Marco Visser studies how biodiversity and ecosystems respond to multiple stressors, including climate change, disease, and pollution.

More information about Marco Visser

Professional experience

Marco’s research interests lie at the intersection of empirical and theoretical ecology, with a focus on synthesizing ecological and evolutionary theory with empirical data through mathematical, statistical, and computational methods. His overarching research theme is cross-scale integration—scaling ecological processes from the microscopic level up to ecosystems, with an emphasis on how individual traits shape biodiversity and how these processes influence ecosystem dynamics and climate feedback.

Marco has conducted fieldwork in a variety of ecosystems, including the primeval forests of Poland and tropical rainforests in Malaysia and Panama. After earning his PhD in 2016, where he investigated mechanisms structuring tropical forest diversity across spatial, temporal, and organizational scales, he advanced his research during a postdoctoral position at Princeton University’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. There, he further developed his expertise in biophysics, remote sensing, and mathematical ecology (2016-2021). In 2021, Marco joined the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) at Leiden University as an assistant professor. Here, he continues his work on understanding the rapidly evolving dynamics of global forests and their feedbacks on biodiversity and climate.

In recent years, Marco has expanded his research to address the critical challenge of chemical pollution, particularly focusing on pesticides. As the project leader of the Dutch Pesticide Atlas project - a national tool that provides a standardized scientifically validated dataset to serve as a “common truth” for societal debate - he contributes to fostering informed, data-driven discussions: “a communication tool that enables a conversation based on the same numbers.” His team’s work with the Dutch Pesticide Atlas supports cross-scale research on pesticide impacts, enabling public authorities, scientists, and society to make decisions rooted in a unified, transparent data foundation.

Marco is deeply committed to fostering a work environment that promotes curiosity, safety, inclusivity, and productivity. He believes in the power of diverse perspectives to inspire scientific discovery and strives to create a lab culture that encourages everyone to contribute to understanding the intricate workings of our beautiful blue planet. Read more at my website.

Marco has worked in a wide variety of forests, from the primeval forest in Poland, to tropical forests in Malaysia and Panama.  He completed his PhD in 2016, working on the processes that structure diversity in tropical forests, and integrating these mechanisms across broader spatial, temporal, and organizational scales. He continued this line of research as a post-doctoral researcher at Princeton University’s department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, where he became interested in biophysics, remote sensing and mathematical ecology (2016 - 2021), In 2021, Marco joined the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) at Leiden University as an assistant professor. Here, he  works to understand the rapidly changing dynamics in global forests, and their feedback on the biodiversity and climate of our planet.  

Marco believes that one of the great joys in life is learning new things. This is why he strives to create a work environment that is not only stimulating and productive, but also safe, healthy, and inclusive for everyone. An environment in which everybody can be themselves and share in the fascination of learning about our beautiful blue planet. 

Research topics

1. Chemical Pollution and Biodiversity:  Marco’s recent research focuses on the ecological impacts of chemical pollution on biodiversity. This research aims to bridge controlled experimental results with large-scale biodiversity trends, addressing an urgent need for science-based methods to predict and attribute the risks of pesticide at broader scales. Utilizing national pesticide monitoring data, biophysical models, his team is pioneering a cross-scale predictive framework to assess the biodiversity impacts of key pesticides.
2. Forest Health and Climate Change Implications: A central concern in Marco’s research is understanding how quickly forests, particularly in tropical regions, are degrading under climate change. His work combines remote sensing, biophysics, and machine learning to explore how rapid structural changes impact forests' roles in the global carbon, water, and energy cycles, investigating the cascading effects on climate and biodiversity.
3. Biodiversity and Ecosystem Stability: Marco’s research probes into the ecological mechanisms that sustain species diversity, focusing on the role pathogens and parasites play in maintaining coexistence among species. His work seeks to determine whether proposed coexistence mechanisms are evolutionarily stable, not only for hosts but also for the associated parasites. This line of research expands our understanding of biodiversity’s foundational elements and its role in ecosystem resilience.
4. Optimizing Ecosystem Traits for Climate Solutions: Moving beyond traditional carbon-centric approaches, Marco combines physics-based models with species traits to explore bio-geoengineering solutions in natural, agricultural, and urban landscapes. This work aims to identify ecosystem traits that can mitigate climate change impacts while promoting biodiversity and ecosystem stability.

Activities