- E-mailsuzette.flantua@uib.no
- Visitor AddressThormøhlens gate 53 A/B5006 BergenRoom2B18
- Postal AddressPostboks 78035020 Bergen
My main research interest is to understand what determines biodiversity in mountain regions, by studying the impact of climate dynamics at various time scales (past, present, future). I am particularly interested in the way how historical environmental factors (climate and geology) and humans influenced contemporary biodiversity patterns. I use a biogeographical and palaeoecological approach, taking advantage of recent developments in palaeoecological data availability (e.g. Neotoma) and landscape modelling (GIS). Most of my work has dealt with the tropics where I also have organized and participated in numerous field expeditions of the Northern and Central Andes, and savanna lowlands. I also supervise students and lecture in courses, organize scientific events, and take responsibility in committees. In addition, I am passionate about communicating my research to a broader audience through the use of video (see Communication) and talks about sustainability.
From April-2022 I started a new project called the Past, Present and Future of Alpine Biomes Worldwide (PPF-Alpine), funded as a Startup Grant by Trond Mohn Stiftelse and the Dept of Biological Science, UiB. The aim of the project is to understand present-day alpine biodiversity from a long-term perspective and link expertise from biology, geology, geography, climatology, and glaciology to move our understanding of these ecosystems forward to better conserve them in the future.
See here more for information on the project and the team: https://mountainsinmotion.w.uib.no/
1) Biogeographical history of the high Andean páramos during the last 1 million years: Sky islands: A time travel of the Andes Mountains
Flantua, S.G.A., O’Dea, A., Onstein, R., Giraldo, C., Hooghiemstra, H., 2019. The flickering connectivity system of the north Andean páramos. Journal of Biogeography 46, 1808-1825 https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13607
See also:
- Payne, D., Hoorn, C., Randin, C., Flantua, S.G.A., 2020. Past changes in species diversity: A view from the mountains Past Global Changes Magazine 28(1), 18-19. ttps://doi.org/10.22498/pages.28.1.18
- https://stri.si.edu/story/sky-islands
- https://eos.org/articles/the-flickering-sky-islands
- https://phys.org/news/2019-06-flickering-sky-islands-andean-biodiversity.html
2) Global acceleration in rates of vegetation change over the past 18,000 years. Mottl & Flantua et al. 2021. Science. News coverage
MEDIA COVERAGE:
◦ Research regularly featured in University of Amsterdam Faculty of Science newsletter
◦ New publications featured on Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, University of Bergen, University of Amsterdam, and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute website
◦ Several papers featured in various newspapers and scientific websites: Science paper (2021) on global rates of vegetation change, Journal of Biogeography paper (2019) on the biogeographic history of the Andean páramos, Nature Geoscience paper (2018) on mountain biodiversity, and Science perspective paper (2015) on the closing of the Panama Isthmus (2015).
◦ BBC Radio 4. a) Science paper (2021), b) Interview and report on fieldwork expeditions in Colombia. Boyacá Plants-for-life project. Royal Botanical Garden Kew, UK (2018).
◦ Dutch Radio NPO. Paleoecological research from Bergen and birding.
2017 Practicum assistant GIS, Bachelor course Digital Earth, Future planet studies, University of Amsterdam
2016 Practicum assistant GIS and Microsoft Access, Bachelor course Biodiversity & Global Change, Biological Sciences, University of Amsterdam
2015 Lecturer ‘The physical setting and the distribution of life on Earth’, Bachelor course Biodiversity & Global Change, Biological Sciences, University of Amsterdam
2014-2016, Lecturer, practicum and field work assistant, Bachelor course Palaeoecology, Biological Sciences, University of Amsterdam
2014 Lecturer ‘Land cover changes and sustainable land management’, Bachelor course Biodiversity & Global Change Biological Sciences, University of Amsterdam
Coordinator and lecturer, Pre-congress training course ‘Chronology and integration of spatial and temporal data in paleo-environmental interpretations’, LOTRED –SA Symposium. Medellin-Colombia
2012 Coordinator and lecturer, Workshop ‘Capacity building in Biotechnology and Bio-security. Impacts and opportunities for socio-ecosystems’ (In Spanish). 4D Elements Consultores – NGP Seguridad Alimentaria – SENA. Bogotá-Colombia.
2012, 2013 Coordinator online courses. Introduction to Sustainability; Sustainable landscape design. (In Spanish). Asesorías de Diseño Sostenible. Medellin-Colombia.
2012 Coordinator and lecturer, Master course ‘Introduction to environmental information systems at national and international level, GIS and Remote Sensing’ including a hands-on workshop on the use of Quantum GIS. (In Spanish). In collaboration with M. Romero, 4D Elements Consultores, University of Tunja, Colombia.
2011 Coordinator and lecturer, Master course ‘Introduction to environmental information systems at national and international level, GIS and Remote Sensing, with emphasis on environmental management in the Orinoco basin’. (In Spanish) In collaboration with M. Romero, 4D Elements Consultores. Universidad de los Llanos, Colombia.
2000 English Teacher, ESL Institute. Manizales, Colombia.
- (2022). Understanding climate change impacts on biome and plant distributions in the Andes: Challenges and opportunities. Journal of Biogeography. 1420-1442.
- (2022). Potential distributions of pre-Columbian people in Tropical Andean landscapes. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences.
- (2022). Pleistocene sea level changes and crocodile population histories on the Isthmus of Panama: A comment on Avila-Cervantes et al. (2020). Evolution.
- (2022). A paleoecological context to assess the development of oak forest in Colombia: A comment on Zorilla-Azcué, S., Gonzalez-Rodríguez, A., Oyama, K., González, M.A., & Rodríguez-Correa, H., The DNA history of a lonely oak: Quercus humboldtii phylogeography in the Colombian Andes. Ecology and Evolution 2021, doi: 10.100-2/ ece3.7529. Ecology and Evolution.
- (2022). 60 years of scientific deep drilling in Colombia: The north Andean guide to the Quaternary. Scientific Drilling. 1-15.
- (2021). Understanding the relationship between fruit colour and primate vision requires multiple lines of evidence. A reply to Heymann & Fuzessy. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences. 20202981.
- (2021). The seasonally dry tropical forest species Cavanillesia chicamochae has a middle Quaternary origin. Biotropica. 9 pages.
- (2021). Rate-of-change analysis in palaeoecology revisited: a new approach. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology.
- (2021). Global acceleration in rates of vegetation change over the past 18,000 years. Science. 860-864.
- (2021). Ecosystem services show variable responses to future climate conditions in the Colombian páramos. PeerJ.
- (2020). Snapshot isolation and isolation history challenge the analogy between mountains and islands used to understand endemism. Global Ecology and Biogeography. 1651-1673.
- (2020). Palm fruit colours are linked to the broad-scale distribution and diversification of primate colour vision systems. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences.
- (2020). Diversification in evolutionary arenas—Assessment and synthesis. Ecology and Evolution. 6163-6182.
- (2020). Compositional turnover and variation in Eemian pollen sequences in Europe. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. 101-109.
- (2019). The flickering connectivity system of the north Andean paramos. Journal of Biogeography. 1808-1825.
- (2019). A new modern pollen dataset describing the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. The Holocene. 1-10.
- (2021). R-Ratepol: R package for estimating rate-of-change in complex multivariate time sequences.
- (2020). Past changes in species diversity: a view from the mountains. Pages Magazine. 18-19.
- (2019). Colombia in the Quaternary: an overview of environmental and climatic change. 62 pages.
- (2018). Geological and climatic influences on mountain biodiversity. Nature Geoscience. 718-725.
More information in national current research information system (CRIStin)
26. Mottl, O.*, Flantua, S.G.A.*, Bhatta, K.P., Felde, V.A., Giesecke, T., Goring, S., Grimm, E.C., Haberle, S., Hooghiemstra, H., Ivory, S., Kuneš, P., Wolters, S., Seddon, A., Williams, J.W. Global acceleration in rates of vegetation change over the last 18,000 years. Science 372 (860-864). Link (* shared first co-authorship)
25. Val, P., Figueiro, J., de Melo, G., Flantua S.G.A., Quesada, C.A., Fan, Ying, Albert, J.A. Guayasamin, J.M., Hoorn, C. 2021. Geology and geodiversity of the Amazon: Three billion years of history. In: The Amazon We Want. Science Panel for the Amazon (SPA). Sustainable Development Solutions Network. A global initiative for the United Nations. Link.
24. Bradshaw, R.H.W., Styles, B., Giesecke, T., Flantua, S.G.A., Bittmann, F., Williams, J.W., 2021. Eric C. Grimm 1951–2020. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 30, 305-312. Link
23. Diazgranados, M., Tovar, C., Etherington, T.R., Rodríguez-Zorro, P., Castellanos-Castro, C., Galvis Rueda, M., Flantua, S.G.A.* Ecosystem services show variable responses to future climate conditions in the Colombian páramos. PeerJ 9:e11370. Link (* senior author)
22. Hooghiemstra, H., Flantua, S.G.A., 2020. Book review: Quaternary ecology, evolution, and biogeography, Valenti Rull. Academic Press, Elsevier (2020). Quaternary Science Reviews 247, 106608. Link
21. Flantua, S.G.A., Payne, D., Borregaard, M.K., Beierkuhnlein, C., Steinbauer, M.J., Dullinger, S., Essl, F., Irl, S.D.H., Kienle, D., Kreft, H., Lenzner, B., Norder, S.J., Rijsdijk, K.R., Rumpf, S.B., Weigelt, P., Field, R., 2020. Snapshot isolation and isolation history challenge the analogy between mountains and islands used to understand endemism. Global Ecology and Biogeography 29 (10): 1651-1673 https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13155.
20. Nürk, N.M., Linder, H.P., Onstein, R.E., Larcombe, M.J., Hughes, C.E., Fernández, L.P., Schlüter, P.M., Valente, L.M., Beierkuhnlein, C., Cutts, V., Donoghue, M.J., Edwards, E.J., Field, R., Flantua, S.G.A., Higgins, S.I., Jentsch, A., Liede-Schumann, S., Pirie, M.D., 2020. Diversification in evolutionary arenas – assessment and synthesis. Ecology and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6313 (preprint: https://doi.org/10.1101/636803)
19. Onstein, R.E., Vink, D.N., Veen, J., Barratt, C.D., Flantua, S.G.A., Wich, S.A., Kissling, W.D., 2020. Palm fruit colours are linked to the broad-scale distribution and diversification of primate colour vision systems. Proceedings of the Royal Society Biological Sciences. 287: 20192731. http://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.2731
18. Felde, V.A., Flantua, S.G.A., Jenks, C.R., Benito, B.M., de Beaulieu, J.-L., Kuneš, P., Magri, D., Nalepka, D., Risebrobakken, B., ter Braak, C.J.F., Allen, J.R.M., Granoszewski, W., Helmens, K.F., Huntley, B., Kondratienė, O., Kalniņa, L., Kupryjanowicz, M., Malkiewicz, M., Milner, A.M., Nita, M., Noryśkiewicz, B., Pidek, I.A., Reille, M., Salonen, J.S., Šeirienė, V., Winter, H., Tzedakis, P.C., Birks, H.J.B., 2019. Compositional turnover and variation in Eemian pollen sequences in Europe. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 29, 101-109. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-019-00726-5
17. Flantua, S.G.A., O’Dea, A., Onstein, R., Giraldo, C., Hooghiemstra, H., 2019. The flickering connectivity system of the north Andean páramos. Journal of Biogeography 46, 1808-1825 https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13607
16. Montade, V., Ledru M.P., Giesecke, T., Flantua, S.G.A., Behling, H., Peyron, O., 2019. A new modern pollen dataset describing the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. The Holocene 29(8), 1253-1262. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0959683619846981
15. Hooghiemstra, H. & Flantua, S.G.A., 2019. Colombia in the Quaternary: an overview of environmental and climatic change, in: Gómez, J., Pinilla–Pachon, A.O. (Eds.), The Geology of Colombia. Servicio Geológico Colombiano, Bogotá, pp. 43–104. https://www2.sgc.gov.co/LibroGeologiaColombia/Paginas/v4ch2.aspx
14. Antonelli*, A., Kissling*, W.D., Flantua*, S.G.A., Bermúdez, M.A., Mulch, A., Muellner-Riehl, A.N., Kreft, H., Linder, H.P., Badgley, C., Fjeldså, J., Fritz, S.A., Rahbek, C., Herman, F., Hooghiemstra, H., Hoorn*, C., 2018. Geological and climatic determinants of mountain biodiversity. Nature Geoscience 11, 718–725. (* first co-authorship). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-018-0236-z/
13. Flantua, S.G.A. & Hooghiemstra, H., 2018. Historical connectivity and mountain biodiversity. In: Hoorn C., Perrigo, A., Antonelli A. (eds.), Mountains, Climate and Biodiversity. Chapter 12, Wiley. 171-185. Link
12. Hoorn, C., Bogotá-Angel, G.R., Romero-Baez, M., Lammertsma, E.I., Flantua, S.G.A., Dantas, E.I., Dino, R., do Carmo, D.A., Chemale Jr, F., 2017. The Amazon at Sea: Onset and stages of the Amazon River from a marine record, with special reference to Neogene plant turnover in the drainage basin. Global and Planetary Change 153, 51-65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2017.02.005
11. Salamanca, S.S., Van Soelen, E.E., Van Manen, M.L.T., Flantua, S.G.A., Santos, R.V., Roddaz, M., Dantas, E.L., Van Loon, E., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., Kim, J.H., Hoorn, C., 2016. Amazon forest dynamics under changing abiotic conditions in the early Miocene (Colombian Amazonia). Journal of Biogeography 43(12), 2424-2437. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.12769
10. Flantua, S.G.A., Hooghiemstra, H., Vuille, M., Behling, H., Carson, J.F., Gosling, W.D., Hoyos, I., Ledru, M.P., Montoya, E., Mayle, F., Maldonado, A., Rull, V., Tonello, M.S., Whitney, B.S., González-Arango, C., 2016a. Climate variability and human impact in South America during the last 2000 years: synthesis and perspectives from pollen records. Climate of the Past 12, 483–523. https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-483-2016
9. Flantua, S.G.A., Blaauw, M., Hooghiemstra, H., 2016b. Geochronological database and classification system for age uncertainties in Neotropical pollen records. Climate of the Past 12, 387–414. https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-387-2016
8. Flantua, S.G.A., Hooghiemstra, H., Grimm, E.C., Behling, H., Bush, M.B., González-Arango, C., Gosling, W.D., Ledru, M.-P., Lozano-García, S., Maldonado, A., Prieto, A.R., Rull, V., Van Boxel, J.H., 2015. Updated site compilation of the Latin American Pollen Database. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 223, 104–115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2015.09.008
7. Hoorn, H. & Flantua, S.G.A. 2015. An early start for the Panama land bridge. Science 348 (6231):186-187. doi: 10.1126/science.aab0099.
6. Flantua, S.G.A., Hooghiemstra, H., Van Boxel, J.H., Cabrera, M., González-Carranza, Z., González-Arango, C. 2014. Connectivity dynamics since the Last Glacial Maximum in the northern Andes; a pollen-driven framework to assess potential migration. In: W.D. Stevens, O.M. Montiel, P. Raven (eds.) Monographs in Systematic Botany Missouri Botanical Garden 128, 98-123. Paleobotany and Biogeography: A Festschrift for Alan Graham in His 80th Year. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St Louis, MO. ISBN 978-0-915279-97-5
5. Grimm, E.C., Bradshaw, R.H.W., Flantua, S.G.A., Giesecke, T., Lézine, A.M., Takahara, H., Williams. J.W. 2013. Databases and their application. In: S.A. Elias (ed.) The Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science 3, pp. 831-838. Elsevier, Amsterdam. ISBN: 978-0-444-53642-6
4. Flantua, S.G.A., Bilbao, B., Rosales, J. 2013. Indigenous land use and land cover changes in the National Park of Canaima, Venezuela: Pemón Sector II Kamarata. In: LT. Lopes, S. Arley, J. Silveira da Costa, E.R. Baptista (eds.). Libro Escudo Guianês, biodiversidade, conservação dos recursos naturais e cultura, pp. 209-224. NAEA, GSF, Belém, Georgetown.
3. Rincon, A., Pascual, U., Flantua, S.G.A. 2013. Examining spatially varying relationships between coca crops and associated factors in Colombia, using geographically weight regression. Applied Geography 37: 23-33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2012.10.009
2. Romero, M.H., Flantua, S.G.A., Tansey, K., Berrío, J.C. 2012. Landscape transformation in savannas of northern South America: Land use / cover changes since 1987 in the Llanos Orientales of Colombia. Applied Geography 32: 766-776. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2011.08.010
1. Flantua, S.G.A., Boxel, v. J.H., Hooghiemstra, H., Smaalen, J. 2007. Application of GIS and logistic regression to fossil pollen data in modeling present and past spatial distribution of the Colombian savanna. Climate Dynamics 29(7-8): 697-712. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-007-0276-3
HOPE
Humans on Planet Earth - Long-term impacts on biosphere dynamics (HOPE) is a 5-year European Research Council Advanced Grant project running from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2022. It addresses a critical question in Earth system science - what was the impact of prehistoric people on the biosphere and its dynamics?
https://www.uib.no/en/rg/EECRG/107501/hope
Current
Arnaud Gallou (PhD, 2019-2023): Elevational range distributions of plants around the world
Camila Pacheco (PhD, 2019-2022): High elevation plant community responses to climate change: Synchronicity or out of pace?
Former
Midori Yajima (Msc, 2019-2020): Human impact in the Northern and Central Andes as detected from fossil pollen records
Reineke van Tol (Msc University of Amsterdam, 2017): ‘Are vulnerable and endangered plants being conserved in tropical dry forests? A GIS study on prioritized plant species in Colombia’
