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      University of Skövde, link to startpage

      Tomas Jonsson

      Professor of Bioscience
      School of Bioscience
      Room G2241
      e-mail tomas.jonsson@his.se
      Phone 0500-448636
      Lecturer in ecology, evolution and organismal biology on the bachelor's program "Ecology and sustainable development". Head of the Ecological Modelling Research group. Member of Associate Professor advisory board.

      My main responsibilities include teaching ecology, evolution and organismal biology on the bachelor's program "Ecology and sustainable development" and doing research in theoretical ecology. The latter often means using mathematical models to study ecological systems.

      Courses

      • Ecology (BV313G)
      • Evolution (BV314G)
      • Organismal form and function (BV101G/BV106G)

      Research

      My research is carried out within the Ecological modelling research group. I have a broad research interest in population and community ecology, but with the common goal of increasing our understanding of

      • how species interact,
      • the consequences, at several levels, of such interactions, and
      • how perturbations, mainly of human origin such as habitat fragmentation and climate change, may affect all this.

      Popular science presentation of my research from 2021 (in Swedish):

      Research

      Ever since my PhD, which focused on patterns in and consequences of the distribution of body sizes in food webs, a recurring theme of my research has been, and still is, on various aspects of food webs. Here I often use theoretical approaches, such as mathematical modelling, to study consequences of trophic interactions on populations as well as community structure and function.

      During the last decade, much of my research has fallen under four separate but still related main themes (see below for details):

      • Advancing the Metabolic theory of Ecology as a predictor of ecological phenomena on various levels
      • Combining geographical information systems (GIS) with an ecological model to assess conditions for biological diversity at the landscape level
      • Advanced understanding of ecosystem functioning through food web ecology (in close collaboration with SLU)
      • Increased understanding of fishes in the great lakes of Sweden using a food web approach (in collaborationn with SLU and the county adminsistrative board)

      Theoretical approaches, such as mathematical modelling, is an important part of these projects. Theoretical research should, however, not live a life of its own, at some point there must be an interaction between theory and empirical observation. The research I carry out fulfills this requirement by using a mixture of theoretical and experimental techniques as well as empirically observed field data.

      Degrees

      • Professor in Ecology, University of Skövde, 2019
      • Associate Professor of Theoretical ecology, University of Skövde, 2007
      • PhD, Linköping University, 1998
      • BSc, Linköping University, 1990

      Researcher identity
      ORCID: 0000-0002-5234-9576
      Researcher ID: G-1787-2013

      Academic positions

      • 2019 - : Professor in Bioscience with specialization in Theoretical Ecology at the division of Biology and Bioinformatics, School of BioScience, University of Skövde.
      • 2017 - 2019 : Lecturer and Associate Professor in Theoretical Ecology at the division of Ecology, School of BioScience, University of Skövde.
      • 2012 – 2016: Researcher in Theoretical Population Ecology at the Dept. of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala.
      • 2001 – 2012: Assistant professor in Theoretical Ecology (Universitetslektor i Teoretisk ekologi) at the division of Ecology, School of Life Sciences, University of Skövde.
      • 1999 – 2000: Postdoctoral Associate at the Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA.
      • 1998: lecturer (vik. Universitetslektor) at the Department of Biology, Linköping University.
      • 1992 – 1998: Ph.D.-student at the Department of Biology, Linköping University.
      • 1990 – 1992: lecturer (vik. Högskoleadjunkt) at the Department of Biology, Linköping University.

      Former PhD-students

      • Kate Wootton (“Love (eating) thy neighbour?”), Dissertation at Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences - Uppsala: 2020 (Assistant supervisor)
      • Eve Roubinet (“Food webs in agroecosystems - implications for biological control of insect pests”), Dissertation at Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences - Uppsala: 2016 (Assistant supervisor)
      • Sofia Berg ("Community robustness analysis: theoretical approaches to identifying keystone structures in ecological communities"), Dissertation at Linköping University: 2013 (Main supervisor)
      • Malin Setzer ("The decline of great Arctic charr in Lake Vättern – empirical and theoretical analyses of suggested causes"), Dissertation at Linköping University: 2012 (Main supervisor)
      • Patrik Karlsson ("Food webs, models and species extinctions in a stochastic environment"). Dissertation at Lund University: 2007 (Main supervisor)

      2024

      A new mechanistic model for individual growth suggests upregulated maintenance costs when food is scarce in an insect

      Karl Mauritsson, Tomas Jonsson

      Ecological Modelling

      2024. Article. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2024.110703 Open Access

      2023

      A new flexible model for maintenance and feeding expenses that improves description of individual growth in insects

      Karl Mauritsson, Tomas Jonsson

      Scientific Reports

      2023. Article. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-43743-1 Open Access

      Food webs coupled in space: Consumer foraging movement affects both stocks and fluxes

      Kate L. Wootton, Alva Curtsdotter, Riccardo Bommarco, Tomas Roslin, Tomas Jonsson

      Ecology

      2023. Article. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4101 Open Access

      Towards a modular theory of trophic interactions

      Kate L. Wootton, Alva Curtsdotter, Tomas Roslin, Riccardo Bommarco, Tomas Jonsson

      Functional Ecology

      2023. Article. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13954 Open Access

      2022

      Ekologisk funktionalitet av värdekärnor för barrskogar inom Västra Götalands län: Ett strategiskt underlag för planering av förändrad skogsskötsel av barrskogsområden inom Västra Götalands län i syfte att stärka skogarnas förutsättningar att stödja biologisk mångfald och skogens klimatnytta

      Sofia Berg, Annie Jonsson, Tomas Jonsson, Nils-Hassan Quttineh

      2022. Report.

      Landskapets förmåga att hålla biologisk mångfald: – en indikator för biologisk mångfald och ett planeringsverktyg för prioritering av markanvändning

      Annie Jonsson, Sofia Berg, Nils-Hassan Quttineh, Sonja Leidenberger, Tomas Jonsson

      2022. Report. Open Access

      Beyond body size-new traits for new heights in trait-based modelling of predator-prey dynamics

      Kate L. Wootton, Alva Curtsdotter, Tomas Jonsson, H. T. Banks, Riccardo Bommarco, Tomas Roslin, Amanda N. Laubmeier

      PLOS ONE

      2022. Article. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0251896 Open Access

      2021

      Identification of patches with high ecological importance of broadleaved forests and open lands with valuable trees in Valle: Using a biodiversity capacity landscape metric, combining area and connectivity, to examining management options

      Henrik Roos, Sofia Berg, Annie Jonsson, Tomas Jonsson, Maria Thordarson

      2021. Report. Open Access

      2020

      Getting Choosy About Whitefish in Lake Vättern: Using Participatory Approaches to Improve Fisheries Selectivity

      Alfred Sandström, Johnny Norrgård, Thomas Axenrot, Malin Setzer, Tomas Jonsson

      Collaborative Research in Fisheries

      2020. Chapter in book. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26784-1_4

      2019

      Ecosystem function in predator-prey food webs: confronting dynamic models with empirical data

      Alva Curtsdotter, H. Thomas Banks, John E. Banks, Mattias Jonsson, Tomas Jonsson, Amanda N. Laubmeier, Michael Traugott, Riccardo Bommarco

      Journal of Animal Ecology

      2019. Article. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12892

      Ongoing projects

      Advancing the Metabolic theory of Ecology

      Ecology as a science has lacked a general scientific theory capable of making predictions on ecological phenomena on various levels, but now a candidate for such a theory exists. This is termed the Metabolic Theory of Ecology (MTE) and states that energy use (metabolism) is a central process for all organisms that partly can be predicted from body size and then used to make predictions on ecological processes at the population and community level. However, there is some scepticism towards MTE as a general theory and so far the empirical support for it is mixed. In this project, different predictions of MTE will be studied to test the theory and see if and how it may need to be modified.

      January 2019 - December 2024 Systems Biology

      Finished projects

      Landscape biodiversity capacity: a tool for measuring, monitoring and managing

      Sweden and the vast majority of other countries in the world have agreed to preserve biodiversity, ie the variation of species and natural environments. Man need biodiversity as the basis for ecosystem services. Some examples of ecosystem services are carbon sequestration that slows down global warming, water purification that gives clean drinking water and pollination that increases crops.

      April 2019 - December 2021 Systems Biology

      WaterAssess: Multi-biomarker panel for environmental impact assessment of wastewater effluents

      Industrial wastewater is usually characterized by analyses of chemical concentrations or biological toxicity tests in combination. Included is to detect if there are toxic substances or combinations of substances that are toxic and in turn will affect ecosystems negatively. In this project we aim to improve and design novel biological tests using biomarkers.

      April 2017 - March 2020 Systems Biology

      Great Arctic charr in Lake Vättern

      In this research project we study several of the suggested causes for the decline of great Arctic charr, using a combination of field experiments, analysis of historical data and analyses of mathematical models.

      May 2008 - April 2015 Systems Biology
      Published: 1/9/2020
      Edited: 1/9/2020
      Responsible: webmaster@his.se