect and relative importance of various threats (e.g. changing shellfish stock, sea level rise, predation risk) on the population dynamics of this species. This will help us to determine the primary causes of population decline and identify management strategies on what we can best do about it.
Investigators
Martijn van de Pol and Eelke Jongejans (College of Science & Engineering and Radboud Universiteit)
Keywords
Haematopus Ostralegus; Climate Change; Coastal ecology; Integral projection models; Cumulative effects; Conservation

British Ornithologists? Union - CAREER DEVELOPMENT BURSARIES

Quantifying the climate sensitivity across birds in tropical Africa

Indicative Funding
$3,700
Summary
This travel grant for overseas ECR to visit JCU for several weeks allows for setting up a new collaboration to study the climate sensitivity across birds in tropical Africa. The visiting ECR Chima Nwaogu (University of Cape Town) will perform sliding window analyses (using a method developed at JCU) across a large set of long-term datasets on the timing of egg laying from Zambia (1969-2006). This will be used to determine how climate sensitive different African bird species are and next derive general understanding of which type of which species are most sensitive to a changing climate in this part of the world . This project is important because there have been very little comparative studies on this topic from the southern hemisphere and tropics due to the paucity of long-term datasets in this region.
Investigators
Martijn van de Pol and Chima Nwaogu (College of Science & Engineering and University of Cape Town)
Keywords
birds. biostatistics; climate change; climwin; comparative study; ecological responses; tropical Africa
Supervision

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
  • Optimising marine protected areas for nature and people (PhD , Secondary Advisor/AM)
  • FORAGING RESPONSES TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN TROPICAL SEABIRDS (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
  • A proposed novel mechanism enabling evolutionary fitness-valley crossing: rapid macroevolutionary differentiation following mass extinction by means of ?genetic annealing? (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
  • Modelling the Cumulative effects of Human-induced change on Coastal Wildlife (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
  • How intraspecific variation shapes the climates sensitivities of species (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
Collaboration

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.

  • 5+ collaborations
  • 4 collaborations
  • 3 collaborations
  • 2 collaborations
  • 1 collaboration
  • Indicates the Tropics (Torrid Zone)

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Email
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Location
  • 142.204, The Science Place (Townsville campus)
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