Lactuca: Environmental Data Analyses and Modelling is an one person company for external contract based scientific research and reporting. Lactuca started in August 2015. 

“How can we establish landscapes such way that both nature and humans can coexist?” This question is Lactuca’s main driver for studying landscape connectivity, ecosystem services and the plant fitness effects of gene escape from crops, looking at the interactions between anthropogenic land use changes, climate change and biodiversity to identify conflicts and opportunities. This includes nature reserve selection, ecosystem services calculations throughout the landscape, establishing a better agri-environment matrix and the effects of new crops on local flora. In this statistical landscape optimisation would become a more and more intense focus allowing coexistence of services, additively making room for both nature and humans. Lactuca is well suited in developing Monte-Carlo statistical frameworks and translating scientific questions into bespoke statistics. 

Lactuca focuses on contract work providing expertise knowledge and analytical skills as:

1. Small company (SME) partner in multi institutional and -country projects & proposals for projects;
2. Subcontract from existing or proposed projects for specific quantitative deliverables;
3. Contracts for data analyses and paper/report writing of third party collected data-sets. 

Lactuca aims at projects from both national and international sources. We are more than happy to join in project development and proposal writing. We see this as an investment in the potential (but not certainty) of revenue. The senior reseacher has large experience in working in working in international multi-partner projects. This includes FP5-ANGEL, FP6-SIGMEA, FP7-SCALES, FP7-ROBIN, ECNC-NBP, ESPA-Wiser, FUNGreen. 

Lactuca offers a range of specialist areas and a high value for money (low overheads). A short-list of specialist areas is:

• Ecosystem service estimations at different temporal and spatial scales
• Landscape connectivity analysis
• Population modelling as bespoke matrix or IPM models.
• Spatial analyses of land-use change and species distribution modelling
• Monte Carlo simulations and statistics, including Pareto optimisation
• Modelling the fitness and selective effects of altered gene flow patterns on plant populations
• Systematic reviews and meta-analyses
• Modelling the risks associated with Genetically Modified crops
• Quantitative genetic effects of hybridisation and selection

Please see the also page of senior scientist and owner Dr. Danny Hooftman for further links.