Egbert van Nes
Egbert van Nes holds a MSc in Environmental Science at Wageningen Agricultural University (1986). Currently, he occupies a position as researcher at the Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality group of Wageningen University, The Netherlands. In 2002, he finished his PhD Thesis entitled “Controlling complexity in individual-based models of aquatic vegetation and fish communities”. For this work, he developed the individual-based models Charisma (macrophytes) and Piscator (fish).
Currently his research is largely focused on the phenomena of alternative stable states and complex dynamics in ecosystems. Among others he studied the occurrence of multiple attractors in models of complex networks of competing species. Furthermore the effect of spatial heterogeneity on critical transitions was studied in models. Recently, he studied critical slowing down as early warning signal for critical transitions between alternative stable states. In a different line of work, he developed with Marten Scheffer a new theory that reconciles the niche and neutral theory. Furthermore, he contributes to numerous PhD projects on a broad range of ecological subjects and is member of the editorial board of the American Naturalist.