Oskar Hagen, PhD, Biodiversity, Research, Science, Biology, Evolution, Ecology, Macroevolution, Macroecology, Conservation Biology, Computational Biology, Theoretical Biology, Informatics, mechanistic model, modeling, Fireflies, vagalume, Photopollution, Lightpollution, Hermetia, TreeSimGM, gen3sis, gasm, ETHZ, WSL, UFSCar, Brazil, Switzerland, Hagen, Oskar.
Oskar Hagen
PhD candidate
Environmental Systems Science
WSL and ETH Zürich
Areas of Expertise: Environmental Sciences, Conservation Biology and Informatics
Background: I’m a Swiss-Brazilian citizen with a family divided by the Atlantic, born in Venezuela and raised in the countryside of Brazil. The interdisciplinary of my interests forged an unusual career path.
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I first studied informatics in a 2 year formal technical education, then I graduated in Conservation Biology in Brazil. Later, I came to Switzerland and pursued my Master in Environmental Sciences at ETH. My master thesis was conducted at the theoretical biology group, with major in Ecology and Evolution at the department of integrative biology. After the Master’s I left Switzerland and worked on public and private sectors. Now I am back in the land as a PhD candidate in landscape ecology.
During my bachelor at UFSCar I collaborated with several research groups and gained experience on teaching, field work, data analysis and population dynamics modelling. At that point, I investigated and quantified the effects of artificial illumination at firefly’s populations. I proposed fireflies as potential flagship species and bioindicators for artificial ilumination once they can be easily spotted at night and are charismatic (a rare characteristic among insects). While monitoring firefly populations in Atlantic rain forests over the years I fell in love with these lightning bugs and became engaged in communicating and tackling Photopollution.
Throughout my Master`s at ETH, I enhanced my mathematical and modelling skills, specifically regarding speciation and extinction processes. We proposed a generalized model and evaluated the effects of different extinction and speciation processes on phylogenetic trees shape, trying to better understand macroevolutionary forces. Our results suggested an age-dependent speciation, and we also briefly discussed motivations and plausible biological implications of our findings. This research project developed to other scientific collaborations towards extinction processes from a conservation and macroevolutionary/paleontological perspective. Yielding a few publications, an R-package TreeSimGM (simulates phylogenies) and the expansion of the software PyRate (estimates macroevolutionary rates from fossil data using a Bayesian framework). These projects strengthened my interest in better understanding biodiversity dynamics and consolidated my interest towards applied ecology and computational biology (still in love with the fireflies though!).
Away from academia, I conducted an internship at the forestry department of the Federal Office for the Environment in Switzerland (BAFU) and worked as a consultant in a conservation project in Laos. The project targeted the implementation of SN-REDD in two national protected areas in the South and was the first public-private partnership in the country. Later, in Belize, I got involved with a Swiss and a Belizean NGO. There I looked at conectivity and finantial independence of a mosaic of protected and sustainable use natural areas. Early 2015 I dove into an insect farm start-up project in Brazil, which is still operational with my partial involvement. Our plans are to reduce waste from other industrial sectors while providing organic fertilizer and alternative protein sources to fish and chicken production. I dream of a more sustainable and environmentally friendly animal feed production in comparison to the current soya and overexploited fishmeal production systems.
Licenses: Car and motorbike (international license); scuba diving (PADI advanced open water).
Hobbies: Photographing, observing nature (e.g. landscapes, wildlife and human beings), playing ukulele, painting/drawing, handcrafting and exploring new technologies.
Current Research
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Currently I investigate the role of past environmental conditions and eco-evolutionary feedbacks in shaping biodiversity gradients.
For this, I developed a macroevolutionary computational mechanistic model called gen3sis (stands for General Engine for Eco-Evolutionary Simulations) in order to infer biodiversity patterns from historical environmental dynamics and better understand ecological and evolutionar (i.e. speciation and extinction) processes. Gen3sis is avaiable as an R-package and with it, it is possible for the first time, to test and create new hypothesis under a general framework (i.e. acting mutually at evolutionary and ecological temporal resolution) and quantify processes shaping the biodiversity patterns we observe today. For that I must additionaly compile and recreate paleoenvirolmental conditions as well as obtain empirical species distribution, traits and evolutionary histories. Ultimately, gen3sis will inform on the ecosystem responses to global changes, and especially the loss of diversification potential for biodiversity as well as how macro-dynamics most likely responded in the deep past. This may challenge current conservation practice, and move current concepts toward an increased focus on the conservation of evolutionary potential.
Formal Education
PhD candidate in Environmental Sciences: Landscape Ecology
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, WSL, Switzerland
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich, ETH, Switzerland
- Advisor: Prof. Dr. Loïc Pellissier
Master in Environmental Sciences: Ecology and Evolution
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, ETH, Switzerland
Bachelor in Biology: Conservation Biology
Federal University of São Carlos - campus Sorocaba, UFSCAR, Brazil
Vocational and Technical Education: Informatics – Communications Networking
SENAI Swiss-Brazilian - Regional Department of São Paulo, SENAI/DR/SP, Brazil
Complementary Formation
Obligatory Swiss Military Service
Schweizer Armee
- Function: ABC Korporal
- Defense of Atomic, Biological and Chemical weapons and formation as Sub-official
Classical Guitar, Rhythmic and Musical theory
Municipal Music School of Porto Feliz, EMM, Brazil
Publications
G Yannic, O Hagen, F Leugger, D.N. Karger, L Pellissier (2020) Harnessing paleo-environmental modeling and genetic data to predict intraspecific genetic structure. Evolutionary Applications
GFA Donati, V Parravicini, F Leprieur, O Hagen, T Gaboriau, C Heine, M Kulbicki, J Rolland, N Salamin, C Albouy, L Pellissier (2019) A process‐based model supports an association between dispersal and the prevalence of species traits in tropical reef fish assemblages. Ecography
M Gerecke*, O Hagen*, J Bolliger, AM Hersperger, F Kienast, B Price, L Pellissier (2019) Assessing potential landscape service trade-offs driven by urbanization in Switzerland. Palgrave Communications
O Hagen, L Vaterlaus, C Albouy, A Brown, F Leugger, RE Onstein, C Novaes de Santana, CR Scotese, L Pellissier (2019) Mountain building, climate cooling and the richness of cold‐adapted plants in the Northern Hemisphere. Journal of Biogeography
RS Etienne, JS Cabral, O Hagen, F Hartig, AH Hurlbert, L Pellissier, M Pontarp, D Storch (2019) A minimal model for the latitudinal diversity gradient suggests a dominant role for ecological limits. The American Naturalist
M Pontarp, L Bunnefeld, JS Cabral, RS Etienne, SA Fritz, R Gillespie, CH Graham, O Hagen, F Hartig, S Huang, R Jansson, O Maliet, T Münkemüller, L Pellissier, TF Rangel, D Storch, T Wiegand, AH Hurlbert (2019) The latitudinal diversity gradient: Novel understanding through mechanistic eco-evolutionary models. Trends in Ecology and Evolution
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BH Warren, O Hagen, F Gerber, C Thébaud, E Paradis, E Conti (2018) Evaluating alternative explanations for an association of extinction risk and evolutionary uniqueness in multiple insular lineages. Evolution
L Pellissier, P Descombes, O Hagen, L Chalmandrier, G Glauser, A Kergunteuil, E Defossez, S Rasmann (2018) Growth-competition-herbivore resistance trade-offs and the responses of alpine plant communities to climate change. Functional Ecology
O Hagen, T Andermann, TB Quental, A Antonelli, D Silvestro (2017) Estimating age-dependent extinction: contrasting evidence from fossils and phylogenies. Systematic Biology
EO Hagen, O Hagen, JD Ibáñez-Álamo, OL Petchey, KL Evans (2017) Impacts of urban areas and their characteristics on avian functional diversity. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
O Hagen, T Stadler (2017) TreeSimGM: Simulating phylogenetic trees under general Bellman-Harris models with lineage-specific shifts of speciation and extinction in R. Methods in Ecology and Evolution
O Hagen, K Hartmann, M Steel, T Stadler (2015) Age-dependent speciation can explain the shape of empirical phylogenies. Systematic Biology
O Hagen, RM Santos, MN Schlindwein, VR Viviani (2015) Artificial night lighting reduces firefly (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) occurrence in Sorocaba, Brazil. Advances in Entomology
VR Viviani, MY Rocha, O Hagen (2010) Bioluminescent beetles (Coleoptera: Elateroidea: Lampyridae, Phengodidae, Elateridae) in the municipalities of Campinas, Sorocaba-Votorantim and Rio Claro-Limeira (SP, Brazil): biodiversity and influence of urban sprawl. Biota Neotropica
Extracurricular Activities
Reviewer of journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS)
Reviewer of journal Ecography
Reviewer of journal Global Change Biology
Reviewer of journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution
Director and Founder of Academic Journal (Jornal OCASO)
Federal University of São Carlos - campus Sorocaba, UFSCAR, Brazil
- Under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Monica Caron
Director of information at the Academic Center
Federal University of São Carlos - campus Sorocaba, UFSCAR, Brazil
Photos
Above and Below Laos 2014
Rock and Ice Heart Switzerland 2012
Tarzan and Jane Portugal 2016
The in and out side Zambia 2013
Brown Laos 2014
Rainbow Switzerland 2013
Red Laos 2013
Berg Dragonsaur Switzerland 2018
Calm Forest Laos 2013
Climby Switzerland 2017
Float Laos 2013
Lost and Found Tanzania 2017
Small is Beautiful Brazil 2015