The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is happy to announce that the 2011 winner of the Ebbe Nielsen Prize is Professor Jens-Christian Svenning of the Department of Biological Sciences at Aarhus University, Denmark.
The Ebbe Nielsen Prize is an annual award of €30,000 which recognises a researcher who is combining biosystematics and biodiversity informatics research in an exciting and novel way.
In announcing the 2011 winner, Professor Leonard Krishtalka, Chair of the GBIF Science Committee, noted Professor Svenning's groundbreaking research and international leadership in geographical ecology and biogeography. Specifically, the committee recognized how Professor Svenning has used biodiversity and ecological informatics to merge and model the complex spatial, temporal, phylogenetic and climatic dynamics of plant and animal species and, ultimately, of communities.
Professor Svenning will use the prize to fund studies on integrating biodiversity informatics, ecology, climate modelling, and phylogenetics to gain a much better understanding of what determines species diversity and in particular the evolutionary-historical mechanisms involved.
The Prize will be awarded on the evening of 4 October 2011 during the annual GBIF Governing Board meeting (GB18) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. On the following day, 5 October, Professor Svenning will make a presentation about his work to the GBIF Science Symposium, to be held in alongside the Governing Board meeting.
More information on Professor Svenning at http://pure.au.dk/portal/en/svenning@biology.au.dk