Dr.

Jens Christian Nejstgaard

Research Group Leader
CTP Coordinator
Department
(Dept. 3) Plankton and Microbial Ecology
Position
CTP CoCoordinator LakeLab and Long-Term Monitoring
Email
jens.nejstgaard@igb-berlin.de
Phone
+49 (0) 33082 699 40
Mobile
+49 151 11698198
Fax
+49 (0) 33082 699 17
Room
204B

Zur alten Fischerhütte 2, OT Neuglobsow, 16775 Stechlin

Profile
Research group
Zooplankton Ecology
Expertise

My main expertise is in plankton ecology (freshwater and marine), with focus on process studies and experimental quantification of population dynamics and trophic interactions from individual to ecosystem-scales, in response to environmental forcing in a changing world. I have 3 decades of experience in designing and leading international mesocosm experiments.

To overcome present bottlenecks in plankton ecology, I develop new approaches ranging from molecular and video-based in situ techniques to international networks of large-scale mesocosm experimentation. 

The ultimate aim is to quantify individual interactions enabling a better understanding of how whole plankton ecosystems functions and reacts to environmental pressures in complex natural systems.

In my lab we presently focus on development of in situ and laboratory video systems using deep learning algorithms to enable automatic zooplankton detection, sizing and enumeration at high spatial and temporal scales, as well as determination of zooplankton feeding based on molecular gut content analyses. 

Examples of forum and board memberships:

Board of European Environmental Research Infrastructures (BEERI)

Leibniz-Strategieforum Digitaler Wandel.

CV

since 2016 Senior Scientist / Group Leader, IGB

2014-2016 Researcher, IGB

since 2014 Adjunct Faculty, Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, University of Georgia, USA

2011-2014 Associate Professor, Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, University of Georgia, GA, USA

2009-2010 Senior Research Scientist at Department of Biology, University of Bergen, Norway (20% additional EU-project coordinator position)

2001-2010 Senior Research Scientist, UNI Research/UNI Environment, Bergen, Norway

1996 -2001 Research Scientist, University of Bergen, Norway

1997 Ph.D. (Dr. Scient) Univ. of Bergen, Norway

Publications

2024

2023

November 2023
Anne Lyche Solheim; Hege Gundersen; Ute Mischke; Birger Skjelbred; Jens C. Nejstgaard; Alexis L. N. Guislain; Erik Sperfeld; Darren P. Giling; Sigrid Haande; Andreas Ballot; S. Jannicke Moe; Susanne Stephan; Tim J. W. Walles; Andreas Jechow; Laetitia Minguez; Lars Ganzert; Thomas Hornick; Truls Hveem Hansson; Cleo N. Stratmann; Marko Järvinen; Stina Drakare; Laurence Carvalho; Hans-Peter Grossart; Mark O. Gessner; Stella A. Berger

Lake browning counteracts cyanobacteria responses to nutrients: Evidence from phytoplankton dynamics in large enclosure experiments and comprehensive observational data

Global Change Biology. - 30(2024)1, e17013
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17013

2022

January 2023
Authors: Meryem Beklioğlu (METU); Sarah Hasnain (METU), Editors: Ayoub El Ghadraoui (FVB-IGB); Jens Nejstgaard (FVB-IGB)

AQUACOSM-plus Network of Leading Ecosystem Scale Experimental Aquatic Mesocosm Facilities Connecting Rivers, Lakes, Estuaries and Oceans in Europe and Beyond: minutes of the first summer School for knowledge transfer

January 2023
Authors: Samuel Macaulay (TCD); Jeremy Piggott (TCD); Editors: Ayoub El Ghadraoui (FVB-IGB); Jens Nejstgaard (FVB-IGB)

AQUACOSM-plus Network of Leading Ecosystem Scale Experimental Aquatic Mesocosm Facilities Connecting Rivers, Lakes, Estuaries and Oceans in Europe and Beyond: report on international view of mesocosms and water grand challenges

January 2023
Authors: Megan Brunswig Sikaneta (NORCE); Dominique Durand (NORCE), Editors: Katharina Makower (FvB-IGB); Jens Nejstgaard (FvB-IGB)

AQUACOSM: Network of leading european AQUAtic MesoCOSM facilities. Connecting mountains to oceans from the Arctic to the Mediterranean

January 2023
Authors: Heidrun Feuchtmayr (UKCEH); Stephen Thackeray (UKCEH), Editors: Ayoub El Ghadraoui (FVB-IGB); Stella A. Berger (FVB-IGB); Jens C. Nejstgaard (FVB-IGB)

AQUACOSM-plus Network of Leading Ecosystem Scale Experimental Aquatic Mesocosm Facilities Connecting Rivers, Lakes, Estuaries and Oceans in Europe and Beyond: AQUACOSM-plus Open Access fund

January 2023
Authors: Maren Striebel; Helmut Hillebrand, Editors: Ayoub El Ghadraoui; Jens C. Nejstgaard

AQUACOSM-plus Network of Leading Ecosystem Scale Experimental Aquatic Mesocosm Facilities Connecting Rivers, Lakes, Estuaries and Oceans in Europe and Beyond: META-ANALYSIS MANUSCRIPT

January 2023
Authors: Silke Langenheder (UU); William Colom (UU); Don Pierson (UU); Thomas Davidson (AU), Editors: Ayoub El Ghadraoui (FVB-IGB); Jens Nejstgaard (FVB-IGB)

AQUACOSM-plus Network of Leading Ecosystem Scale Experimental Aquatic Mesocosm Facilities Connecting Rivers, Lakes, Estuaries and Oceans in Europe and Beyond: GHG HANDS-ON WORKSHOP

May 2022
David Cunillera-Montcusí; Meryem Beklioğlu; Miguel Cañedo-Argüelles; Erik Jeppesen; Robert Ptacnik; Cihelio A. Amorim; Shelley E. Arnott; Stella A. Berger; Sandra Brucet; Hilary A. Dugan; Miriam Gerhard; Zsófia Horváth; Silke Langenheder; Jens C. Nejstgaard; Marko Reinikainen; Maren Striebel; Pablo Urrutia-Cordero; Csaba F. Vad; Egor Zadereev; Miguel Matias

Freshwater salinisation: a research agenda for a saltier world

Trends in Ecology and Evolution. - 37(2022)5, 440-453
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2021.12.005
February 2022
Alain Maasri; Sonja C. Jähnig; Mihai C. Adamescu; Rita Adrian; Claudio Baigun; Donald J. Baird; Angelica Batista-Morales; Núria Bonada; Lee E. Brown; Qinghua Cai; Joao V. Campos-Silva; Viola Clausnitzer; Topiltzin Contreras-MacBeath; Steven J. Cooke; Thibault Datry; Gonzalo Delacámara; Luc De Meester; Klaus-Douwe B. Dijkstra; Van Tu Do; Sami Domisch; David Dudgeon; Tibor Erös; Hendrik Freitag; Joerg Freyhof; Jana Friedrich; Martin Friedrichs-Manthey; Juergen Geist; Mark O. Gessner; Peter Goethals; Matthew Gollock; Christopher Gordon; Hans-Peter Grossart; Georges Gulemvuga; Pablo E. Gutiérrez-Fonseca; Peter Haase; Daniel Hering; Hans Jürgen Hahn; Charles P. Hawkins; Fengzhi He; Jani Heino; Virgilio Hermoso; Zeb Hogan; Franz Hölker; Jonathan M. Jeschke; Meilan Jiang; Richard K. Johnson; Gregor Kalinkat; Bakhtiyor K. Karimov; Aventino Kasangaki; Ismael A. Kimirei; Bert Kohlmann; Mathias Kuemmerlen; Jan J. Kuiper; Benjamin Kupilas; Simone D. Langhans; Richard Lansdown; Florian Leese; Francis S. Magbanua; Shin-ichiro S. Matsuzaki; Michael T. Monaghan; Levan Mumladze; Javier Muzon; Pierre A. Mvogo Ndongo; Jens C. Nejstgaard; Oxana Nikitina; Clifford Ochs; Oghenekaro Nelson Odume; Jeffrey J. Opperman; Harmony Patricio; Steffen U. Pauls; Rajeev Raghavan; Alonso Ramírez; Bindiya Rashni; Vere Ross-Gillespie; Michael J. Samways; Ralf B. Schäfer; Astrid Schmidt-Kloiber; Ole Seehausen; Deep Narayan Shah; Subodh Sharma; Janne Soininen; Nike Sommerwerk; Jason D. Stockwell; Frank Suhling; Ram Devi Tachamo Shah; Rebecca E. Tharme; James H. Thorp; David Tickner; Klement Tockner; Jonathan D. Tonkin; Mireia Valle; Jean Vitule; Martin Volk; Ding Wang; Christian Wolter; Susanne Worischka

A global agenda for advancing freshwater biodiversity research

Ecology letters. - 25(2022)2, 255-263
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele.13931

2021

January 2022
Authors: Jens C. Nejstgaard (FVB-IGB); Dominique Durand (NORCE); Timo Tamminen (SYKE); Anne Ansnes Hageberg (NORCE); Erik Jeppesen (AU); Lisette N. de Senerpont Domis (NIOO-KNAW); Leon Moodley (NORCE); Robert Ptacnik (WCL); Behzad Mostajir (CNRS-MARBEC, Paraskevi Pitta (HCMR); Maria Stockenreiter (LMU); Gunnar Bratbak (UiB); Stella A. Berger (FVB-IGB)

AQUACOSM: Network of leading european AQUAtic MesoCOSM facilities. Connecting mountains to oceans from the Arctic to the Mediterranean: Report on the AQUACOSM roadmap for the future

January 2022
Authors: Stella A. Berger (FVB-IGB); Silke Langenheder (UU); Tatiana M. Tsagaraki (UIB), Editors: Katerina Symiakaki (FVB-IGB); Ayoub El Ghadraoui (FVBIGB); Jens Nejstgaard (FVB-IGB)

AQUACOSM-plus Network of leading ecosystemic Experimental Aquatic Mesocosm facilities. Connecting rivers, lakes, estuaries and oceans in Europe and beyond: Expert Contributor Module available on TA portal

January 2022
Authors: Jens Nejstgaard (FVB-IGB); Dominique Durand (NORCE); Timo Tamminen (SYKE); Robert Ptacnik (WCL); Herwig Stibor (LMU); Lisette de Senerpont Domis (NIOO-KNAW); Maria Stockenreiter (LMU); Stella Berger (FVB-IGB); Paraskevi Pitta (HCMR); Meryem Beklioğlu (METU); Erik Jeppesen (AU), Editors: Katherina Symiakaki; Ayoub El Ghadraoui (FVB-IGB), approved by Jens Nejstgaard

AQUACOSM: Network of leading european AQUAtic MesoCOSM facilities. Connecting mountains to oceans from the Arctic to the Mediterranean: a review of challenges, opportunities and perspectives for future mesocosm research

January 2022
Authors: Stella A. Berger (FVB-IGB); Tatiana M. Tsagaraki (UIB), Editors: Ayoub El Ghadraoui (FVB-IGB); Katerina Symiakaki, (FVB-IGB), approved by Jens Nejstgaard (FVB-IGB) (Project Coordinator)

AQUACOSM: Network of leading european AQUAtic MesoCOSM facilities. Connecting mountains to oceans from the Arctic to the Mediterranean: Report on quantity of Transnational Access delivered by all partner facilities (6.1-6.19) between M25 and M56

December 2021
Andreas Jechow; Günther Schreck; Christopher C. M. Kyba; Stella A. Berger; Lukas Thuile Bistarelli; Matthias Bodenlos; Mark O. Gessner; Hans-Peter Grossart; Franziska Kupprat; Jens C. Nejstgaard; Andreas Pansch; Armin Penske; Michael Sachtleben; Tom Shatwell; Gabriel A. Singer; Susanne Stephan; Tim J. W. Walles; Sabine Wollrab; Karolina M. Zielinska-Dabkowska; Franz Hölker

Design and implementation of an illumination system to mimic skyglow at ecosystem level in a large-scale lake enclosure facility

Scientific Reports. - 11(2021), Art. 23478
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02772-4
September 2021
Allison R. Hrycik; Peter D. F. Isles; Rita Adrian; Matthew Albright,; Linda C. Bacon; Stella A. Berger; Ruchi Bhattacharya; Hans-Peter Grossart; Josef Hejzlar; Amy Lee Hetherington; Lesley B. Knoll; Alo Laas; Cory P. McDonald; Kellie Merrell; Jens C. Nejstgaard; Kirsten Nelson; Peeter Nõges; Andrew M. Paterson; Rachel M. Pilla; Dale M. Robertson; Lars G. Rudstam; James A. Rusak; Steven Sadro; Eugene A. Silow; Jason D. Stockwell; Huaxia Yao; Kiyoko Yokota; Donald C. Pierson

Earlier winter/spring runoff and snowmelt during warmer winters lead to lower summer chlorophyll-a in north temperate lakes

Global Change Biology. - 27(2021)19, 4615-4629
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15797

2020

2019

2018

January 2019
Evanthia Mantzouki; Meryem Beklioglu; Justin D. Brookes; Lisette Nicole de Senerpont Domis; Hilary A. Dugan; Jonathan P. Doubek; Hans-Peter Grossart; Jens C. Nejstgaard; Amina I. Pollard; Robert Ptacnik; Kevin C. Rose; Steven Sadro; Laura Seelen; Nicholas K. Skaff; Katrin Teubner; Gesa A. Weyhenmeyer; Bastiaan W. Ibelings

Snapshot surveys for lake monitoring, more than a shot in the dark

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. - 6(2018)art. 201
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2018.00201
August 2018
Wiliam Darwall; Vanessa Bremerich; Aaike De Wever; Anthony I. Dell; Jörg Freyhof; Mark O. Gessner; Hans-Peter Grossart; Ian Harrison; Ken Irvine; Sonja C. Jähnig; Jonathan M. Jeschke; Jessica J. Lee; Cai Lu; Aleksandra M. Lewandowska; Michael T. Monaghan; Jens C. Nejstgaard; Harmony Patricio; Astrid Schmidt-Kloiber; Simon N. Stuart; Michele Thieme; Klement Tockner; Eren Turak; Olaf Weyl

The Alliance for Freshwater Life: a global call to unite efforts for freshwater biodiversity science and conservation

Aquatic Conservation. - 28(2018)4, S. 1015-1022
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aqc.2958

2017

November 2017
Thijs Frenken; Elisabet Alacid; Stella A. Berger; Elizabeth C. Bournr; Melanie Gerphagnon; Hans-Peter Grossart; Alena S. Gsell; Bas W. Ibelings; Maiko Kagami; Frithjof C. Küpper; Peter M. Letcher; Adeline Loyau; Takeshi Miki; Jens C. Nejstgaard; Serena Rasconi; Albert Rene; Thomas Rohrlack; Keilor Rojas-Jimenez; Dirk S. Schmeller; Bettina Scholz; Kensuke Seto; Telesphore Sime-Ngando; Assaf Sukenik; Dedmer B. van de Waal; Silke van den Wyngaert; Ellen Van Donk; Justyna Wolinska; Christian Wurzbacher; Ramsy Agha

Integrating chytrid fungal parasites into plankton ecology: research gaps and needs

Environmental Microbiology. - 19(2017)10, S. 3802-3822
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.13827

2016

July 2016
Robert Ptacnik; Ana Gomes; Sarah-Jeanne Royer; Stella A. Berger; Albert Calbet; Jens C. Nejstgaard; Josep M. Gasol; Stamatina Isari; Stefanie D. Moorthi; Radka Ptacnikova; Maren Striebel; Andrey F. Sazhin; Tatiana M. Tsagaraki; Soultana Zervoudaki; Kristi Altoja; Panagiotis D. Dimitriou; Peeter Laas; Ayse Gazihan; Rodrigo A. Martinez; Stefanie Schabhüttl; Ioulia Santi; Despoina Sousoni; Paraskevi Pitta

A light-induced shortcut in the planktonic microbial loop

Scientific Reports. - 6(2016) art. 29286
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep29286
June 2016
Paraskevi Pitta; Jens C. Nejstgaard; Tatiana M. Tsagaraki; Soultana Zervoudaki; Jorun K. Egge; Constantin Frangoulis; Anna Lagaria; Iordanis Magiopoulos; Stella Psarra; Ruth-Anne Sandaa; Evy Foss Skjoldal; Tsuneo Tanaka; Runar Thyrhaug; T. Frede Thingstad

Confirming the "Rapid phosphorus transfer from microorganisms to mesozooplankton in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea" scenario through a mesocosm experiment

Journal of Plankton Research. - 38(2016)3, S. 502-521
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/plankt/fbw010

2015

2014

Incident-related special investigation programme for the environmental disaster in the Oder River of August 2022 (ODER~SO)

Multidisciplinary studies on the conditions leading to the mass development of toxic algae in the Odra river and on the occurred population losses of aquatic organisms and their regeneration, as well as on the strengthening of resilience, ecosystem services and development scenarios for the coupled river-floodplain ecosystem.
Contact persons
Martin Pusch
Christian Wolter
Sonja Jähnig
Thomas Mehner
Department(s)
(Dept. 1) Ecohydrology and Biogeochemistry
(Dept. 2) Community and Ecosystem Ecology
(Dept. 3) Plankton and Microbial Ecology
(Dept. 4) Fish Biology, Fisheries and Aquaculture
(Dept. 5) Evolutionary and Integrative Ecology
Start
02/2023
End
04/2026
Topic

ILES

Skyglow, the diffuse illumination of the night sky by artificial light, has never before been experienced during evolutionary history. Together with another feature of global change – the brownification of lakes caused by humic substances – skyglow disrupts the current light conditions in lake ecosystems. We will elucidate the ecological consequences of these phenomena and the mechanisms underlying them.
Contact persons
Mark Gessner
Franz Hölker
Department(s)
(Dept. 1) Ecohydrology and Biogeochemistry
(Dept. 2) Community and Ecosystem Ecology
(Dept. 3) Plankton and Microbial Ecology
(Dept. 4) Fish Biology, Fisheries and Aquaculture
Start
07/2015
End
06/2018
Topic
NEJSTGAARD LAB: ZOOPLANKTON ECOLOGY

Research group of Jens Christian Nejstgaard: Zooplankton Ecology

Present Members:

PostDoc Dr. Katharina Makower

PostDoc Dr. Igor Ogashawara

PostDoc Dr. Tim Walles

PostDoc Dr. Ayuob El Gharaoui

PostDoc Dr. James Dickey

PhD student Katerina Symiakaki

PhD student Margie Glenn

Software Engineer Cassidy Park

Bachelor Student Marcel Conrad

Technician Christian Dilewski

 

Technical members in the LakeLab Core Group team:

Armin Penske

Matthias Bodenlos

 

Previous Member:

PostDoc Dr. Wojciech Uszko

PostDoc Dr. Maria Belayeva

PhD student Chenxu Ji

Master Student Fayaz Ahasan

Master Student Bronwyn Lira Dyson

Batchelor Student Bianca Schmid-Peach

Technician Elfi Hut

Gonzalo Idoate Santaolalla