Biography summary
Prof. Marcel Klaassen has developed broad research interests including theoretical, experimental and observational studies on numerous animal, plant and microbe taxa. Throughout this, his focus has primarily been on bird migration, nutritional ecology and disease ecological issues.
Career
Director – Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Australia (2010 – 2017)
Professor in Animal-Plant Interactions - Utrecht University, The Netherlands (2005 – 2014)
Head of Department – Plant-Animal Interactions, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, The Netherlands (1997 – 2009)
Postdoc – Netherlands Institute of Ecology, The Netherlands (1995 – 1997)
Research Fellow - Max-Planck-Institute for Behavioural Physiology, Germany (1991 – 1995)
Scientist – Institute for Forestry and Nature Research, Wageningen UR (University & Research centre), The Netherlands (1988 – 1991)
PhD – University of Groningen, The Netherlands (1988-1992)
Units taught
SLE 205: vertebrate structure and function
SLE 354: disease ecology and epidemiology
Knowledge areas
- Modelling avian migration strategies, population dynamics and conservation strategies
- Disease Ecology and the connecting powers of migrants
- Nutritional ecology and reserve dynamics in waterfowl, waders and marsupials
Professional activities
Research groups
Centre for Integrative Ecology http://cie-deakin.com/
Geelong Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases http://gceid.com/
Awards
Marcel became an Alfred Deakin Professor in 2016
Projects
Current PhD students – Student name & Thesis Title
Batbayar Galtbalt - Breeding and migration ecology of eastern palearctic cranes and implications for conservation across flyways
Hui Bruce Yu - State-of-the-art wildlife trackers and movement ecology
Toby Ross - Are pollutants and emerging diseases endangering a global migratory flyway?
Aiful Islam - Evolutionary Dynamics of Influenza A Viruses at High Risk Poultry-Wildlife-Human Interfaces in Bangladesh
Former PhD students
Megan Underwood
Publications
No publications found
Funded Projects at Deakin
Australian Competitive Grants
Avian migrants as vectors of zoonotic diseases in a changing world
Prof Marcel Klaassen
ARC - Discovery Projects
- 2015: $140,483
- 2014: $182,946
- 2013: $197,310
Threats of avian pathogens to endangered parrots and human health: developing and utilizing tools for risk reduction
Prof Andy Bennett, A/Prof Shane Raidal, Prof Marcel Klaassen, Prof Kate Buchanan, Prof Ken Walder, Dr Michael Magrath, Dr Yonatan Segal, Prof Martyn Jeggo
ARC Linkage - Projects
- 2017: $54,016
- 2016: $105,523
- 2015: $112,909
- 2014: $60,397
Revealing the evolutionary and ecological dynamics of avian influenza virus
Prof Edward Holmes, Prof Marcel Klaassen, Aeron Hurt
ARC - Discovery Projects
- 2018: $20,000
- 2017: $40,000
- 2016: $20,000
Are pollutants endangering a global migratory flyway?
Prof Marcel Klaassen, Aeron Hurt, Dr Veerle Jaspers
ARC - Discovery Projects
- 2020: $175,252
- 2019: $127,634
Shape-shifting birds: a novel consequence of climate change
A/Prof Matthew Symonds, Prof Marcel Klaassen, Dr Glenn Tattersall
ARC - Discovery Projects
- 2020: $157,935
- 2019: $80,674
Other Public Sector Funding
Combining serological and virological tests in studying the host-pathogen in wildlife with special reference to Avian influenza epidemiology in the Australian context.
Prof Marcel Klaassen, Mr Simeon Lisovski, Dr David Roshier
- 2014: $1,673
- 2013: $3,347
- 2012: $7,710
Threats of avian pathogens to endangered parrots and human health: developing and utilizing tools for risk reduction
Prof Andy Bennett, A/Prof Shane Raidal, Prof Marcel Klaassen, Prof Kate Buchanan, Prof Ken Walder, Dr Michael Magrath, Dr Yonatan Segal, Prof Martyn Jeggo
- 2017: $25,000
- 2016: $25,000
- 2015: $30,000
Sampling the Big Blank Spot: Wild Bird Avian Influenza Virus Surveillance in Australia's interior.
Prof Marcel Klaassen
- 2014: $9,090
Evaluating exposure risk and incursions of highly pathogenic avian influenza from Asia using serology.
Prof Marcel Klaassen
- 2019: $30,000
- 2018: $79,960
Industry and Other Funding
Surveillance of influenza A viruses in wild birds.
Prof Marcel Klaassen, Dr David Roshier
- 2015: $2,000
- 2014: $29,100
- 2013: $100,000
- 2012: $11,356
- 2011: $209,819
The interplay of avian influenza dynamics between resident waterfowl species and migratory waders
Prof Marcel Klaassen, Mr Simeon Lisovski
- 2012: $7,500
Pathogen mitigated movement of avian hosts, understanding the interplay between infection and movement in wild waterfowl
Prof Marcel Klaassen, Ms Marta Ferenczi, Dr David Roshier
- 2013: $3,000
Linking gastro-intestinal microbiome diversity and immune function over the migratory flyway in a long-distance migrant.
Prof Marcel Klaassen, Dr Bethany Hoye, Miss Alice Risely
- 2015: $2,500
Understanding the role of migrants in pathogen dispersal: gut microbiome diversity across time and space in a long-distance migrant
Prof Marcel Klaassen, Dr Bethany Hoye, A/Prof Beata Ujvari, Miss Alice Risely
- 2015: $5,000
A new database for Australian AIV sampling and analyses in wild birds
Prof Marcel Klaassen
- 2017: $8,692
- 2016: $20,000
State-of-the-art wildlife trackers and movement ecology
Prof Marcel Klaassen
- 2020: $16,000
- 2019: $16,000
- 2018: $16,000
Identifying key sites along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway for the conservation of the critically endangered Curlew Sandpiper
Prof Marcel Klaassen
- 2018: $1,500
NATIONAL AVIAN INFLUENZA WILD BIRD (NAIWB) SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM ANALYSIS PROJECT - Avian Disease Ecology-Epidemiology Consultant.
Prof Marcel Klaassen
- 2019: $4,500
Other Funding Sources
Avian influenza virus dynamics in a waterbird community in Australia
Prof Marcel Klaassen, Ms Marta Ferenczi, Dr Christa Beckmann
- 2014: $800
Strategies and constraints of avian migration in waders along the East Asian Australasian Flyway
Prof Marcel Klaassen, Miss Meijuan Zhao
- 2016: $909
Stuart Leslie Conference Award
Prof Marcel Klaassen, Mrs Jessica May Ellen Radford
- 2019: $1,000
Supervisions
Alice Risely
Thesis entitled: Host-pathogen and host-microbe interactions in migratory animals and their implications for pathogen dispersal
Doctor of Philosophy (Life & Env), School of Life and Environmental Sciences
Mohammad Mahmudul Hassan
Thesis entitled: Who is the culprit: ecology and epidemiology of Avian Influenza at the wildlife-poultry interface in Bangladesh
Doctor of Philosophy (Life & Env), School of Life and Environmental Sciences
Meijuan Zhao
Thesis entitled: Constraints and strategies of long-distance migratory shorebirds along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway
Doctor of Philosophy (Life & Env), School of Life and Environmental Sciences
Marta Ferenczi
Thesis entitled: Avian influenza virus dynamics in Australian wild birds
Doctor of Philosophy (Life & Env), School of Life and Environmental Sciences
Simeon Lisovski
Thesis entitled: Wildlife infectious disease dynamics in the context of seasonality and bird migration
Doctor of Philosophy (Life & Env), School of Life and Environmental Sciences
Yaara Aharon-Rotman
Thesis entitled: Challenges within the annual cycle of long-distance migratory waders along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway
Doctor of Philosophy (Life & Env), School of Life and Environmental Sciences
Megan Underwood
Thesis entitled: Does size matter? Sex differences in white-faced storm petrels' ecology
Doctor of Philosophy (Life & Env), School of Life and Environmental Sciences
Daniel Terry Lees
Thesis entitled: Sex-ratio dynamics in three species of resident shorebird
Doctor of Philosophy (Life & Env), School of Life and Environmental Sciences
Aditya Vivek Ponkshe
Thesis entitled: Joint effects of selective mating and ecology on the persistence of polymorphism and the divergence of sexually selected traits
Doctor of Philosophy (Life & Env), School of Life and Environmental Sciences
Gemma Cole
Thesis entitled: Estimatig the evolutionary link between food detection and mate choice
Doctor of Philosophy (Life & Env), School of Life and Environmental Sciences
Bibiana Andrea Rojas Zuluaga
Thesis entitled: The apparent paradox of colour variation in aposematic poison frogs
Doctor of Philosophy (Life & Env), School of Life and Environmental Sciences