Maartje Klapwijk

I specialise in anthropogenic effects on species interactions, using insects as a study system. Current research questions in applied ecology are dealing with forest management, climate change and insect outbreaks. From the perspective of basic ecology, questions related to associational effects, indirect interactions and population dynamics are part of my research interest.

The central subject of my research is population regulation through trophic interactions (feeding interactions). One of my main research interests is how these interactions are affected by human induced changes to the living environment of the interacting species. In my work this is represented by research on climate effects on insects and the interactions with their natural enemies.

Management used for semi-natural forests determines for a large part the structural and biological diversity in forest stands. Increased diversity of vegetation will have a subsequent effect on the diversity of consumers and predators. My main interest is whether forest management affects the top-down pressure of predators on insect herbivores with positive effects of pest supression. Forest health is important when considering species invasions and emerging pests. 

I am involved in the following projects:

Risk of bark beetle damage in relation to forest management practise - Skogssällskapet

Biogeographic analysis of historical forest insect invasions and host associations - SNS Nordic Forest Research

HOMED - HOlistic Management of Emerging forest pests and Diseases - EU Horizon 2020

The relationship between small mammal densities and sawfly cocoon predation – Faculty of Forest Sciences 

The dispersal of a gregarious forest pest insect and its specialist parasitoid - Carl Tryggers Stiftelsen för Vetenskaplig Forskning 

Completed projects:

Combined effects of moose browsing and insect herbivory on tree growth - FORMAS  Reg. no 2015-55

Ecological theory uniting agro-ecology and forestry research - SLU-internal funding 

Forest Management to mitigate risk of insect damage - FORMAS Reg. no 2013-535

It was during my MSc project that I became fascinated by host - parasitoid interactions and population dynamics. The first research project I was involved in looked at the dispersal of the cinnabar moth (Tyria jacobaeae) and its specialist parasitoid, Cotesia popularis in a fragmented population structure. My PhD continued on the theme investigating the effects of habitat fragmentation and climate change on host-parasitoid interactions using two study systems. The first is the endangered marsh fritillary butterfly (Euphydryas aurinia) and its specialist parasitoid, Cotesia bignellii. I used that system to study how much phenological synchrony between the host and parasitoid depend on weather and thus might be affected by climate change. The second system, the holly leafminer (Phytomyza ilicis) and its complex of parasitoids, I used to investigate effects of habitat fragmentation on co-existance of parasitoids on a shared host.

Active

Fredrika Wrethling - To mix or not to mix; the importance of tree diversity for forest health a project in collaboration with Sveaskog (main supervisor, co-supervisor Christer Björkman) 2020-2024

Dragos Cocos – Establishment and spread of non-native bark- and wood-boring beetles (main supervisor, co-supervisors Martin Schroeder, Christer Björkman)
2019-2023

Kristina Berggren – Ecological consequences of novel plant protection strategies (co-supervisor, main supervisor: Christer Björkman, co-supervisor; Adriana Puentes)
2019-2023

Completed

Michelle Nordkvist - Combined Effects of moose browsing and insect herbivory on tree growth (active co-supervisor, main supervisor Christer Björkamn, co-supervisor Lars Edenius) 2016 - 2020

Davide Bellone - Forest management to mitigate the risk of insect damage (active co-supervisor, main supervisor Christer Björkman) 2014 - 2018

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I am always interested in discussing projects for students. If you are interested in forest management in connection to insect population dynamics, and or trophic interactions, please do not hesistate to contact me to discuss ideas for projects.

Forest management and natural enemies of pest insects

Bellone, D., Björkman, C., Schmidt, A., Gershenzon, J., & Klapwijk, M. J. (2020). Effect of forest stand type on host plant quality and direct and indirect effects on pine sawfly performance. Agricultural and Forest Entomology. https://doi.org/10.1111/afe.12415

Bellone, D., Björkman, C., Klapwijk, M.J. (2020) Top-down pressure by generalist and specialist natural enemies in relation to habitat heterogeneity and resource availability. pre-proof Basic and Applied Ecology https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2019.10.005

Klapwijk, M.J. (2019) The effect of multiple natural enemies on a shared herbivore prey. Ecology and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5451

Klapwijk, M.J. and Bjorkman, C. (2018) Mixed forests to mitigate risk of insect outbreaks, Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research, 33, 772-780. https://doi.org/10.1080/02827581.2018.1502805

Bellone, B., Klapwijk, M.J. & Björkman, C. Habitat heterogeneity affects small mammal predation of pine sawfly cocoons, Ecology & Evolution, 7(24) https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3632

Klapwijk, M.J., Bylund, H., Schroeder, M. and Björkman C. (2016) Forest management and natural biocontrol of insects pests, Forestry, 89 (3) 253 - 262 https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/cpw019

Long term dynamics of forest insects

Liebhold, A.M., Björkman, C., Roques, A, Bjornstad, O. & Klapwijk, M.J. (2020) Outbreaking forest insect drives phase synchrony among sympatric folivores:exploring potential mechanisms, Population Ecology, https://doi.org/10.1002/1438-390X.12060

Klapwijk, M.J., Walter, J. A., Hirka, A., Csóka, G., Björkman, C. and Liebhold, A. M. (2018) Transient synchrony among populations of five foliage‐feeding Lepidoptera, Journal of Animal Ecology, 87, 1058-1068. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12823

Klapwijk, M.J., Csóka, G., Hirka, A. & Björkman, C., (2013) Forest insects and climate change: Long term trends in herbivore damage Ecology & Evolution, 3(16), 4183-4196 https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.717

Indirect interactions

Nordkvist, M.N., Klapwijk, M.J., Björkman, C. (2020) Interacting effects of insect and ungulate herbivory on Scots pine growth (accepted) Nature Scientific Reports

Nordkvist, M., Klapwijk, M. J., Edenius, L., Gershenzon, J., Schmidt, A., & Björkman, C. (2019). Trait‐mediated indirect interactions: Moose browsing increases sawfly fecundity through plant‐induced responses. Ecology and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5581

Multi-disciplinary contributions

Eriksson, L. and Klapwijk, M.J. (2019) Attitudes towards biodiversity conservation and carbon substitution in forestry: A study of stakeholders in Sweden, Forestry. https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/cpz003

Klapwijk, M.J., Boberg, J., ..... and Mårald, E. (2018) Capturing complexity: Forests, decision-making and climate change mitigation action, Global Environmental Change, 52, 238-247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.07.012

Eriksson, Louise, Christer Björkman, and Maartje J. Klapwijk. "General public acceptance of forest risk management strategies in Sweden: Comparing three approaches to acceptability." Environment and behavior 50.2 (2018): 159-186. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916517691325 

More publications by Maartje Klapwijk on Research gate and via Orcid ID