Prof. Dr. Florian Hartig
- Wichtige Informationen: We study the mechanisms and principles underlying the patterns of biodiversity in ecology, evolution and conservation, using computer simulations, statistical methods and more recently, algorithms from machine learning and artificial intelligence.
About me
I am a theoretical ecologist and ecological data scientist. I act as head of the Theoretical Ecology Group (see also our Research / Teaching); as well as interim head of the Chair for Plant Ecology, Deputy Dean of Research of our faculty, coordinator and head of the examination committee of the M.Sc. programme Ecology, Evolution & Conservation (EEC).
With my research group, I study the mechanisms and principles underlying the patterns of biodiversity in ecology, evolution and conservation, using computer simulations, statistical methods and more recently, algorithms from machine learning and artificial intelligence.
I have published > 100 scientific articles with >625 coauthors (according to scopus). According to google scholar (Feb. 2026), those were cited 24323 times with h = 53. You can find these publications and more statistics about my research output on:
For more information, see also our projects as well as my profiles on Scopus ID (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster), WoS Researcher ID (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster), GitHub (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster) , SemanticScholar (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster), arXiv (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster),
For contacting me or my secretary, please navigate to our Team page. You can also reach me on bluesky (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster) or LinkedIn (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster) .
Research interests
With my research group, I study the mechanisms and principles underlying the patterns of biodiversity in ecology, evolution and conservation, using computer simulations, statistical methods and more recently, algorithms from machine learning and artificial intelligence. A particular focus of our work is understanding the mechanisms underlying community assembly and the emergence of biotic interaction networks, but also macroecological and macroevolutionary patterns such species distributions and diversification patterns.
Curriculum Vitae
| 2016-now | W2 Professor at the University of Regensburg | |
| 2012-2016 | Lecturer (with Prof. Carsten Dormann) at the University of Freiburg | |
| 2009-2012 | Postdoctoral fellow at the UFZ Leipzig | |
| 2006-2009 | PhD studies at the UFZ Leipzig and the University of Osnabrück (Applied System Science) | |
| 2004-2005 | Department of Theoretical Physics, Uppsala University, Sweden Degree: Master of Science (Theoretical Particle Physics) | |
| 2001-2006 | Free University Berlin, Germany, Studies in Physics | |
| 2000-2001 | Naturschutzzentrum Hessen Civilian Service at the Hessian Academy for Environmental Protection |
Selected Publications
Hülsmann, L., Chisholm, R. A., Comita, ... & Hartig, F. (2024). Latitudinal patterns in stabilizing density dependence of forest communities. Nature, 1-8. [journal (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)]
Hartig, F., Abrego, N., Bush, A., ... & Douglas, W. Y. (2024). Novel community data in ecology-properties and prospects. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 39(3), 280 - 293. [journal (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)]
Pichler, M., & Hartig, F. (2023). Machine Learning and Deep Learning - A review for Ecologists. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 14(4), 994-1016. [journal (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)]
Morlon, H., Robin, S., & Hartig, F. (2022). Studying speciation and extinction dynamics from phylogenies: addressing identifiability issues. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 6, 497-506. [journal (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)]
Hülsmann, L., Chisholm, R.A. & Hartig, F. (2021) Is Variation in Conspecific Negative Density Dependence Driving Tree Diversity Patterns at Large Scales? Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 36 (2), 151-163. [journal (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)]
Pontarp, M., Bunnefeld, L., Cabral, J. S., ..., Hartig, F., ... & Jansson, R. (2019) The latitudinal diversity gradient: novel understanding through mechanistic eco-evolutionary models. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 34(3), 211-223. [journal (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)]
Pe’er, G., Dicks, L. V., Visconti, P., … , Hartig, F., … & Scott, A. V. (2014) EU agricultural reform fails on biodiversity. Science, 344, 1090-1092. [journal (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)]