Dr. Kamran Safi, sc. nat.

My research interests lie in understanding the causes and consequences of biological patterns at various scales and from different perspectives. I am an ecologist by training with research interest in movement ecology, macro-ecology and macro-evolution. In movement ecology, I am interested in relating individual animals to the environmental conditions they operate under to learn the causes and consequences of environmental fluctuation on animal movement across scales. Methodologically I am deeply interested in combining and fusing data from the wild, using a wide range of sensors deployed on animals, with remote sensing and other sources of information at large spatial and temporal scales. My work is both method driven as well as grounded in the frame work of (movement) ecology and is based on computer-intense simulation and probabilistic analysis methods. Scaling up from individuals, to collectives, populations, species and species communities, my macro-ecological ambitions are eventually to understand the scale effects associated with extrapolations from individuals to on higher taxonomic levels. Beyond that I am interested in the relationship of various diversity measures and what they can tell about how biological diversity has evolved and is maintained. Finally, from an macro-evolutionary perspective I am interested in the intersection of traits and occurrence where species, populations and individuals not only are adapted to their environments, but also the environment filters for certain traits and combinations thereof, shaping the evolutionary landscape.

International collaborations

• Jonathan Baillie, Zoological Society of London, United Kingdom
• Frederic Bartumeus, CEAB, Blanes, Spain
• Tim Blackburn, Zoological Society of London, United Kingdom
• Gil Bohrer, The Ohio State University, USA
• Kate E. Jones, Zoological Society of London, United Kingdom.
• Nathalie Pettorelli, Zoological Society of London, United Kingdom
• Jeroen B Smaers, University College London, London, UK

Teaching

• · Co-organisor and lecturer of AniMove, a two week summer school 2013 for movement ecology and remote sensing (www.animove.org)
• Advanced Course Organismal biology: Going Wild (SS 2013, BIO-11490-20131)
• Advanced Course Organismal biology: Going Wild (SS 2013, BIO-11500-20131)
• Kolloquium of the computational ecology lab (SS 2013 , BIO-11780-20131)
• R coding sessions (SS 2013 , BIO-11950-20131)
• R for Biologists II: Visualisation and analysis of spatial information (SS 2013 , BIO-12390-20131)
• Master- und Doktorandenseminar (Arbeitsgruppe Safi) (WS 2012, BIO-11930-20122)
• Intense 1 week course “R for Biologists I” University of Konstanz 2012 (WS 2012, BIO-12210-20122)
• Co-lecturer Ökologie für Fachfremde (organised by Marc Van Kleunen) (WS 2012, BIO-10005)
• Advanced Course Organismal biology: Going Wild (University of Konstanz 2011, 2012, 2013)
• Lectures on animal migration at the University of Konstanz, Germany 2010
• Graduate courses in Conservation Biology at the Zoological Society of London. 2008
• Field courses: Ornithological excursions for beginners and advancers (2001-2004)
• Undergraduate courses: Animal behaviour (University of Zürich) (2001-2004)

Current supervisions

• Anne Scharf, main PhD supervisor, University of Konstanz and International Max Planck Research School: The importance of habitat suitability matrix in fragmented landscapes. 2012-ongoing
  
• Markus Döpfner, PhD advisory board member. Univ. of Konstanz 2011-

Past supervisions

• Mariëlle van Toor, main PhD supervisor, University of Konstanz and International Max Planck Research School: Merging species distribution modelling with animal movement analysis. 2012- 2016
  
• Yann Gager, PhD advisory board member. IMPRS & Univ. of Konstanz 2011- 2015
• George Technitis, PhD advisory board member. University of Zurich 2011- 2015
• Daniela Schmieder, main PhD thesis supervisor, University of Konstanz and International Max Planck Research School: Resource partitioning in Eastern European bat communities. 2010-2015
• Ioanna Salvarina, PhD advisory board member. IMPRS & Univ. of Konstanz 2011-2015
  
• Bart Kranstauber, main PhD thesis supervisor, University of Konstanz and International Max Planck Research School: An evolutionary approach to animal movement beyond taxonomic and geographical barriers. 2010-2014
• Alexandra Bell, Master thesis co-supervisor, University of Bayreuth, Behaviourally informed multitemporal species distribution models in conservation area planning. 2013
• Mariëlle van Toor, main MSc supervisor, University of Konstanz: Linking distribution models with movement: a new perspective in movement ecology. 2011
• Katrina Armour-Marshall, main MSc supervisor, Imperial College and Zoological Society of London: EDGE Hotspots as a Spatial Approach to EDGE Species Conservation. 2009
• Miriam Kirsch, Bachelor project at the University of Konstanz: Inter- und intraspezifischer Vergleich von Distresscall-Elementen tropischer Fledermausarten in phylogenetischem Kontext. 2009
• Madeleine Moor: Bachelor project at the Pedagogic College for higher education Zürich. Fledermäuse im Kindergartenunterricht. 2004
• Cornelia Ebert: Grosspraktikum University of Kaiserslautern / Germany. 2002