My professional interests cover many aspects of fish biology, but mostly focuses on the following themes: 1. The effects of habitat quality, quantity, and connectivity on the distribution and abundance of freshwater fishes; 2. Functional traits and feeding behaviour of fishes, and trophic interactions in fish communities. For this I use a methodology, the ‘food-fish model’ (FFM), which enables the prediction of feeding modes of fishes, based on their functional morphology and can inform on predatory and competitive interactions between species; 3. Alien fish species and their impact on freshwater fish communities. In most of my studies I use a combination of field work, multivariate statistical analysis of large datasets, and (to a lesser extent) experimental and lab work on functional morphology.

As a Senior Fellow at IGB I intend to analyse and evaluate the effectiveness of a wide range of European river restoration programmes on freshwater fish biodiversity, both from a species-base, as well as from a functional-trait perspective. Next, given the similar interests at IGB I aim at exploring the potential for future co-operation. Finally I hope to learn a lot from my interactions with scientists here, and am more than willing to share my expertise with you.