Ute Jacob (Dr.rer.nat.)

Mail: ute.jacob@uni-hamburg.de

Phone: +49(0)40 - 42838 6658
Fax: +49(0)40 - 42838 6618
University of Hamburg
Institute for Hydrobiology and Fisheries Science
Große Elbstraße 133
22767 Hamburg
Germany

Birth Date: 24.06.1974

Research interests

My research interests focus on marine biodiversity, particularly on the functional roles of marine species in food webs. My research explores the link between diversity, marine food web structure and ecosystem function, which hopefully will advance our understanding of large marine ecosystems and their ability to cope with change.

Educational Background

University education

1994 – 2001 Studies in Zoology, Ecology & Marine Biology, University of Bremen,

2001: Diploma (equiv. M.Sc.). Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar & Marine Research, University of Bremen. Thesis topic: “Ecology of High Antarctic cidaroid Sea Urchins.” Supervisors: Profs. W.E. Arntz and T. Brey, AWI.

2005: Dr. rer. nat. (equiv. Ph.D.). Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar & Marine Research, University of Bremen. Thesis topic: Trophic Dynamics of Antarctic Shelf Ecosystems – Food Webs and Energy Flow Budgets Supervisors: Profs. W.E. Arntz (AWI) and M. Wolff, Institute for Marine Tropical Ecology (ZMT), University of Bremen.

Employment

2010- present: Research Scientist at the Institute of Hydrobiology and Fisheries Science, University of Hamburg, Germany.

2009 – 2010: Research Scientist, Alfred Wegener Institute, Bremerhaven, Germany.

2009: Visiting Research Fellow, Wyoming University, Laramie, Wyoming, USA.

2008 – 2009: Research Scientist, Institute for Marine Resources, IMARE, Bremerhaven, Germany.

2006 – 2008: IRCSET Postdoctoral Fellow, Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork, Ireland.

2002 – 2005: PhD Student, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany

Projects, Grants and Working Groups

2009 - 2011 Body-Size and Ecosystem Dynamics: integrating pure and applied approaches from aquatic and terrestrial ecology to support an ecosystem approach (SIZEMIC) – Working Group: Body Size & Redundancy: Across System Comparisons. (Group Leaders: Owen Petchey & Ute Jacob)

2009 – 2010 Working Group: Climate Change & Ecological Networks: Sentinel Systems on the Razor's Edge. NERC Centre for Population Biology, Silwood Park, UK. (Group Leader: Guy Woodward)

2007 - 2009 Working Group: “Conservation planning for ecosystem functioning: Testing predictions of ecological effectiveness for marine predators”, National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), Santa Barbara, CA, USA. (Group Leaders: Dan Doak, James Estes, Tim Wootton & Terrie Williams)

2006 – 2008 IRCSET Fellowship Grant: Sensitivity of European Costal Marine Ecosystems to Climate Change (Irish Research Council, Embark Initiative)

Publications

Jacob, U., Thierry, A., Brose, U., Arntz, W.E., Berg, S., Brey, T., Fetzer, I., Jonsson, T., Mintenbeck, K., Möllmann, C., Petchey, O.L., Riede, J.O., Dunne, J.A., (2011) The Role of Body Size in complex Food Webs. Advances in Ecological Research 45: 181-223.

Zook, A.E., Eklof, A., Jacob, U., Allesina, S. (2011) Food webs: ordering species according to body size yields high degree of intervality. Journal of Theoretical Biology 271: 106-113.

O’Gorman, E.J., Yearsley, J.M., Crowe, T., Emmerson, M.C., Jacob, U., Petchey. O.L. (2011) Loss of functionally unique species may gradually undermine ecosystems. Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B 278: 1886-1893.

Riede, J.O., Brose, U., Ebenman, B., Jacob, U., Thompson, R., Townsend, C., Jonsson, T. (2011) Stepping in Elton's footprints: a general scaling model for body masses and trophic levels across ecosystems. Ecology Letters, 14: 169-178.

Woodward, G., Benstead, J.P., Beveridge, O.S., Blanchard, J., Brey, T., Brown, L.E., Cross, W.F., Friberg, N., Ings, T.C., Jacob, U., Jennings, S., Ledger, M.E., Milner, A.M., Montoya, J.M., O'Gorman, E., Olesen, J.M., Petchey, O.L., Pichler, D.E., Reuman, D.C., Thompson, M.S.A., Van Veen, F.J. & G. Yvon-Durocher (2010) Ecological Networks in a Changing Climate. Advances in Ecological Research 42: 71-138

Riede, J.O., Rall, B.C., Banasek-Richter, C., Navarrete, S.A., Wieters, E.A., Emmerson, M.C., Jacob, U. & U. Brose (2010) Scaling of Food-Web Properties with Diversity and Complexity Across Ecosystems. Advances in Ecological Research 42: 139-170

O’Gorman, E., Jacob, U., Jonsson, T., Emmerson, M., (2010) Interaction strength, food web topology and the relative importance of species in food webs. Journal of Animal Ecology 79: 682-692

Ings, T.C., Montoya, J.M., Bascompte, J., Blüthgen, N., Brown, L., Dormann, C.F., Edwards, F., Figueroa, D., Jacob, U., Jones, J.I., Laurisden, R.B., Ledger, M.E., Lewis, H.M., Olesen, J.M., Van Veen, F.J., Warren, P.H., Woodward, G., (2009) Ecological networks – foodwebs and beyond. Journal of Animal Ecology 78: 253-269

Doak, D.F., Estes, J.A., Halpern, B.S., Jacob, U., Lindberg, D.R., Lovvorn, J., Monson, D.H., Tinker, M.T., Williams, T.M., Wootton, J.T., Carroll, I., Emmerson, M., Micheli, F., Novak, M., (2008) Understanding and Predicting Ecological Dynamics: Are Major Surprises Inevitable? Ecology 89: 952-961

Brodte, E., Graeve, M., Jacob, U., Knust, R., Pörtner, H. -O., (2008). Temperature dependent lipid levels and components in polar and temperate eelpout (Zoarcidae), Fish Physiology and Biochemistry 34: 261-274

Mintenbeck, K., Brey, T., Jacob, U., Knust, R., Struck, U., (2008). How to account for the lipid effect on carbon stable isotope ratio (13C) – sample treatment effects and model bias. Journal of Fish Biology 72: 815-830

Mintenbeck, K., Jacob, U., Brey, T., Knust, R., Arntz, W. E., (2007). Depth-dependence in stable isotope ratio d15N of benthic POM consumers: a potential bias in isotope based food web studies, Deep-Sea Research I 54: 1015-1023

Jacob, U., (2006) Antarctic Marine Food Webs. (Ed.) Beau Riffenburg. Encyclopedia of the Antarctic. pp. 1272. Taylor & Francis Group, Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-97024

Brose, U., Jonsson, T., Berlow, E.L., Banasek-Richter, C., Bersier, L.F., Blanchard, J.L., Brey, T., Carpenter, S.R., Cattin-Blandenier, M.F., Cohen, J.E., Dawah, H.A., Dell, T., Cushing, L., Edwards, F., Harper-Smith, S., Jacob, U., Knapp, R.A., Ledger, M.E., Memmott, J., Mintenbeck, K., Pinnegar, J.K., Rayner, T., Ruess, L., Ulrich, W., Warren, P., Williams, R.J., Woodward, G., Martinez, N.D., (2006) Consumer resource body size relationships. Ecology 87: 2411-2417

Jacob, U., Brey, T., Fetzer, I., Kaehler, S., Mintenbeck, K., Dunton, K., Struck, U., Beyer, K., Pakhomov, E.A., Arntz, W.E., (2006) Towards the Trophic Structure of the Bouvet Island Marine Ecosystem. Polar Biology 29: 106-113

Arntz, W.E., Thatje, S., Gerdes, D., Gili, J.M., Gutt, J., Jacob, U., Montiel, A., Orejas, C., Teixido, N., (2005) The Antarctic –Magellan connection: macrobenthos ecology on the shelf and upper slope, a progress report. Scientia Marina 69: 237-269

Jacob, U., (2005) Trophic Dynamics of Antarctic Shelf Ecosystems – Food Webs and Energy Flow Budgets. University of Bremen, Thesis, 125 pp.

Brose, U., Cushing, L., Banasek-Richter, C., Berlow, E., Bersier, L.F., Blanchard, Brey, T., J.L., Carpenter, S.R., Cattin-Blandenier, M.F., Cohen, J.E., Dell, T., Edwards, F., Harper-Smith, S., Knapp, R.A., Jacob, U., Jonsson, T., Ledger, M.E., Martinez, N.D., Memmott, J., Mintenbeck, K., Pinnegar, J.K., Rayner, T., Ruess, L., Ulrich, W., Warren, P., Williams, R.J., Woodward, G., Yodiz, P. (2005) Empirical consumer-resource body size ratios. Ecology 86: 2545

Heilmayer, O., Honnen, C., Jacob, U., Chiantore, C., Cattaneo-Vietti, R., Brey, T., (2005). Temperature effects on summer growth rates in the Antarctic scallop, Adamussium colbecki, Polar Biology 28: 523-527

Jacob, U., Mintenbeck, K., Brey, T., Knust, R., Beyer, K. (2005). Stable isotope food web studies: a case for standardized sample treatment, Marine Ecology Progress Series 287: 251-253

Jacob U., Terpstra S., Brey T., (2002). The role of depth and feeding in regular sea urchins niche separation – an example from the high Antarctic Weddell Sea. Polar Biology 26: 99-104

Brenner M., Buck B.H., Cordes S., Dietrich L., Jacob U., Mintenbeck K., Schröder A., Brey T., Knust R., Arntz W. (2001). The role of iceberg scours in niche separation within the Antarctic fish genus Trematomus. Polar Biology 24: 502-507

SELECTED ORAL & POSTER PRESENTATIONS

Jacob, U., Petchey, O.L., (2009) Ecological Marine Networks & their Ability to cope with Change –How much is dictated by Evolutionary History? Talk presented at the International Association for Ecology (INTECOL)  The 10th International Congress of Ecology,  Brisbane, Australia. 

Jacob, U., (2009) Marine Network Structure: Functional Roles & Species Identity: What matters most? Talk presented at the ICES Annual Science Conference, Estrel Convention Center in Berlin, Germany.

Jacob, U., Brose, U., Jonsson, T., Mintenbeck, K., Brey, T., (2008) Trophic uniqueness and trophic flexibility – new trophic trait based metrics characterize the trophic function of consumers in complex food webs. Talk presented at the 43nd European Marine Biology Symposium in Ponta Delgada, Azores.

Jacob, U., Brose, U., Jonsson, T., Emmerson, M., Brey, T., (2007) Wait to be seated - How to measure Consumer Trophic Level in Nature’s Restaurant? Talk presented at the 42nd European Marine Biology Symposium in Kiel, Germany.

Jacob, U., Brose, U., Brey, T., (2006) Hiding in my Niche – Ecosystem Trophic Complexity and Global Change. Talk presented at the 41st European Marine Biology Symposium in Cork, Ireland.