Ghent University
Using paleoclimate and paleoecological data to enhance climate-change resilience, with emphasis on data derived from fossil insect larvae preserved in lake sediments.
Dirk Verschuren is professor in paleoecology and climate change at Ghent University (Belgium), and teaches courses in the Biology, Geology and Archeology programs. His multi-disciplinary research connects the domains of paleoclimatology, paleoecology, lake studies, geography and archeology. His group’s principal research themes are the climate and environmental history of tropical Africa, and the long-term perspective of modern-day interactions between humans, climate, ecosystems and landscapes. He studies these topics using the natural archive of long-term environmental change preserved in lake sediments, which can be read using a wide range of geochemical and biological indicators including the fossil remains of aquatic insect larvae.