Dr. Mariska Te Beest

Biography

Mariska te Beest is an Associate Professor at Utrecht University focused on systems ecology and conservation. Her work emphasizes plant communities and their interactions with global change amidst an ongoing biodiversity crisis. She investigates ecological feedbacks among plants, climate change, fire, and soil dynamics. Her extensive research includes the study of invasive alien plants, exploring the factors that affect community invasibility, natural disturbance regimes, and plant-soil interactions. Mariska also delves into resource competition, species invasiveness, plant functional traits, niche dynamics, and evolutionary processes. Her research encompasses open systems, particularly in grassy biomes like savannas and grasslands in the southern hemisphere and tundras in the north. This transhemispheric approach allows her to identify both similarities and differences in ecological processes, challenging existing paradigms. Currently, her research interests include climate-vegetation feedbacks in grassy biomes, plant trait applications for predicting ecological responses, invasion ecology, and understanding the consequences of woody encroachment in open ecosystems, particularly regarding climate impacts like surface albedo.

Research Interests

Experience