Prof. dr. ir. Jan Vermaat

Jan Vermaat has recently been appointed as professor in Earth Sciences and Economics at the Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences of VU University, Amsterdam. He will direct the MSc programme in Earth Sciences and Economics. Jan combines ample overseas experience in aquatic and landscape ecology with an interest in multidisciplinary cooperation and the applicability of his findings. He has published over 60 papers in the primary literature on water quality, wetlands, catchment biogeochemistry, spatial pattern analysis, coastal ecosystems and the interface between ecology and economics. With Kerry Turner, Wim Salomons and Laurens Bouwer he edited a Springer monograph entitled ‘Managing European coasts, past, present and future’. He is co-editor-in-chief of Aquatic Botany since 2001, and has been editor-in-chief of Landschap, a scientific journal for landscape ecology in Dutch, from 2005-2009.

Jan was Associate Professor (UHD) ‘Aquatic and Wetland Ecology at the Institute of Environmental Studies (IVM); Faculty Earth and Life Sciences (FALW) of the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, from 2001-2010 and acted as deputy department head Spatial Analysis and Decision Support. From 1989- 2001 he worked as Senior lecturer Aquatic Ecology at IHE-Delft. He defended his PhD in 1991 at Wageningen Agricultural University, where he also acquired his MSc in Biology, in 1985.

He co-supervised several PhDs and postdocs: Wilfredo Uy, Udomluck Thampanya, Hildie Nacorda, Sabine Körner, Harry Olde-Venterink, Peter Schippers, Rene Rollon, Hasse Goossen, Florian Eppink and Maria Gonzales Sanchis. He carried out projects for a wide range of funding agencies including the EC (different framework programmes) NWO, NWO-WOTRO, the EEA, WWF, the World Bank, water boards and local authorities. He has overseas experience in Costa Rica, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Benin, India, The Philippines (>10 times), Thailand (>5 times), Vietnam, and Lesotho. Jan coordinates the MSc course Aquatic Ecology (6 ECTS) and the BSc field course Spatial Analyses (Earth Sciences and Economics; 11 ECTS).

Selected publications

Statistics (April 2010): 61 papers published or accepted in Web-of-Science journals since 1984, H-index = 20; 18 chapters in scientific monographs, over 20 papers in professional journals, such as Env Sci, H₂O, Landschap.

• Vermaat J.E. & Sand-Jensen K., 1987. Survival, metabolism and growth of Ulva lactuca under winter conditions: a laboratory study of bottlenecks in the life cycle. Mar. Biol. 95: 55-61.
• Vermaat J.E., Hootsmans M.J.M. & Van Dijk G.M., 1990. Ecosystem development in different types of littoral enclosures. Hydrobiologia 200/201: 391-398.
• Vermaat J.E. & De Bruyne R.J., 1993. Factors limiting the distribution of submerged waterplants in the lowland river Vecht (The Netherlands). Freshwat. Biol. 30: 147-157.
• Duarte C.M., Marba N., Agawin N., Cebrian J., Enriquez S., Fortes M.D., Gallegos M.E., Merino M., Olesen B., Sand-Jensen K., Uri J. & Vermaat J.E., 1994. Reconstruction of seagrass dynamics: age determinations and associated tools for the seagrass ecologist. Mar. Ecol. Progr. Ser. 107: 195-209.
• Vermaat J.E., Fortes M.D., Agawin N., Duarte C.M., Marba N., & Uri J., 1995. Meadow maintenance, growth and productivity in a mixed Philippine seagrass bed. Mar. Ecol. Progr. Ser. 124: 215-225.
• Vermaat J.E. & Verhagen F.C.A., 1996. Seasonal dynamics in the intertidal seagrass Zostera noltii Hornem.: coupling demographic and physiological patterns. Aquat. Bot. 52: 259-281.
• Vermaat J.E., Agawin N., Duarte C.M., Enriquez S., Fortes M.D., Marba N., & Uri J., 1997. The capacity of seagrasses to survive eutrophication and siltation, the significance of growth form and light use. Ambio 26: 409-504.
• Vermaat J.E. & Khalid H.M., 1998. Performance of common duckweed species on different types of waste water. Water Res. 32: 2569-2576.
• Wesseling I., Uychiaoco A., Aliño P., & Vermaat J.E., 1999. Responses of Philippine shallow-water corals to short-term burial. Mar. Ecol. Progr. Ser. 176: 11-15.
• Kamp-Nielsen L., Vermaat J.E., Wesseling I., Borum J. & Geertz-Hansen O., 2002. Sediment properties along gradients of siltation in South East Asia. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci. 54: 127-137.
• Lacap C.D.A., Vermaat J.E., Rollon R.N., & Nacorda H.M.E., 2002. Propagule dispersal of the S.E. Asian seagrasses Enhalus acoroides and Thalassia hemprichii. Mar. Ecol . Progr. Ser. 235: 75-80.
• Körner S.,Vermaat J.E. & Veenstra S., 2003. The capacity of duckweed to treat waste water: ecological considerations for a sound design. J Env Qual 32: 1430-1435.
• Olde Venterink H., Wiegman F., Van der Lee G.E.M. & Vermaat J.E., 2003. The role of active floodplains for nutrient retention in the river Rhine: monitoring water quality during downstream transport. J Env Qual 32: 1583-1590.
• Schippers, P., Vermaat, J.E. & Mooij W.M., 2004. Effect of atmospheric CO₂ increase on plant growth in freshwater ecosystems. Ecosystems 7: 63-74.
• Vermaat J.E., Rollon R.N., Lacap C.D.A., Billot C., Alberto F., Nacorda H.M.E, Wiegman F. & Terrados J., 2004. Meadow fragmentation and reproductive output of the S.E. Asian seagrass Enhalus acoroides. J Sea Res 52: 321-328.
• Vermaat J.E., Eppink F., Van den Bergh J.C.J.M., Barendregt A. & Van Belle J., 2005. Matching of scales in spatial economic and ecological analysis. Ecol Econ 52: 229-237.
• Brander L., Vermaat J.E. & Florax R.J.G.M., 2006. The empirics of wetland valuation: a meta-analysis. Env Resource Econ 33: 223-250
• Bouwer L.M, Aerts J.C.J.H. & Vermaat J.E., 2006. Winter atmospheric circulation and river discharge in northwest Europe. Geophys Res Lett 33, L06403
• Thampanya U., Vermaat JE., Sinsakul S. & Panapitukkul N., 2006. Coastal erosion and mangrove progradation of Southern Thailand. Est Coast Shelf Sci. 68: 75-85
• Vermaat J.E. & Thampanya U., 2006. Mangroves mitigate tsunami damage – a further response. Est Coast Shelf Sci 69: 1-3
• Vermaat J.E., Goosen H., & Omtzigt N., 2007. A multivariate analysis of biodiversity patterns in Dutch wetland marsh areas: urbanisation, eutrophication or fragmentation? Biodiv Conserv. 16: 3585-3595.
• Goosen H., Janssen R., & Vermaat J.E., 2007. Decision support for participatory wetland decision making. Ecol Eng, 30: 187-199.
• Eppink, F.V., Rietveld, P., Van den Bergh J.C.J.M., Vermaat, J.E., Wassen M.J., Hilferink, M., 2008. Internalising the costs of nutrient deposition and fragmentation in spatial planning: extending a decision support tool for the Netherlands. Land Use Pol  25: 563-578
• Vermaat, J.E., Vigneau N., Omtzigt N., 2008. Viability of meta-populations of wetland birds in a fragmented landscape: testing the key-patch approach . Biodiv Conserv 17: 2263-2273.
• Vermaat, J.E., Gilbert A.J, McQuatters-Gollop A., Eleveld M., 2008. Past, present and future nutrient loads of the North Sea: causes and consequences. Est Coast Shelf Sci 80: 53-59
• Bouwer L.M., Vermaat, J.E., Aerts J.C.J.H., 2008. Regional sensitivity of mean and peak discharges to climate variability in Europe. J Geophys Res. 113, D19103
• Vermaat, J.E., Dunne, J., Gilbert, A.J, 2009. Food web structure properties: can we minimize their number? Ecology
• Vermaat, J.E.,2009. Seagrasses: meadow-forming, clonal angiosperms with a key role in shallow coastal waters.  Persp. Plant Ecol. Evol. Syst. 11: 137-155
• Vermaat, J.E. & Bouwer, L.M., 2009. Less ice on the Baltic reduces the extent of hypoxic bottom waters and sedimentary phosphorus release. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci: 82: 689–691
• Vermaat, J.E. & Hellmann, F., 2009.Covariance in water- and nutrient budgets of Dutch peat polders: what governs nutrient retention? Biogeochemistry. DOI 10.1007/s10533-009-9395-8
• Beltman, B.G.H.J., Omtzigt, N. & Vermaat, J.E., accepted. Turbary restoration meets variable success: does landscape structure force colonization success of wetland plants?.Restor Ecol.
• Dias. A.T.C., Hoorens, B., Van Logtestijn, R.S.P., Vermaat, J.E., & Aerts R., accepted. Plant species composition can be used as a proxy to predict methane emissions in peatlands after land-use changes. Ecosystems.

Books

• Van Vierssen W., Hootsmans M.J.M. & Vermaat J.E. (eds), 1994. Lake Veluwe, a macrophyte-dominated system under eutrophication stress. Geobotany 21, Kluwer, The Netherlands, 480 pp
• Vermaat J.E., Bouwer, L.  Turner K., & Salomons W. (eds),  2005. Managing European coasts: past, present and future. Springer, Environmental Science Monograph Series, 387 pp.