Member
Claas Nendel is co-head of the ZALF Research Platform „Models & Simulation“, in which he also leads the two working groups „Ecosystem Modelling“ and „Landscape Modelling“. A studied geo-ecologist (University of Technology Carolo-Wilhelmina, Braunschweig, Germany; Agricultural University of Norway, Ås), he received his PhD from Braunschweig in 2002 and qualified for lecturer (Habilitation) at Berlin University of Technology in 2014. Since 2020 he is jointly appointed professor of Landscape Systems Analysis with the University of Potsdam.
He has been working for more than 20 years in agricultural research on applied integrated modelling of water, nitrogen and carbon dynamics, organic matter decomposition, crop growth, product quality, and farm economics in special crops (grapevine, vegetables) and major agricultural crops. His main focus is the carry-over effect within crop rotations and the consequences for yield and product quality, in which he serves world-wide activities towards food security, resource efficiency and climate action.
Claas is the principal developer of the MONICA simulation model for biophysical processes in agro-ecosystems, which was put together in the context of regional climate change impact in rural areas. MONICA took part in a range of research projects and international model comparison studies. Claas is the current president of the European Society of Agronomy and vice speaker of the German Soil Science Society plant nutrition section. He hosted the International Crop Modelling Symposium in Berlin in 2016 (320 participants), and the German Society of Agronomy meeting in Berlin in 2019 (175 participants), and published more than 120 peer-reviewed journal articles, nine book chapters and more than 180 contributions to national and international conferences.
Research Interests
- Agro-ecosystem modelling
- Landscape-scale processes
- Simulation-aided management of ecosystem services
