Gerard Jagers op Akkerhuis
Senior Researcher
Education
Msc. in crop protection from the Agricultural University Wageningen
PhD. in ecotoxicology from the Agricultural University Wageningen.
Post Doc position ecotoxicology at the Free University (Amsterdam).
Position as guest scientist at the National Environmental Research Institute, Silkeborg, Denmark.
Research interest
My main field of interest is in the use of system approaches and evolutionary theory for the analyses of practical problems in biology and ecology. As a general basis for the understanding and analysis of systems I developed the operator hypothesis, which is explained in my site http://www.hypercycle.nl. Present research includes: agro-ecosystems, dead wood, biodiversity, evolution and system science. A central topic in most projects is the use of life history tactics as a tool for translating knowledge about species abundances into a functional understanding of ecosystem processes.
Main projects
Biological indicator of soil quality. This involves a long term study aiming at the characterization of the soil ecosystem in relation to various measures of soil quality.
Biodiversity and Ecological Main Structure. The project aims at mapping species abundance of 5 major species groups in the Netherlands, while correcting for monitoring intensity.
Current Projects
- Importance of dead wood for forest biodiversity
- Effects of field margins on the biological control of cabbage pests
- Investigations on Lyme disease
- Biological characterization of soil quality
- Biodiversity in relation to the ecological main structure
- Common denominators for the protection of biodiversity of marsh habitat
Main publications
- Jagers op Akkerhuis, G.A.J.M. (2001). Extrapolating a hierarchy of building block systems towards future neural network organisms. Acta Biotheoretica 49: 171-189.
- Jagers op Akkerhuis, G.A.J.M, Damgaard C. (1999): Using ‘resource dominance’ to explain and predict evolutionary success. Oikos 87:609-614.
- Jagers op Akkerhuis, G.A.J.M., Damgaard, C., Kjær, C., Elmegaard, N. (1999): Comparison of the toxicity of dimethoate and cypermethrin in the laboratory and the field when applying the same bioassay. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 18: 2379-2385
- Jagers op Akkerhuis, G.A.J.M., Rossing, W.A.H., Piet, G., Everts, J.W. (1997): Water depletion, an important cause of mortality in females of the spider Oedotohorax apicatus after treatment with deltamethrin: a simulation study. Pestic. Biochem. Physiol. 58: 63-76.
- Jagers op Akkerhuis, G.A.J.M., Hamers, T.H.M. (1992): Substrate dependent bioavailability of deltamethrin for the epigeal spider Oedothorax apicatus (Blackwall)(Aranaea, Erigonidae)., pp. 59-68, Pestic. Sci.36.
Full publication list
Hobbies
Tennis, photography, art, singing, home architecture and do it yourself.