Our group members work in a wide variety of marine ecosystems and policy. Please click on the images below for more information.


The Antarctica and Southern Ocean are considered to be one of the most pristine environments on Earth. As a result of isolation and extreme environmental conditions, the flora and fauna are unique. The Antarctic research focuses on penguins: from ancient penguin-bone samples to camera trapping.

Danger Islands for facebook - 31 of 52

Coral reefs

Although tropical shallow coral reefs cover less than 1% of the Earth surface, they are very important habitats, from fish nurseries to the question of biocomplexity. Tropical coral reefs are well known, but there are other, less studied reef systems as well such as mesophotic reefs and deep reefs. Studying these two habitats require advanced technological equipment.

Deep sea

The deep sea is the largest habitat on Earth; 95% of the inhabitable space is in the depths of the oceans. However, we have a better idea of what the surface of Mars looks like than our own ocean floors, let alone the fauna that is present there. The deep-sea research in this lab focuses on three large systems: soft sediments, seamounts and hydrothermal vents.


Marine policy

The High Seas belong to everyone and anyone, but with that management is necessary to avoid a tragedy of the commons. Even in areas such as tropical coral reefs, new strategies of management are necessary. Our work on the natural systems often directly feeds back into policy.