Kai Jensen (biologist)

Kai Jensen (born January 28, 1965 ) is a German biologist and professor of applied plant ecology at the University of Hamburg .

Career

Jensen completed a basic biology degree at the University of Hamburg in 1990 and received his diploma in 1995 from the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel . Between 1995 and 2000 he worked as an employee and later as a freelancer in the planning office of the Kiel Institute for Landscape Ecology. In 1999 he received his doctorate at the Botanical Institute and in 2000 took up a position as a research assistant at the Ecology Center of the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel. In 2004 he received a junior professorship at the University of Hamburg and was appointed professor of applied vegetation ecology there in 2010 . From 2012 to 2015 he held the position of Managing Director of the Biozentrum Klein Flottbek (today: Institute for Plant Sciences and Microbiology) at the University of Hamburg. In 2013, Kai Jensen received the Hamburg Teaching Prize from the Faculty of Mathematics, Computer Science and Natural Sciences at the University of Hamburg. Jensen has been the head of the Biology Department at the University of Hamburg since 2017.

Research priorities

Kai Jensen conducts research on the ecology of tidal marshes (biotic interactions and biodiversity along marine-terrestrial transitions), on ecosystem functions ( rhizope as a "hotspot" of microbial activity and the degradation of organic matter), on germination and spread ecology (the role of germination requirements, longevity and dispersal strategies for plant communities in wetlands), on the population ecology of plant species in the wetlands (genetic differentiation and ecophysiological adaptations) and in the field of applied vegetation ecology (effects of land use and site conditions on plant biodiversity; implications for nature conservation).

Awards and honors

In 2012, Kai Jensen received the Hamburg Teaching Prize from the Faculty of Mathematics, Computer Science and Natural Sciences at the University of Hamburg.

Memberships

Kai Jensen is a member of the Hamburg Nature Conservation Council, the Foundation Council of the Altenwerder Foundation and the Loki Schmidt Foundation. He is also 'chair' of the trilateral expert group on salt marshes and dunes of the Wadden Sea Secretariat.

Publications (selection)

• N. Lenzewski, P. Mueller, R. Meier, G. Liebsch, K. Jensen, K. Koop-Jakobsen: Dynamics of Oxygen and Carbon dioxide in rhizospheres of Lobelia dortmanna - A planar optode study of belowground gas exchange between plants and sediment . In: New Phytologist. 218, 2018, p. 131, doi: 10.1111 / nph.14973 .
• AH Baldwin, K. Jensen, M. Schönfeldt: Warming increases plant biomass and reduces diversity across continents, latitudes, and species migration scenarios in experimental wetland communities. In: Global Change Biology. 20, 2014, pp. 835-850.
• G. Engels, F. Rink, K. Jensen: Stress tolerance and biotic interactions determine plant zonation patterns in estuarine marshes during seedling emergence and early establishment. In: Journal of Ecology. 99, 2011, pp. 277-287.
• K. Jensen, K. Gutekunst: Effects of litter on establishment of grassland plant species: the role of seed size and successional status. In: Basic and Applied Ecology. 4, 2003, pp. 579-587.
• K. Schmidt, K. Jensen: Genetic structure and AFLP variation of remnant populations in the rare plant Pedicularis palustris (Scrophulariaceae) and its relation to population size and reproductive components. In: American Journal of Botany. 87, 2000, pp. 678-689.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Prof. Dr. Kai Jensen. Department of Biology at the University of Hamburg, accessed on October 8, 2018 . 
2. ↑ Head of Department. Department of Biology at the University of Hamburg, accessed on October 8, 2018 . 
3. ↑ Prize winners 2012. In: Hamburger Lehrpreis. University of Hamburg, accessed on October 8, 2018 .