Jan Vanaverbeke

Jan Vanaverbeke is a marine benthic ecologist, focusing his research on the effects of artificial hard substrates (mainly renewable energy installations) on marine ecosystem functioning at local and regional scales.

Researchgate

Function

Jan Vanaverbeke works as a marine ecologist at the Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS) in Brussels, Belgium. Through a combination of field observations, experiments and modeling, his research focuses on quantifying the effects of human activities on the diversity-ecosystem functioning-ecosystem services cascade. Focus is on carbon and nitrogen cycling and food-web related research, mainly in the Belgian part of the North Sea, but extending into other areas as well.

Research team: MARECO
Research theme: Science for a sustainable marine management

Current Project(s)

OUTFLOW
OWiDEX
CANOE
METRIC
RBINS-EMBRC
EcoMPV
NESTORE
AQUASERV
AGROSERV

Area of Expertise

Jan Vanaverbeke is a marine benthic ecologist, who is originally trained as a marine meiobenthologist, and later applying a variety of experimental methods (core incubations, pulse-chase experiments, in-situ complexity-diversity experiments) and stastical methods.

External activities

ICES Working Group on Marine Benthal Renewable Energy Developments
Belgian delegate to the Committee of Nodes of the European Marine Biology Research Centre

Professional Experience

Jan Vanaverbeke graduated from Ghent University, where he obtained his PhD in Biology as well. He held positions in Dutch and German institutes/universities, and worked a long time at Ghent University before joining RBINS. He has been investigating the benthic ecology of estuarine, coastal and deep-see ecosystems in both coastal and polar (Antarctica, Greenland) areas. He coordinated several Belgian research projects and acted as work package leader in many international projects.

Publication highlights

Braeckman, U., Provoost, P., Gribsholt, B., Van Gansbeke, D., Middelburg, J.J., Soetaert, K., Vincx, M. and Vanaverbeke, J., 2010. Role of macrofauna functional traits and density in biogeochemical fluxes and bioturbation. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 399, pp.173-186.

Degraer, S., Carey, D.A., Coolen, J.W., Hutchison, Z.L., Kerckhof, F., Rumes, B. and Vanaverbeke, J., 2020. Offshore wind farm artificial reefs affect ecosystem structure and functioning. Oceanography, 33(4), pp.48-57.

Dannheim J, Bergström L, Birchenough SN, Brzana R, Boon AR, Coolen JW, Dauvin JC, De Mesel I, Derweduwen J, Gill AB, Hutchison ZL, Jackson AC, Janas U, Martin G, Raoux A, Reubens J, Rostin L, Vanaverbeke J, Wilding TA, Wilhemson D, Degraer S (2020). Benthic effects of offshore renewables: identification of knowledge gaps and urgently needed research. ICES Journal of Marine Science. 77(3):1092-108.) https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsz018

Mavraki, N., Degraer, S., Moens, T. and Vanaverbeke, J., 2020. Functional differences in trophic structure of offshore wind farm communities: a stable isotope study. Marine Environmental Research, 157, p.104868.

Toussaint, E., De Borger, E., Braeckman, U., De Backer, A., Soetaert, K. and Vanaverbeke, J., 2021. Faunal and environmental drivers of carbon and nitrogen cycling along a permeability gradient in shallow North Sea sediments. Science of the Total Environment, 767, p.144994.