Suzette Flantua

I specialize in global change ecology, focused on macroecology, biogeography, and paleoecology, with emphasis on mountain ecosystems. My research integrates large-scale datasets and advanced methods to explore climate-biodiversity dynamics, committed to interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation

Research:

My main research interest is to understand what determines biodiversity in mountain regions, by studying the impact of climate dynamics at various time scales (past, present, future). I am particularly interested in the way how historical environmental factors (climate and geology) and humans influenced contemporary biodiversity patterns. I have a strong backgroung in spatial analysis using GIS and Remote sensing in a range of different topics in macroecology, biogeography and palaeoecology. Most of my work has dealt with mountains and the tropics where I also have organized and participated in numerous field expeditions of the Northern and Central Andes, and savanna lowlands. I also supervise students and lecture in courses, organize scientific events, and take responsibility in committees. In addition, I am passionate about communicating my research to a broader audience through the use of video (see Communication) and talks about sustainability.

Since April-2022 I am leading the lab called the Mountain in Motion, funded as a Startup Grant by Trond Mohn Foundation and the Dept of Biological Science, UiB. The aim of the lab is to understand present-day mountain biodiversity from a short and long-term perspective and link expertise from biosphere, geosphere, cryosphere, and atmosphere to move our understanding of these regions forward to better conserve them in the future. 

See here more for information on the projects and the team: https://mountainsinmotion.w.uib.no/

PUBLIC OUTREACH: 

• Publication “Minienciclopedia del Paramo”: Together with an interdisciplinary team that comprises artists, science communicators, evolutionary biologists, and ecologists has crafted a scientific children’s book on the alpine ecosystems of the northern Andes. Link 1, Link 2
• Participation in Environmental film festivals:
  • ‘Sky islands: A time travel of the Andes Mountains’ by C. Giraldo, S.G.A. Flantua, and H. Hooghiemstra (Link)
  • Official Selection at international festivals screened in Angola, Australia, Brazil, Burkina, Colombia, Faso, Ethiopia, Hungary, Kenya, Malaysia, Namibia, Philippines, Rwanda, South Africa, United States.
  • Awards:
    • Honorable Mention in the first edition of #EcoBrasil Fest. 22-29 April 2021.
    • Best Life Sciences Documentary of the #Sci-On Film Festival The Biggest Little Science + Fiction Film Festival in the World. 4-9 May 2021.
    • Excellence #Nature Without Borders International Film Festival, Nassau, Delaware, United States. 6 June, 2021.
• Open Day Amsterdam Science Park. Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2018). ‘Sky islands: A time travel of the Andes Mountains’.  Short movie.
• Youtube video Sky islands: A time travel of the Andes Mountains (>10,000 views), on the biogeographical history of the high Andean páramos during the last 1 million years (2017)
• Open Day Amsterdam Science Park. Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2016). ‘Fieldwork through time:  From microscopes to mountain tops’. Presentation.
• Forum for the regional planning of sustainable oil palm production in Colombia. Bogotá, Colombia. (2016). ‘Landscape connectivity at a regional scale’ (In Spanish). Presentation. 

MEDIA COVERAGE:

• Publications featured on websites of University of Amsterdam, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute website, University of Bergen and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research
• Papers featured in newspapers and scientific websites: Science paper (2023) on rates of change caused by humans in the Amazon basin, Science paper (2021) on global rates of vegetation change, Journal of Biogeography paper (2019) on the biogeographic history of the Andean páramos, Nature Geoscience paper (2018) on mountain biodiversity, and Science paper (2015) on the closing of the Panama Isthmus (2015).
• My work featured in National Geographic
• Opinion piece published in Norwegian newspaper Dag og Tid (Norwegian) on “Critical transitions in the Amazon forest system” in Nature (2024). Link to PDF.
• Radio interviews:
  • NPO radio (Dutch): About our paper in Science 2023 on the Amazonian rates of change.
  • BBC Inside Science. Human use of plants beyond the limits of history. (May 2021)
  • BBC Vroege Vogels. Birding and research in Norway (Dec 2020)
  • BBC Radio 4. Interview and report on fieldwork expeditions in Colombia. Boyacá Plants-for-life project. Royal Botanical Garden Kew, UK (Feb 2018)