Dr. Martin Zwanzig

Dr. Martin Zwanzig
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Chair of Forest Biometrics and Systems Analysis
Chair of Forest Biometrics and Systems Analysis
Postal address:
TUD Dresden University of Technology Fakultät Umweltwissenschaften, Institut für Waldwachstum und Forstliche Informatik
01062 Dresden
Visiting address:
Hauptgebäude (Altbau), Room 30 Pienner Str. 8
01737 Tharandt
Table of contents
Research interests
I am an ecological modeller and theoretical ecologist particularly interested in the evolution of ecological interactions and how plastic behaviour of individuals affects populations, communities and ecosystem resilience. Besides statistical and top-down approaches, I develop and analyze individual-based models to investigate the bottom-up mechanisms that define the structure and dynamics of ecological systems.
My research interest spans the following subjects:
Approaches | Individual-based Modelling & Differential Equations | Methods of Statistics and Computer Science |
Area | Ecophysiology of Woody Plants & Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics | Forest Growth & Microbial Dynamics |
Current research deals with the simulation of (i) the feedback between the ontogeny of xylem formation and water availability, (ii) the effect of silvicultural measures on reforestation dynamics at huge disturbance areas, and (iii) the eco-evolutionary dynamics of inter- and intra-specific trait composition in ecological communities.
My PhD focused on the propagation of antibiotic resistances in aquatic environments. The prefered platform of antibiotic resistence genes are plasmids, which constitute important genetic elements for bacterial adaptation and diversity. I use mathematical models such as systems of ordinary differential equations, cellular automaton and individual based models to investigate mechanisms that influence plasmid transfer and persistence under various ecological conditions.
Check out the models PlasSim and PlasmidActionIBM in our model gallery
Through my GitHub account https://github.com/mzwanzig I provide access to the source code (+apps) of these models and, in addition, tools for data analysis with R, including a script-based guide for a systematic data exploration, steps for tree height model development and calibration as well as routines for fitting and analysing enzyme kinetics with the classical Michaelis Menten and a derivate approach that we named SINH, which is able to deal with the effect of substrate inhibition.
A list of current topics for Bachelor and Master thesis can be found here:
current topics for supervised student research
Projects
Principal Investigator
- XyLife - Individual-based modelling of xylem life history to advance projections of tree responses to climate change. DFG funded research project (549123622, 2025-2028).
- ResEt-Fi - Wegbereiter Wiederbewaldung: Regionales Flächenmanagement zur Entwicklung multifunktionaler Wälder auf gestörten Fichtenflächen. (A supra-regional field trial in Thuringia to test different management options for the development of multifunctional forests on disturbed spruce areas;) Teilprojekt 6. Eingebettet im BMBF-Verbundvorhaben: „Regionale Innovationsgruppen für eine klimaschützende Wald- und Holzwirtschaft (REGULUS)“ (033L304F; BMBF, 2023-2026)
- DiMo 2: Follow-up R&D project with the state-owned forest service Sachsenforst (see below); (09/2022-11/2022)
- DiMo: R&D project for the state-owned forest service Sachsenforst; Development of a digital solution for import, storage, evaluation and presentation of the data of the Saxon bark beetle monitoring system, in particular of the focal species Ips typographus and Pityogenes chalcographus; (11/2021-03/2022)
Involved as employee:
- Models for Genomic Alterations and the Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance in Aquatic Environments; Provision of Funds by "Support-the-best" pool and Graduate Academy of TU Dresden (2014 -2017) [Role: PhD student]
Have a look at the project in our research overview - SAPHIR - Saxonian Platform for high Performance Irrigation funded by ESF (European Social Fund, 07-12/2013); [Role: Research assistant at Chair of Hydrology at TU Dresden]
- Interactions of Organic Matter and Microbial Dynamics in Pasture Soils along Management Chronosequences funded by DFG (German Research Fundation, 2012 - 2013); www.tropicalmountainforest.org; [Role: Involved as Student Assistant and during Master Thesis]
Scientific vita
- Since May 2023 Post-doc representative in the UniWiND Advisory Board
- Since June 2022 Speaker of the Postdoc Council of the Postdoc Center HZDR-TUD
- 2019 PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) awarded by the Faculty of Environmental Sciences of the Technische Universität Dresden
- 2015 Guest scientist at the Brockhurst Lab (Experimental Evolution), Department of Biology, University of York, UK
- Since 2014 Scientific research & teaching staff at the Chair of Forest Biometrics and Forest Systems Analysis, Technische Universität Dresden
- 2013 Research Assistant, Chair of Hydrology, Technische Universität Dresden
Degrees and study-accompanying emplyoment/activities
- 2013 Master of Science in Spatial Development and Natural Resource Management at TU Dresden (interdisciplinary course of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences)
- 2012 DAAD scholarship, Research stay at the Estación Científica San Francisco (ECSF), Ecuador (Research Centre of the German Research Foundation (DFG))
- 2011 Student assistant at the Department of Soil Physics, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
- 2010-2013 Tutor at the Institute of Geography, Technische Universität Dresden
- 2007-2010 Bachelor of Science in Geography, Technische Universität Dresden
- 2009-2013 Tutor and Student assistant at the Institute of Soil Science and Site Ecology, Technische Universität Dresden
- 2009 Internship at the Department of Soil Physics, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
Lectures & Courses
- Biometrie (Bachelor Forest Sciences) [Biometrics; Exercises]
- Individual-based Ecology and Modelling Individuen-basierte Ökologie und Modellierung (Master Forest Sciences) [Individual-based Ecology and Modelling; Lectures + Exercises]
- Lebensraumnutzung von Wildtieren (Master Forest Sciences) [Habitat use of wildlife; Lectures + Exercises]
Publications
for Martin Zwanzig née Werisch (marriage in 2017); ORCID; RG; Google Scholar
Peer-reviewed paper
2024
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Shrub aboveground biomass estimation considering bulk volume geometry: general and specific models for 14 species in the Mediterranean central Chile , 28 Nov 2024, In: New Forests. 56, 1, 13Electronic (full-text) versionResearch output: Contribution to journal > Research article
2023
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Determination of optimal tree height models and calibration designs for Araucaria araucana and Nothofagus pumilio in mixed stands affected to different levels by anthropogenic disturbance in South-Central Chile , 21 Apr 2023, In: Annals of Forest Science. 80(2023), 1, 36 p., 18Electronic (full-text) versionResearch output: Contribution to journal > Research article
2022
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Basic wood density and moisture content of 14 shrub species under two different site conditions in the Chilean Mediterranean shrubland , Apr 2022, In: Forest systems. 31, 1, 7 p., eSC01Electronic (full-text) versionResearch output: Contribution to journal > Research article
2021
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Cooperative root graft networks benefit mangrove trees under stress , 5 May 2021, In: Communications biology. 4, 1, 513Electronic (full-text) versionResearch output: Contribution to journal > Research article
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Outcomes of a quantitative analysis of 48 soil chronosequence studies in humid mid and high latitudes: Importance of vegetation in driving podzolization , Jan 2021, In: Catena : an interdisciplinary journal of soil science, hydrology, geomorphology focusing on geoecology and landscape evolution. 196, 104821Electronic (full-text) versionResearch output: Contribution to journal > Research article
Oral presentations
2024
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A developmental perspective on phenotypic plasticity of tree xylem traits: how life history trajectories in the species’ morphospace define opportunities and risks for tree acclimatization Zwanzig, M. (Speaker), van der Maaten-Theunissen, M. (Involved person), Christ, J. (Involved person), van der Maaten, E. (Involved person) 10 Sep 2024 Activity: Talk or presentation at external institutions/events > Talk/Presentation > Contributed
2023
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Xylem formation as the basis of adaptive physiological processes in individual-tree models - a new perspective for modelling life-history-related drought sensitivity Zwanzig, M. (Speaker) 7 Sep 2023 Activity: Talk or presentation at external institutions/events > Talk/Presentation > Contributed
2022
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Assembly and resilience of evolving plasmid communities Zwanzig, M. (Speaker), Berger, U. (Involved person) 21 Sep 2022 Activity: Talk or presentation at external institutions/events > Talk/Presentation > Contributed
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Kinetiken extrazellulärer hydrolytischer Enzyme beim Abbau von Totholz – Berücksichtigung von Substrathemmung Tischer, A. (Speaker), Zwanzig, M. (Involved person), Nähte, K. (Involved person), Michalzik, B. (Involved person) 5 Sep 2022 Activity: Talk or presentation at external institutions/events > Talk/Presentation > Contributed
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Diversity and resilience of simulated evolving plasmid communities Zwanzig, M. (Speaker), Berger, U. (Involved person) 15 Aug 2022 Activity: Talk or presentation at external institutions/events > Talk/Presentation > Contributed
Further conference contributions and other
2024
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Enhancing reforestation success through scale-adapted spatiotemporal coordination of natural and artificial regeneration: insights from simulation experiments with the iLand model , 12 Sep 2024Research output: Contribution to conferences > Presentation slides
2023
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Modelling plastic xylem formation: a new perspective for exploring life history-related drought sensitivity , 14 Sep 2023Research output: Contribution to conferences > Poster
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Reforestation under climate change: A supra-regional field trial in Thuringia/Germany to test different management options for the development of multifunctional forests on disturbed spruce areas , 14 Sep 2023Research output: Contribution to conferences > Poster
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Simulation der Wiederbewaldungsdynamik gestörter Fichtenflächen unter dem Einfluss verschiedener Bewirtschaftungsmaßnahmen: Ausblick auf ein Teilvorhaben des Projekts ResEt-Fi , 11 Sep 2023Research output: Contribution to conferences > Poster
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Modelling how management options for disturbed spruce areas affect reforestation dynamics: a predictive ecology approach for a supra-regional field trial in Thuringia , 7 Sep 2023Research output: Contribution to conferences > Poster
Journal Reviewer & Memberships
Reviewing for, i.a., Ecological Modelling, Ecology Letters, Philosphopical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, PLOS Computational Biology, mSystems, GENETICS, Frontiers in Forests and Global Change
GFÖ member - the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland
ESA member - Ecological Society of America