Doeke Romke Hekstra

M.Sc., Leiden University
Population Dynamics in a Model Closed Ecosystem
presented by Tom W. Muir (on behalf of Stanislas Leibler)

Doeke Hekstra is an explorer of claustral ecology, a new field studying closed ecological systems. There are not many laboratories working in this field; there are no specialized journals and no conferences. Its potential applications range from biological support systems for voyages to Mars to small ecospheres that you can purchase from the American Museum of Natural History, in fact it was one of those ecospheres that inspired Doeke to build his experiments. He enclosed inside small glass containers mixtures of three microbial species: algae, bacteria and ciliates, and then measured their dynamics over periods of months with second resolution. In the process of these studies, he notably found that algae transmit circadian rhythms to bacteria. To do this, he had to build his own microscopes from scratch and solve numerous problems of microbiology with optics and computer science. One thing you quickly learn about Doeke when you get to know him is that he’s not only smart and curious, but he’s fearless. If he’d lived in the 17th century, he would have become another Peter Stuyvesant, developing the settlement of New Amsterdam. Instead, he is exploring infinite worlds of closed ecosystems. Watch out: I would not be surprised if one day our grandchildren attend the Hekstra High School here in New York, or maybe in our colony on Mars.