Prof. Anthony Lehmann

CV I Publications I Conferences I Courses I Projects

Anthony

Contact details:

Prof. A. Lehmann I enviroSPACE, University of Geneva, Battelle D, 7 route de Drize, 1227 Carouge, Switzerland

Email: anthony.lehmann at unige.ch I Skype: anthony.lehmann I Phone: +41 22 379 00 21 I Fax: +41 22 379 07 89

Education

93–97: PhD thesis in Biology, University of Geneva, CH

94–96: Postgrad Master in Statistics, University of Neuchatel, CH

92-93: Postgrad Courses in GIS, Swiss Institute of Technology, CH

87-92: B.Sc and M.Sc. in Biology, Univiversity of Geneva, CH

85-86: Exchange student Clear Lake High School, Houston, USA

Professional experience

Associate Professor: since 2012

Senior Lecturer: since 2006

  • Institute of Environment Sciences, University of Geneva, CH
  • Functions: Teaching and research in developing spatially explicit indicators of sustainable development with GIS and statistical modeling
  • Co-coordination of Certificate of Geomatics

Head of Environment Monitoring and Modeling unit: since 2006

  • UNEP/DEWA GRID-Europe, Geneva, CH
  • Functions: Managing the Environment Monitoring and Modelling unit, responsible for administrative relationships with the University of Geneva
  • Coordinator of FP7 enviroGRIDS project
  • Work package leader in FP7 ACQWA project
  • Participation in FP6 Metafunctions project

Scientific collaborator: 2001-2006

  • Swiss Centre for Faunal Cartography, Neuchâtel, CH
  • Functions: Responsible for general strategy of data analyses centered on spatial predictions of species distribution, species red list status, biodiversity assessment, river network, environmental regionalization, land use mapping and internet map server.

First assistant: 1999–2001

  • Laboratory of Ecology and Aquatic Biology, University of Geneva, CH
  • AquaREL: Academic Society of Geneva grant: Development of a GIS database on freshwater biodiversity in Switzerland
  • PLOCH: OFEFP project: Predicting pond diversity in Switzerland.
  • Workshop organisation, special issue edition for Biodiversity and Conservation

Postdoctoral fellow: 1998–1999

  • Landcare Research, Hamilton, New Zealand
  • FERNS: SNF grant for Modelling the potential distribution of fern species and identifying hotspots of diversity.
  • GRASP: Generalized Regression Analysis and Spatial Prediction concept and tool

Research assistant: 1993–1997

  • Laboratory of Ecology and Aquatic Biology, University of Geneva, CH
  • GISLAKE: GIS database of Lake Geneva littoral zone including: submerged vegetation, sediment sample, depth, current, water pollution and wind exposure
  • Submerged vegetation: PhD project: Modelling species distribution in relationship to depth and sediment gradients within the littoral zone of Lake Geneva
  • Amphibians distribution and ponds connectivity: Master student supervision: Study of amphibian migrations and pond connectivity within a GIS framework
  • Special issue edition for Aquatic Botany

Research Interests

Terrestrial and aquatic ecology: I worked in several studies aiming at modelling species distribution of aquatic and terrestrial plants and animals from local to national scales. I am particularly interested in collaborating with local, regional, national and international aquatic and terrestrial botanists and zoologists to further develop our understanding of key factors of species and community distribution.

GRASP: Genralized Regression Analysis and Spatial Predictions. Many improvements are still possible in order to fill the gap between ecological theory on species distribution and statistical tools available. The integration of biological and ecological interactions and spatial autocorrelation are still unsatisfactory.

Climate and land use changes: “How do species respond to the human induced acceleration of environmental changes? By genetic or physiological adaptations, by local or general extinction, or by finding a better place?” The artificial pace of climate change forces us to think that adaptation is not a solution for species and extinction is not an acceptable solution for humans. Therefore, preparing a landscape that favors species migration is a conservation priority. There are great research opportunities to plan ecological networks through ecosystem connectivity using population dynamic or individual dispersion models.

Watershed analyses: This area of research has made huge progresses in recent years and offer now new perspectives to derive water quality and quantity in rivers and lakes from watershed characteristics (land use, precipitation, topography, geology, and then to model aquatic species distribution and diversity.

Sustainable land use planning: I strongly believe in the development of spatially-explicit indicators of sustainable development in its three dimensions of economy, society and environment. I wish to concentrate on the environment part taking into account the two others in collaboration with specialists in these fields.

Community ecology: Many emerging properties of communities (biomass, diversity, turnover) are best approached by respecting the “continuum concept” of species distribution along environmental gradients and by following the paradigm: “predict first (the species), classify later (in communities)”. Following this principle, community ecology is intimately related to population ecology, and many hypotheses can be built to test this paradigm.

Ecological networks: An exciting challenge in species distribution modeling is to incorporate population dynamic or individual dispersion models. While several approaches exist, there is still a lot of work to improve and assess them. Persistent ecological network should incorporate possible species dispersion, as induced by climate change within fragmented landscapes.

SPACE: Spatial Prediction Analyses in Conservation and Ecology is the central theme under which I can group all my past and present activities. The aim is to promote the use of scpatial information to support the foundation of a scientifically based approach of sustainable developement.

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