My work on dragonflies and damselflies is focused at two main questions: (1) what historical factors shaped the diversity patterns we see nowadays and (2) how will climate change impact on these diversity patterns? In order to address these questions, I use a combination of taxonomy, phylogeny and species distribution modelling combined with field work and active engagement with volunteer experts. Most of the ongoing work takes place within GEODE, an NSF funded project focused at building a phylogeny and a distribution database of odonates worldwide and using this to understand dragonfly and damselfly evolution and diversity patterns.
Much of my work on dragonflies is in close cooperation with KD Dijkstra, Rory Dow, Albert Orr, Stephen Richards, Gunther Theischinger and Jan van Tol. My current work focusses on the Himalayan region for which I hope to produce a field guide, unravelling the biogeographical history and establish dragonflies as tool for the conservation of freshwater ecosystems. Many of the projects I work on make use of molecular techniques and the extensive DNA-library of odonates housed at Naturalis and for this work I cooperate with Frank Stokvis from the molecular lab or Naturalis.