Dr Lars Markesteijn

Senior Lecturer in Forest Science

Contact info

Thoday Building, room S10

Email: l.markesteijn@bangor.ac.uk

Tel: 01248 382337 (from U.K.)
+44 1248 382337 (International)

 

Google Scholar, ORCID, ResearchGate

 

Tropical forest ecology, Functional ecology, Restoration ecology, Plant-enemy interactions 


 

As a researcher I am foremost fascinated by biodiversity and as such most of my work is carried out in biologically complex tropical forest ecosystems. My research addresses processes underlying function and co-existence of tropical plants and mechanisms of biodiversity generation and maintenance. I take a special interest in density-dependent mortality or negative density dependence (NDD), as mediated by plant natural enemies, and how it affects regeneration dynamics of tropical plants. I further work on physiological plant responses to limiting resources, resource competition, and tolerance to environmental and global change - principally with respect to water and light. I explore the effects of variation in plant functional traits on individual plant performance and species distribution from local to cross-ecosystem scales.

In addition to being a Senior Lecturer in Forest Scsience at the School of Environmental & Natural Sciences, I am an Associate Professor in Ecology at the Area of Biodiversity and Conservation, Global Change Research Institute (IICG-URJC)  at the University Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid (Spain), and an affiliated researcher at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama.

I hold a Ph.D. in Tropical Forest Ecology and an M.Sc. and B.Sc. in Tropical Land Use from Wageningen University (the Netherlands). I worked as a postdoctoral researcher on different projects with STRI and the Universities of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (USA), Oxford (UK), Yale (USA), Oregon State (USA) and Bayreuth (Germany).

  1. Published

    Seed predation by insects across a tropical forest precipitation gradient

    Jeffs, C. T., Kennedy, P., Griffith, P., Gripenberg, S., Markesteijn, L. & Lewis, O. T., Dec 2018, In: Ecological Entomology. 43, 6, p. 813-822

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  2. Published

    Effects of pathogens and insect herbivores on plant dynamics and diversity across a natural rainfall gradient

    Lewis, O. T. & Markesteijn, L., 23 Feb 2016.

    Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

  3. Drought-tolerance of tropical tree species: Functional traits, trade-offs and species distribution

    Markesteijn, L., 3 Feb 2010, Wageningen, the Netherlands: Wageningen Academic Publishers. 189 p.

    Research output: Book/ReportBookpeer-review

  4. Seedling root morphology and biomass allocation of 62 tropical tree species in relation to drought- and shade-tolerance

    Markesteijn, L. & Poorter, L., Mar 2009, In: Journal of Ecology. 97, 2, p. 311-325

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  5. Published

    Fungal pathogens and insect herbivores mediate seedling dynamics and diversity patterns along a tropical forest humidity gradient

    Markesteijn, L. & Lewis, O. T., 4 Jul 2018.

    Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

  6. Hydraulics and life history of tropical dry forest tree species: coordination of species' drought and shade tolerance

    Markesteijn, L., Poorter, L., Bongers, F., Paz, H. & Sack, L., 2011, In: New Phytologist. 191, 2, p. 480-495

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  7. La disponibilidad hídrica estacional y topográfica en un bosque seco y húmedo tropical y la variación en la morfología de las plántulas arbóreas

    Markesteijn, L., Poorter, L. & Yanguas Fernandez, E., 2008, In: Revista Boliviana de Ecología y Conservación Ambiental. 24, p. 27-42

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  8. Seasonal variation in soil and plant water potentials in a Bolivian tropical moist and dry forest

    Markesteijn, L., Iraipi, J., Bongers, F. & Poorter, L., Sept 2010, In: Journal of Tropical Ecology. 26, p. 497-508

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  9. Ecological differentiation in xylem cavitation resistance is associated with stem and leaf structural traits

    Markesteijn, L., Poorter, L., Paz, H., Sack, L. & Bongers, F., Jan 2011, In: Plant Cell and Environment. 34, 1, p. 137-148

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  10. Published

    Light-dependent leaf trait variation in 43 tropical dry forest tree species

    Markesteijn, L., Poorter, L. & Bongers, F., Apr 2007, In: American Journal of Botany. 94, 4, p. 515-525

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review